Heavenly Lemon Blueberry Scones

I’ve been on a Greek yogurt kick lately, and I’ve been intrigued by the idea of baking with yogurt after the smashing success of these blueberry muffins. Yogurt is fantastic in baked goods; it imparts a light, moist texture and flavor and is so much better for you than fattening alternatives like butter, sour cream or cream cheese. Generally speaking, you should be able to replace half the amount of butter in baked goods with half the amount of Greek yogurt (e.g. 8 tablespoons of butter becomes 4, plus 2 tablespoons of yogurt).

Since scones are notoriously heavy in butter, I thought they would be prime for adaptation. I attempted to replace some butter in these raspberry oatmeal scones with yogurt, while also replacing the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour. I ended up with pretty pictures of mediocre scones, so the photos joined the ranks of failed recipes in my Lightroom. That happens more often than not—I only share the absolute best on the blog.

So I searched around for a whole wheat scone recipe with Greek yogurt, and eventually landed on a gorgeous post by Caroline of chocolate & carrots. It was exactly what I was looking for, so I followed her recipe closely and a mere 35 minutes later, took a bite of the best scone I’ve ever tasted.

The scones are everything a scone should be: slightly crispy on the outside and delicately moist and fluffy on the inside. Not too sweet, yet packed with flavor. Thanks to the lighter texture of whole wheat pastry flour, they don’t taste like heavy, nutty whole wheat scones. The Greek yogurt lends moistness and a slight tang, which plays nicely with the lemon zest. Truly, I believe this is the scone recipe to end all scone recipes.

Not convinced? Let’s examine the reaction of two grown boys who had the fortune of walking into my kitchen the day I baked these scones. After one bite, the first yelped in delight and cursed its perfection. That night, the other boy practically waltzed around the kitchen, mm-mming as he relished every last bite of his scone. The latter may have had a few drinks beforehand, but I assure you that these boys don’t normally get excited about scones. They’re just that good.

Scroll down for the man-approved scone recipe!

 

Lemon Blueberry Scones Recipe

Recipe type: Breakfast, Baked Good

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  35 mins

Serves: 8

 

If you’ve been intimidated by baking scones, don’t be afraid to try this recipe. I was surprised at how easy it was to throw the ingredients together. Shaping and slicing the scones was easy, too. Make them for breakfast this weekend, and freeze the rest for later!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons turbinado (raw cane) sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• zest of one lemon
• 1 cup blueberries (I used frozen but fresh would be even better!)
• 1/2 cup plain low fat Greek yogurt (I used 0% fat yogurt by Fage)
• 1/2 cup low fat milk (I used 2%)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Combine flours, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
3. Slice butter and drop into dry ingredients. If you have a pastry cutter, use it to cut the butter into the flour. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, use a knife to cut the butter into tiny pieces and mix it into the flour.
4. Add blueberries and lemon zest and gently stir. You can use frozen blueberries, no thawing necessary.
5. Gently mix in milk and yogurt. Eventually you’ll need to use your hands to knead the last of the flour into the dough.
6. Form dough into a circle about that’s about an inch deep all around. Cut the circle into 8 slices.
7. Separate slices and place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or foil.
8. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with a bit of raw sugar.
9. Bake for 15 minutes or until light brown.

Notes

Recipe mildly adapted from Chocolate & Carrots.