Kelsey Hilts likes to make scones all year, but there will always be something about them that reminds her of summer.
By Kelsey Hilts
Summer is officially here and we’ve already had a sneak peak of warm, sunny weather. For some reason, I always associate scones with summer. It might be in part because it’s strawberry season and it’s always been a family tradition to make scones for strawberry shortcake. It might also be because buttery scones oozing with berry jam have always been my favorite treat at county fairs. But I think a lot has to do with the fact that I have childhood memories of my Uncle making us an assortment of scones for sunny breakfasts on the deck. The truth is, curling up with a blanket, a good book and a warm scone right out of the oven during the winter is equally enjoyable. And I like to make scones all year. But there will always be something about scones that reminds me of summer.
I like to make an assortment of scones, leaving several plain to be enjoyed with fruits and jams, and experimenting with other flavors and toppings such as another one of my favorites: brown sugar and cinnamon. My most recent version comes from an experiment with blackberry maple syrup. {As an aside, the blackberry maple syrup is great when used for its original purpose on pancakes and when stirred into oatmeal.} But I discovered that it makes a very tasty scone when folded into the scone dough. Though the syrup is quick and easy to make, if you don’t want to mess with it, you could just use blackberries or any other berry, for that matter.
In my family, we have always had two scone recipes, one from my Uncle and one from my Great Aunt. My Uncle’s recipe calls for an egg and is more golden yellow in color. My Great Aunt’s recipe does not have eggs and is creamier in color. I can’t tell you which one is my favorite because it has always been pretty much the flip of a coin to determine which we’d make. I have included my Great Aunt’s recipe because it makes more scones, allowing you to make a nice assortment of flavors.
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Blackberry Maple Scones
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
It turns out that folding blackberry maple syrup into scone dough makes a very tasty breakfast.
Ingredients
Blackberry Maple Syrup
- 1 2/3 cup (253g) blackberries, fresh or thawed
- 1/4 cup (88g) maple syrup
- 1 tsp (2g) flour
- 1 Tbsp (15g) water
Scones
- 2 ½ (248g) cups flour
- 2 tsp (7,5g) baking powder
- 2 Tbsp (24g) sugar
- 1/2 tsp (2,5g) salt
- 6 Tbsp (86g) butter, softened and cut into cubes
- 3/4 cup (177mL) milk
Instructions
Blackberry Maple Syrup
- Gently break up the berries with a wire masher, leaving them chunky so that there is a mix of whole berries, partly broken berries and crushed berries.
- Dissolve the flour in the water in a small saucepan.
- Stir in the maple syrup.
- Then add the crushed berries.
- Bring the mixture to a gentle bubbling simmer and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes, being careful not to let it boil vigorously.
Scones
- Sift and measure the flour.
- Resift it with the other dry ingredients.
- Work the softened butter cubes into the dry mix with a pastry blender or a fork.
- Add the milk.
- Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface.
- Divide the dough into 2 pieces, forming each piece into a circle the thickness of biscuits.
- Spoon some blackberry maple syrup onto each circle and fold over the dough, gently forming the dough back into a circle.
- Cut each disc into four wedges (to make 8 scones in total) and place them on a greased baking sheet.
- Bake them at 400-425 degrees for 10-15 minutes until the bottoms are lightly golden and the centers are done.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
