A summer retreat

In the long hot days of summer these blueberry lemon ginger scones with the herbal sweetness of cardamon are an oasis of flavor. The gentle tartness of blueberries, light citrus bite of lemon, and invigorating snap of ginger are like a drink of clear cold water.

Perfect for a picnic or beach snack, share these scones with ice cold lemonade, iced tea or coffee.

Step by step instructions

Freeze the blueberries:

Blueberries have a lot of flavorful juice. To keep the juice in the blueberries from running into the scones during the bake, they should be frozen. You can use frozen or fresh blueberries. Either way, cut each blueberry in half and put them in a plastic container in your freezer before you start making the scones.

Stir the blueberries every 15 minutes and break up any that are sticking together. Stir them again just before you add them to the dough.

Blend the wet ingredients:

Blend the milk, lemon extract, and egg together thoroughly using a milk frother or blender. Transfer the ingredients to a squeeze bottle and put it in your refrigerator to cool until you combine the wet and dry ingredients.

TIP: If you’re making a second batch to cook or freeze, blend the wet ingredients for both batches and place them in separate squeeze bottles.

Combine the dry ingredients:

Add all of the dry ingredients, flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger, and ground cardamon to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Slice the butter into chunks:

Slice the butter into chunks by cutting the length of a stick of butter you’re using in half along its long side, flip it on its side, and slice it again in half. Then cut the long side in half and each half into quarters. Mix the butter chunks into the dry ingredients.

Cut the butter into the dry ingredients:

Use a butter cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until they are about the size of a pea.

TIP: Slightly larger chunks create a crunchier scone, leaving bigger gaps in the crumb when they melt.

Put the dry ingredients in your freezer for 15 minutes and preheat the oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients:

After 15 minutes, remove the bowl with the dry ingredients from the freezer and place it on a sticky pad. A sticky pad makes this step go faster by keeping the bowl still while stirring in the wet ingredients. You may have to rub the bottom of the bowl to remove any ice before putting it on the sticky pad.

Remove the squeeze bottle with the wet ingredients from the refrigerator. Slowly combine the wet and dry ingredients by squirting a thin line with the squeeze bottle and rapidly stirring it in with the tines of a large (serving) fork. This MUST BE DONE BY HAND. You don’t want to create a mix or dough. You want to wet the dry ingredients to keep them in pea-sized clusters.

When the dry ingredients start to look wet, use the tines to pull the moist ingredients to one side. This will expose the drier ingredients below. Use smaller squirts from the squeeze bottle onto the dry ingredients and stir faster with the tines. When no dry ingredients are left, stop adding liquid.

That the mini chocolate chips out of your freezer and sprinkle half of them over the dough and thoroughly mix it with the tines of your large fork.

Sprinkle the other half of the mini chocolate chips over the dough and thoroughly mix it again with the tines.

Form the dough:

Start to form the dough. Gently press it down and fold it a few times until it forms one log. Fold the log in half and move it to a silicone mat.

It’s easiest to form the dough using a 7” cake ring. Press the dough from the center outward until the dough fills the ring. Swirl the ring around the dough to give it a better edge. Then remove the ring.

If forming by hand, press the flat side of your long knife around the edge to firm it.

Cut the dough into eight scones:

Make four equal cuts with a long serrated knife to divide the dough into eight sections. Move the knife slightly back and forth on its flat side with each cut to make it easier to separate each scone.

Place the scones on your baking sheet:

Slide the flat side of the long knife under each scone and move it to the parchment paper on the baking sheet.

TIP: If you plan to store or serve the scones on a 10” cake round after they’re baked, make sure to place them on the parchment paper in the same order that you take them off of the dough circle. Otherwise, they will not form an even circle.

Bake:

Place your baking sheet on a middle rack in your preheated oven and bake for 14 to 16 minutes at 400°.

Halfway through, check to see if one side is cooking faster than the other and, if so, turn the pan around in the oven and continue to bake. Remove the scones to a cooling rack when the center of the scones feel solid, not liquidy.

TIP: If you plan to store or serve the scones on a 10” round after they’re baked, make sure to keep them in the same order that you took them off of the original dough circle. Otherwise, they will not form an even circle.

Glaze the scones:

After you take the scones out of the oven, thoroughly mix the powdered sugar, lemon extract, and heavy cream in a medium bowl until smooth but somewhat thick. It should slowly drip off of a spoon.

Wait about 5 minutes after taking the scones out of the oven to apply the glaze. While the scones are still a little warm brush or dab the glaze on top of each scone with a silicone brush

For a little extra lemon taste, you can sprinkle some dried lemon zest or fresh lemon zest on each scone as soon as you glaze it.