Good morning, blueberries!! Something about their juicy, sweet-and-sour selves just adds a burst of much appreciated brightness to my day. I stir them into overnight oats, toss them into pancakes, or even get super fancy and make these gorgeous, lightly-sweet blueberry-lemony scones. Light and airy in the middle, crunchy on the outside, with a pop of blueberry goodness — all smothered in a sweet lemon glaze. Drool.
Did you know that scones are so stinking easy to make??! Holy cannoli, if I’d known, I would have started making these for weekend brunch, or anytime snacking really, a long time ago. I’m telling you, don’t be intimidated by their fancy name — these lovely Whole Wheat Blueberry Scones are one of the simplest baking recipes I’ve ever made.
Just 30 minutes from start to finish.
I love to bake, and I prefer to bake with whole wheat flour whenever possible to inject a little extra nutrition and fiber into our diets, even when we’re eating something indulgent. I don’t keep white flour in the house, but sometimes whole wheat flour can be heavy and dense. I love the nutty flavor that whole wheat flour lends to baked goods, and have been searching for a way to lighten up their texture.
And I recently made an amazing, wonderful, game-changing discovery >> cornstarch! Something that I’ve always got on hand and have used to thicken sauces and gravies a thousand times, but have never used in baking. I’ve found that for every cup of whole wheat flour, if I remove 1 tablespoon of flour and replace it with 1 tablespoon of corn starch, the resulting texture is light, airy, almost fluffy.
Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
You can totally make this recipe without cornstarch if you want, no problem at all. Your scones will be a bit denser, but there’s nothing wrong with that!
It’s gonna be a scone kind of weekend (it’s Wednesday, so I’ve been thinking about the weekend for 2 days already 😉 ). Just use them as an excuse to invite a few friends over for brunch! Or to cuddle up with a good book and a cup of coffee — sometimes there’s nothing better than a little you time.
- 2 cups whole wheat flour, minus 2 Tbsp
- 2 Tbsp corn starch
- ⅓ cup sugar, or equivalent alternative sweetener of choice**
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter, frozen
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1-2 tsp of lemon zest
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ⅔ cup of powdered sugar, or equivalent alternative sweetener**
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine the flour, corn starch, sugar / sweetener, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Using a box grater's largest holes, grate the frozen butter directly into the mixing bowl. When you get to the end, chop up the remainder and add to the bowl. Working quickly with your fingertips, combine the butter and flour mixture until it resembles a course corn meal. Then add the frozen blueberries and toss to coat in the flour.
- Mix the sour cream and egg in a small bowl until completely combined and creamy. Pour into the flour mixture and use a spoon to combine until the mixture starts to come together in large clumps. Then start mixing by hand, gently pressing the mixture into the sides of the bowl until it comes together -- it may not seem like enough liquid, but it'll come together!
- Once the dough comes together, it'll still be pretty loose but it'll hold it's shape. Turn it out onto a floured countertop, and shape into a 7-inch disk about ¾ to 1 inch high. Using a sharp knife, cut into eight wedges. Place each wedge onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, a little bit apart -- the scones will rise slightly in the oven. Top with a little extra sugar if you'd like.
- Bake on the middle rack for 16 minutes, until starting to brown. Remove from the oven and set aside while you prepare the lemon glaze.
- Set a small saucepan with about an inch of water to boil. Place a mixing bowl into the saucepan, one large enough that the bottom does not touch the water. Melt the butter and then stir in the milk, lemon juice, and 1 tsp of lemon zest. Once combined, add the sugar / sweetener and whisk until completely combined and smooth. Taste to see if you'd like it to be a bit more lemony -- add an extra tsp of lemon zest if desired! Drizzle over the scones and serve warm or room temperature.
I’m going to have to try your recipe for scones, I only made scones once a looooong time ago on my original blog (Virtually Vegan Mama) We love blueberries over here and these are loaded with them, they look fabulous!!
Thanks, Jennifer! We love blueberries over here, too — so versatile 🙂
Looks delicious! If I was thinking about replacing the butter, egg, and sour cream with vegan-friendly ingredients, any recommendations for substitutes?
Yes! Earth balance makes a great stick butter that I’ve used in baked goods before successfully. “Flax eggs” are a great substitute for eggs — to make one flax egg, combine 1 Tbsp of ground flax seeds with 3 Tbsp of water and let set for a few minutes until it forms a gel. This can be brought to scale if you need two or more in a recipe. To replace the sour cream — many scone recipes use an equivalent volume of milk, so you could use 1/2 cup of almond or soy milk in its place, or you could try a homemade vegan sour cream alternative like this cashew-based recipe from Oh She Glows >> http://theglowspot.com/recipes/2014/02/04/homemade-vegan-sour-cream/.
Can you just use applesauce instead of the egg
Do you use lemon juice for the lemon glaze? Not listed under Lemon glaze ingredients or directions. How much?
My goodness! Yes! Thank you for letting me know, what an oversight. I use 1-2 tsp of lemon zest and 1 tbsp lemon juice. Updating the recipe now!
Is it possible to use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
Zoei — I’ve never tried it myself, but it should work out just fine!
My daughter made these and they were WONDERFUL! Used 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries and thought the dough was a little dry so added 1 Tbsp. organic unsweetened applesauce and perfect! The glaze really makes these scones!
I made these tonight. My husband and I loved them. I used some substitutions: plain Greek yogurt, a 5.3 oz container, instead of sour cream. I used about 1-2 TBSP of honey instead of regular sugar. While I made the glaze, I used a lot less than 2/3 cup. I just added a little at a time and tasted it until it was sweet enough for us. They came out great! Thanks for this recipe. I love whole wheat options.
Oh, and I used arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch.