OH YUM. When blueberries are in abundance – finger-staining, juice-dripping abundance – you’ve got to make the most of them. The good thing about fresh blueberries is that you can flash freeze them and keep them over the blueberry-lean months. But you really should use them fresh as long as you can. Here’s my favorite recipe for blueberry orange scones (and you can cut this in half very easily):
2 large eggs
1 1/3 c cold heavy cream
4 cups all-purpose flour
8T sugar (plus extra for sprinkling on top)
2T baking powder
1/2 t salt
10T unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 pint of blueberries
orange zest
Preheat the oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat, or with parchment paper.
Stir the eggs and cream together, and set aside.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Drop in the butter and toss to coat it with flour. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour mixture. Keep at it until the mixture is kind of pebbly – you’ll have bits of butter the size of peas, flakes of oatmeal, and everything in between.
Pour the eggs and cream over the dry ingredients and stir it with a fork until it all comes together. Pour in the blueberries and orange zest (I use a couple tablespoons of zest, use whatever you like….lemon zest is good too) and, with a spatula, stir gently to incorporate the blueberries throughout the dough.
On a floured surface, dump half the dough and gently press it into the shape of a large disk. Sprinkle a little flour on top, and gently move the disk around to be sure it’s not stuck to your countertop. Cut the disk into 8 pie-shaped pieces, and arrange them on your baking sheet. Do the same with the remaining dough. Sprinkle sugar on top of the scones, and a little extra zest if you like.
Bake the scones for 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and kind of firm. Transfer them to a rack, cool for 10 minutes at least. Eat and enjoy! We freeze them in a large ziplock bag; they’re not quite as good as they are when they’re freshly made, but they’re still awfully dang good.
