Lemony Rhubarb Scones

Pamper Mom this Mother’s Day, starting off first thing in the morning with these oh-so-delicious Lemony Rhubarb Scones!

My gardens are lush with rhubarb this time of year, and I’m always looking for new ways to use the tart, beautiful stalks. Pies, alone or with other fruits like strawberries and blueberries. are of course a favorite, and I can’t tell you how much rhubarb sauce we go through topping pancakes, waffles, and ice cream! But I’d never thought about using them in scones until a friend recommended this recipe to me.

These two tarts - lemon and rhubard - are tamed with a sweet sugar glaze and the combination is melt-in-your-mouth, delish!

This is a basic scone recipe, which as you know, comes together pretty quickly because it has baking powder for leavening. All you have to do is add the lemon’s zest and juice and the chopped rhubarb to take them from Ho-Hum to Oh-Yum!

Deliver to Mom on a breakfast tray with her morning tea or coffee, a posie, and handmade card to start her day off right. Don’t forget to spoil her the rest of the day as well!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• Zest of 1 lemon

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, frozen and grated

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh rhubarb

• 3/4 cup heavy cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 egg (for egg wash)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest.

2. Add grated butter and cut into dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or two forks until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Add chopped rhubarb and stir.

4. In small bowl, mix wet ingredients; cream, vanilla, and lemon juice. Pour into the dry mixture and stir until just combined.

5. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead a few times, and shape into disk approximately 1-inch thick.

6. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes - or overnight if you want warm scones in the morning!

7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees as dough is chilling and prepare a baking sheet with a large piece of parchment paper.

8. Cut chilled dough into 8 wedges and place them on prepared baking sheet.

9. Brush the tops with beaten egg

10. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown and no longer wet inside.

11. Cool on wire rack then drizzle with glaze.

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 3 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk

1. Combine sugar and cream/milk, mixing well until thick and smooth. Add more sugar if too thin, or more cream/milk if too thick. Drizzle over cooled scones.

Back-to-School Blackberry Scones

For most of the country, school is going to be back in session - IN PERSON - at least as we begin this new school year. I don’t know about yours, but MY kids are ecstatic!

Gone are the moans and groans I’ve grown used to over the nearly 40 years I’ve been at this motherhood thing, and in their place is such joy and enthusiasm over in-classroom learning I’ve never seen before! It’s got me excited too! (Yes, I DO realize the learning aspect has little to do with the anticipatory glee - it’s all about seeing friends again!!)

If you still have some plump juicy blackberries hanging around begging to be picked before the falls rains set in (Oh please, oh please, we NEED the fall rains!) all you need is a cup of them to mix up a batch of these scones and make your kids first school morning even sweeter than they could have imagined! If you go the extra step and add the lemon glaze, you’ll be so glad you did! It adds a touch of sweetness and the citrus is a nice crisp contrast to the soft warm sconce.

There are two main points to remember when it comes to making scones - one, it’s ALL ABOUT THE BUTTER. The colder, the better! And, don’t over-work the dough; give it a light touch, pat gently into place before cutting into wedges.

Give ‘em a try!

Blackberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2/3 cup sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes or you can use frozen butter and grate it in.

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream

• 1 cup blackberries

For the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• zest and juice of 1/2 lemon (about 1 Tablespoon of each)

• splash of cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. Next, add the cold butter. A pastry cutter works great if you’ve used cold butter cut into cubes. If you’ve grated in frozen butter, just toss it to coat well. (All butter should be no larger that pea-sized.)

4. In another bowl, whisk egg and cream together. Combine with dry mixture, and mix with a fork, just enough until dough comes together.

5. Add the berries to the dough, gently turning into the dough, trying not to squish too much juice out of the berry.

6. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a round shape about 1” thick. Using a sharp knife dredged in flour, cut the round into about 8 wedges of the same size.

7. Transfer to a a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown on top.

8. Serve warm or continue with the next step to add a lemon glaze.

9. While the scones are baking, make the glaze. Mix 1 cup powdered sugar with the zest and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Add a splash of cream if glaze is not thin enough. (Conversely, add more powdered sugar if you want a thicker glaze.)

10. Brush warm scones with half the glaze, wait until they have cooled a little bit (10-15 minutes) and brush again. Serve.