Easter Brunch - Lemon Blueberry Scones

This recipe is inspired by Martha Stewart's Cream Scones recipe.  I changed out the currants for dried blueberries and the Grand Marnier for boiling water.  This recipe makes light and delicious scones.  I made the dough two days before Easter, let them sit in the fridge in a covered container and baked them right before I needed them so they were hot at the table.  I used organic ingredients for this recipe as they are easily substituted out for conventional ones. 

Makes about 20 scones

Ingredients:

1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup dried blueberries
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, chilled
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk (reserve 1 egg white for egg wash)

Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Here's how:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine boiling water, dried blueberries, and lemon zest. Allow fruit to plump, at least one hour or up to overnight in the refrigerator.

Blueberries, water and lemon zest

In a large bowl, whisk together cake flour, all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

Sifted ingredients

Transfer one half of the flour mixture to a food processor. Add the butter and pulse several times to combine. Do not over-process; some butter pieces should remain the size of large peas, while others pieces will be smaller.

Butter incorporated into the dry mixture

Add the contents of the food processor back to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir to combine.

In a small bowl, whisk to combine the cream, egg, and egg yolk. Create a well in the middle of the flour mixture and gradually add the cream mixture. Using a large spatula or wooden spoon, draw the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients, being sure to scrape from the bottom of the bowl to incorporate the dry crumbs.

Add the plumped fruit and gently mix. Do not overwork the dough.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Pat into a narrow rectangle about 1 inch thick.

Dought turned out

With the short side facing you, fold rectangle into thirds like a business letter. Turn dough a quarter turn clockwise, so the flap opening faces right, like a book. This is the first turn.

With a rolling pin or your hands, gently pat into another narrow rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Repeat folding and turning process to complete a second turn.

Using lightly floured hands, pat dough out into a 1 1/4-inch-thick rectangle.

Dough ready to cut out.  Note the butter chunks

Cut into rounds

Cut out rounds, spaced as closely together as possible, using a floured 2-inch round biscuit cutter. Dough may be rerolled once and additional rounds may be cut out.

Transfer rounds to prepared baking sheet, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with fine sanding sugar. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes on a wire rack before serving, or serve at room temperature.