Blueberry Scones

Ingredient list

• Blueberries: fresh or frozen (without thawing) can be used with great results.
• Unsalted butter.
• All-purpose flour.
• Salt: I like to use kosher salt when baking. But regular table salt works just fine.
• Baking powder: is used as leavener to help the scones rise, so ensure it isn't expired. 
• Milk: whole milk will give richer results. But reduced-fat milk can be used.
• Cream: heavy cream, whipping, or heavy whipping cream can be used.
• Egg: fresh, large.
• Vanilla: I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works and is infinitely cheaper. 
• Cinnamon: any ground cinnamon you normally use works fine. I like Frontier Vietnamese cinnamon and Simply Organic Ceylon cinnamon. 

How to make blueberry scones

It's all in the details.

The mixing of dry ingredients with butter can be made in 2 ways:

• By hand - a bowl where you integrate the cold butter with your hands or with a pastry cutter. This can take a few minutes as the butter needs to be the size of peas and small beans because it will be irregular. 
• Food processor - the butter and dry ingredients are integrated by pulsing a few times. This is way faster and less messy (no hands involved), and the only thing to watch out for is not getting carried away and processing the butter too much. 

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl, and add the cold butter pieces. Integrate with your hands or with a pastry cutter. You can do this in a food processor but stop when the butter is about the size of peas or chickpeas. It will be uneven.

Lightly whisk the eggs and add them to the flour mixture with the milk and cream. Mix with a fork or spoon a little. You just want to moisten the dry ingredients.

It will look very dry, but if you take some of the mixture and squeeze it in your palm, it will come together. Add the blueberries and barely mix to incorporate. You don't want to crush them. Dump the mixture onto a clean surface. Some blueberries will be loose.

Gather the shaggy mass with your hands or a dough scraper, folding it onto itself several times until you can form a disk. It does not have to come together like a pie crust, so touch it as little as possible to create a disk that you can cut.

Cut the dough round with a kitchen knife or a dough cutter into 6 or 8 triangles.

Place them on a baking sheet and freeze for 15 minutes before baking. You can line it with parchment paper if you want to.

Vintage Kitchen tip: to get tender and fluffy scones, ensure the ingredients are cold, the oven is preheated, and you don't overwork the dough. If in doubt, put the scones in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking.

Kitchen notes

• Organization: read the recipe first and ensure you have ingredients at the correct temperature, equipment, and enough workspace. This will make the process so much easier.
• Baking time: remember that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer(like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust. 
• Very cold ingredients: I’m not kidding when I say almost frozen butter, at least very cold. And don’t take the milk and cream half an hour before mixing the scones. Butter, cream, and milk belong in the fridge until you need to scatter and pour them.
• Don't work the dough much: it should come together but still have floury patches. You don’t need to work it until it’s smooth, like pie dough. It is an uneven dough with dry spots, and that’s good for flakiness later.
• A relatively high oven: they need that extra heat (and baking powder) to rise, despite all that butter and cream. And if you forgot to turn the oven on before you start mixing, please don’t leave the baking sheet with the cut scones waiting on the counter. Put them in the fridge or freezer for the ten or fifteen minutes it takes for the oven to reach its temperature.

Freezing scones

Scones freeze like a dream. You can keep a batch in the freezer and bake it to order!

Freeze the already cut scones (I do it on the baking sheet) until they are rock solid, and then transfer them to a bag. That way, they will take up less space in your freezer and free up the pan.

When you crave warm, fluffy scones, bake them directly from the freezer in a 375°F/190°C oven.