You cannot have too much scones recipe, at least I cannot. Scones are VERY easy, make-ahead breakfast option. You can make them sweet or savory and used different mix-in depending on your craving. For sweet scones, I often go for fruity variation specially during Summer where fruits are in abundance. This scone was one of those scone that is always my go to when I feel like a fresh fruity citrus flavored scone. I’ve made this several times, sometimes plain just with Blueberry and sometimes with crumble topping, and sometimes with nuts toppings, like this one. I love the fresh orange flavor, the sweet tangy Blueberry and the crunch of Almonds on top. This is a breakfast that I wouldn’t mind anytime of the day.

This scone was inspired by my small batch Cream Scones and Blueberry Struesel Scones with a little added twist. It’s more of a mash-up between the two, and the result is a buttery, creamy scones with a nice Almond crunch on top and a subtle citrus flavor .. and of course fresh pieces of Blueberries.

About This Recipe

• Ease in Making the Recipe: Scones is one that I consider to a be a very easy recipe, regardless if you are making sweet or savory version. You can make scones in 1 hr, that already include the chilling time of 30 minutes. This is one pastry that I often prefer to make in the morning when I feel like having it for breakfast. For me, nothing beats freshly baked Scones. With easy recipe like this, baking it the same day you are serving it is what I recommend you do.
• Ingredients: The ingredients are simple and easy to find, not to mention flexible. You can use this base dough to make both sweet and savory variation. All you need to change are the mix in, this recipe uses chop white chocolate and fresh Strawberry.
• Texture, Taste & Flavor: It’s a flaky buttery scone, that’s for sure. It has just the right sweetness even after the addition of white chocolate. Sweet scone doesn’t have to be overly sweet, that is how I always like it. The scone has a very tender crumb texture. Thanks to the cake flour, it surely made the texture soft and light. The amount of Strawberry is just perfect, it has the balance amount of dough to Strawberry. Do not be tempted to add too much Strawberry as it could make the scone too heavy and wet.
• Make-Ahead: Definitely Yes! You can make the dough ahead of time and keep it frozen up to 2 months, But with a recipe this easy, I highly recommend just make it the same day you want to serve it. I always say and I stand by it that scones and biscuit are best eaten the same day they are made, even better few minutes after baking.

Ingredients for Almond Blueberry Orange Scones

• Cake Flour or All-Purpose Flour – Cake flour produces a lighter crumb Scones and so this is my go to most of the time. This is not saying that you cannot make it using all-purpose flour, you can and it will work too but with slight difference in texture.
• granulated Sugar – this recipe uses small amount of sugar, only 1 tablespoon. You can make it 2 or 3 tablespoon if you like it sweeter but take into consideration that there is white chocolate added in this so that is also sweet.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda – I used 2 leavening agent to gift a lift to the scones. Since there is buttermilk which is acidic, adding baking soda makes sense. The baking powder is also needed since we are adding a lot of heavy chopped Strawberry plus the chocolate, it will really need all the help it could get to push the scones to rise.
• Salt – always add salt to enhance the taste. I used table salt.
• unsalted Butter – I always grate my butter when making scones. Grating the butter makes an even size pieces that easily mix with the dough. Freezing is highly recommended for easier grating and for a more flaky scones.
• Cream – Cream produces a creamy scones which is good for this variation because of the citrus and acidic Orange and Blueberry that we are adding in. You can also use full fat milk, or buttermilk. If using buttermilk, add 1 teaspoon baking soda when sifting the dry ingredients.
• Blueberry – I used fresh Blueberry as it is season. You can use frozen but do not thaw the Blueberry and work quick in forming the dough before the Blueberry starts to thaw as this could make the dough wet and sticky.
• Orange Juice and Zest – This will give the fresh natural citrus flavor inside and outside the scones.
• Raw Almonds – I used raw Almonds and toasted it for 5 minutes, and then I chopped it. You can also use sliced Almonds, this will nit need toasting and chopping anymore. You can also use pecan or walnut as substitute.

Can I use frozen Blueberry?

Do it only if you cannot find fresh one. When using frozen Blueberry, do not thaw it. Thawed Blueberry have too much moisture and it will make the dough to wet. If this happen, add a little bit of flour to dry out the dough and generously flour the surface you are working on.

Why Cake Flour?

I used to make scones and biscuit using all-purpose flour, it does work too. But if you want a a light tender scones, cake flour will do the job better. Cake flour have the lowest protein content among all other type of flour, about 5 – 8 percent which produces a light tender crumb. This is why this is the recommended type of flour when making cakes as cakes a better with light tender texture. Another benefit of using cake flour is that it absorb liquid and sugar better thus making the bake product moist.

All-purpose flour on the other hand have 10 – 12 percent protein content. The higher protein content produces a chewier compact baked product like cookies and flaky pie crust. Over mixing will easily result to a tough baked goods.

This is not saying that All-purpose flour will not work, as I mentioned I tried it several times before and it also worked but with difference in texture. When I started using cake flour for my scones and biscuits, I immediately noticed the difference and never looked back. Give it a try and compare the texture if you want to test it yourself. Judy, one of the reader commented this when she made my Flaky Glazed Orange Scones

“Great recipe! I followed your suggestion of using cake flour along with the high protein KA flour I normally use. My scones were finally the light and tender texture that I have been missing since switching over to KA flour about 5 years ago! (I have been blaming my new oven for 5 years!). Thanks!”

How to Make Scones

Everything in this process is easy. Scones always start with cold butter and mixing it with the dough along with the flour, sugar, salt, leavening agent. The add-ins can vary and is very flexible. For this recipe, I used chopped white chocolate and Strawberry as mix in.

Mix the Dry Ingredients

To start the process, sift the dry ingredients in a bowl. Sifting is important here because we are using cake flour here and cake flour tends to have lumps. Sifting also aerate the flour, making it lighter and fluffier thus producing light and soft scones. Once all all mix, add the chopped white chocolate and Strawberry. I like adding them before adding the liquid so that whatever liquid the Strawberry have will be absorb by the flour. This way, you can easily adjust the amount of liquid as you work through the dough.

Add the Wet Ingredients

Gradually add the liquid which is buttermilk in this case. I often add half of the liquid to start with and then add more liquid as needed. Because we are using fruit that is quite wet, the dough could get easily sticky when you ended up more liquid than required. If this happen, simply add small amount of flour to dry up the dough, and rub your hands with some flour too so it doesn’t stick to the dough. Just do not add too much flour as you do not want ending with a tough scones. Once you can gather it together to form a disk and it is not cracking, then you can stop adding more flour or liquid. This is pretty much applicable to any kind of scones not only for this variation.

Shape, Freeze

Once that is done, wrap the dough and freeze it at least 30 minutes, if you have 1 hr to spare, freeze it for 1 hour. You can even freeze it up to 3 months. No need to thaw when ready to bake, simply add 2-3 more minutes when baking frozen raw Scones.

Bake

Now the brushing of the top. You can use buttermilk to brush the top, that is if you do not want to crack 1 egg just to use to brush the top. Of course using egg wash will produce a better browning on top but it will not affect the overall taste of the scones. Arrange the scones in a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven. Bake at 400F, hot oven is key to producing a great scone.

The process of making the scone is pretty basic, even if this is your first time making it. I left few tips below on scone making, spare some time and read it because it is crucial to having a soft and flaky scone.

Tips to a Successful Flaky and Light Scones

• Cold Ingredients: This is one of the secret to a flaky Scones just like with biscuit and pie crust. Eggs, cream/milk/water should be cold not only the butter. Using cold ingredients prevents the butter from melting before the scones are baked, leaving it instead to melt in the oven and create a super-flaky end result
• No Over Mixing:  Just like when making bread over mixing could result to a tough scones. This is why it is very important to handle the dough with care, slightly and gradually push it around but do not knead it too much to make the texture smooth. Stop as soon as you are able to gather it up together. With scones, lumps and bumps is perfectly fine, it gave the scone a more rustic look
• Chill or Freeze Before Baking: The dough will soften as you handle it because of the warmth of your hands, so as extra precaution, chilling it or even freezing it before baking is highly recommended for a flaky texture.
• Hot Oven – Pre-heated hot oven is recommended when baking scones or biscuits. This is important so that the scones could reach its fullest height and lightest crumb.

Ok, I think that’s about it. Spare sometime watching the video and carefully read and follow the instructions below. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 5 tablespoon COLD Butter (Freeze overnight or minimum 1 hour)
• 11 tablespoon COLD Cream (plus more for brushing top, about 1 tbsp)
• 1/2 cup Blueberry
• 3 tablespoon sliced Almonds

Orange Glaze

• 1/2 cup Confectioners Sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoon Orange Juice
• Zest of 2 Orange (use 1 for a milder citrus flavor)

Substitution

• Blueberry can be substituted with Strawberry, Cherry, Raspberry, Mango
• Orange can be substituted with Lemon
• Almond can be substituted with Pecans, Hazelnut or Walnut
• Cream can be substituted with full fat milk but you may need less. Add gradually so you can easily adjust it. You can also use buttermilk but you need to add 1/8 tsp baking soda if using buttermilk.

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a large holed cheese grater, grate the frozen butter. Add the Blueberry and gently mix to coat with flour.
3. Wet Ingredients: Gradually add buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough starts to come together. You may need more or less of the recommended measurement. You do not have to use all of it, once it start to come together, stop adding more. It you find some spots dry, add a bit of buttermilk to moisten it.
4. Shape: Form the dough into a 6-inch disk.
5. Freeze: Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.
6. Arrange: Cut the dough into 4 wedges. Place the scones on the baking sheet spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Brush top with buttermilk.
7. Topping: Sprinkle sliced Almonds on top
8. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Rotate the pan halfway through. Check at 20 minutes to make sure the top is not browning too fast. If this is the case, simply cover the top with aluminum foil. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
9. Make the Orange Glaze: Mix the confectioners sugar and orange juice. Stir until smooth consistency. You can add more if you prefer a thin glaze. Add orange zest and mix. Set aside.
10. Cool – Let the scones completely cool in a wire rack before drizzling the glaze.
11. Glaze: Drizzle the orange glaze on top and let sit to allow the glaze to solidify
    

Makes 4 scones

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