When I think of spring baking, berries always seem to come to mind. I’ve still got another month or so until I can start picking fresh berries here in the Pacific Northwest, but that doesn’t stop my craving for them. I love baking with berries, and blueberries are one of my favorites to use. They’re so versatile, and much sturdier to bake with than a lot of other berries. I think they’re totally delicious in everything from sweet breads to shortcake to pies. While I often bake with regular blueberries, I had never baked with wild blueberries before I made these scones. I found some wild blueberries while I was grocery shopping recently, and I just couldn’t pass them up. They’re so small and flavorful, and they made these scones extra delicious! I found my wild blueberries in the freezer section at Trader Joe’s, and I’ve also seen them at Whole Foods in the freezer section. If you can’t find them or don’t want to use them, you could easily substitute regular blueberries. I like to use the wild blueberries because they’re smaller, so they distribute more evenly throughout the scone dough, but the scones will be delicious either way!
Wild Blueberry Scones
The full recipe is at the bottom of this post, but here’s what you’ll need:
flour sugar baking powder salt butter wild blueberries (regular blueberries will work great too) buttermilk eggs
The key to making these wild blueberry scones as tender and flaky as possible is to not over mix them. You’ll start by whisking together the dry ingredients, then cut in the butter. I’ve found that grating the cold butter into the dry ingredients is a good way to break it into small pieces quickly, and it keeps the butter colder. Once the butter is cut in, toss the blueberries in the dry ingredients, then pour in the wet ingredients.
Only mix the dough until it has just barely come together (a few dry spots here and there are fine), then pat it out into an eight inch circle. It’s inevitable that some of the wild blueberries will bleed into the dough, but you can minimize it as much as possible by not over mixing it.
Cut the scone dough into eight wedges (I like to use a bench scraper or pizza cutter to make it easy), then space them out on a baking sheet. They will definitely expand as they bake, so be sure to give them at least an inch of space in between. Sprinkle them with a little additional sugar, and they are ready to bake.
Don’t worry if they look a little craggy and messy – they will come out just fine in the end! Bake the scones until they are golden brown on top, then let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before moving them to a cooling rack. They look so pretty after they’re baked!
These wild blueberry scones are so delicious with a glass of cold milk for an easy breakfast or snack!
I can’t decide which part of these scones I love the most – the crisp, sugary top or the tender, berry-filled middle. They are perfection throughout!
These scones will keep for 2-3 days in an airtight container, so you can make a batch and have breakfast on hand for the next few days. If you’d like to serve them for dessert, they are great as is, but I also love them with a scoop of fresh whipped cream on the side. They are so yummy!
These wild blueberry scones are perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert! They’re lightly sweetened, loaded with blueberries, and totally delicious!
