Yeasted Blueberry Scones are cousin to Angel Biscuits, which are biscuits made with yeast. They have a crumbly and rich crust surrounding a crumb that's lighter than a typical biscuit and more like a roll or muffin. So basically, you get the best of both worlds! Plus the scones are a little puffier and bigger. You might feel like you're getting more scone for the calories.
Make Ahead Yeasted Blueberry Scones
Another benefit is that the scones are perfect for making ahead because you assemble the scones, let them rise, freeze, and bake straight out of the freezer -- a trick I learned from King Arthur Flour. Their theory is that putting the risen dough in the freezer for an hour will re-solidify the bits of butter that are known for making biscuit and pie dough flaky. I'd say it works!
Update
I still like Yeasted Blueberry Scones, but may need to change the name because more often than not I use chocolate chips instead of blueberries.
Recipe
Freeze and Bake Yeasted Blueberry Scones
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups 7 oz/196 grams cake flour**
- 1 cup 4.5 oz/126 grams well stirred and aerated all-purpose flour**
- 6 tablespoons 2.6 oz/73 grams granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons 48 grams shortening
- ¼ cup 56 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 2 teaspoons of quick rising yeast
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or ½ teaspoon of Imitation Vanilla Butter & Nut by McCormick**
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk at room temperature not ice cold, but not warm
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Thoroughly mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the shortening and butter to the dry mixture, and with a pastry cutter or your fingers, work the fat into the flour mixture until crumbly. Add the yeast and stir well.
- Add the vanilla to ¾ cup of the buttermilk, then pour and stir to make soft dough. Add the other 2 tablespoons of milk only if the dough seems very dry.
- Add ½ cup of the frozen berries and carefully stir them into the dough.
- Turn mixture onto a floured surface and shape into two 6x3 inch rectangles.
- With a floured knife, cut each rectangle into 8 small triangles.
- Arrange scone triangles on a nonstick or parchment lined baking sheet and poke the remaining blueberries into the scones. Cover loosely with parchment or nonstick foil and let sit for 1 hour to rise. After one hour, put the risen triangles (they won’t rise dramatically, but they will lighten) in the freezer for another hour or until you are ready to bake them.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Arrange as many triangles as you want to serve on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden and inside appears cooked through.
- Brush tops with melted butter and serve warm or let cool and drizzle with icing.
- McCormick’s Imitation Butternut & Vanilla extract, which is hard to find in Austin and which I have to order via Amazon, tastes great in these scones, but if you don’t have any, regular vanilla is fine.
Anna says
It's been a while since I made these. The key distinguishing feature was that they were lighter than regular scones.
Sue says
I have a number of scone recipes that I like a lot but am thinking if trying a blueberry version. Maybe with a lemon drizzle or glaze.
This recipe intrigues me.
Anna says
Hi Cheryl! Happy Monday.
In this recipe, the dough sits out for a bit while the yeast does its work so the butter does soften up a bit in the dough. Freezing it makes sense. But generally, I don't think you need to freeze dough in traditional non-yeast scones because it is easier to keep the dough cold throughout the process. Freezing is convenient, though. These days I freeze almost all scone dough so that we can just throw triangles in the oven when ready to bake.
Overall, this yeast method was fun and did create a lighter scone. I really wasn't sure putting yeast in scone dough would be worth it, but I did enjoy the lighter texture and would do it again.
And cinnamon chips would be great!
Cheryl says
Do you think placing scones in the freezer for 1 hr. is good practice for any scone recipe?
I can see cinnamon chips in this recipe also.