As part of September denial, I’ve been manically buying up fresh blueberries. The season is fast slipping away, and before you know it, blueberries will cost a dime apiece again.
I’ve been making these sunny whole-grain blueberry scones for the past two weeks. They’re buttery, pastry-like and tender, with tangy berries that melt on the tongue and make me wonder what I ever saw in chewy raisins.
While this is an amalgam of recipes, it is mostly a repurposing of Liz’s Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Buttermilk Blueberry Pancake recipephany. I’ve borrowed the key ingredients, the spices, and the technique of soaking oats in buttermilk to create a sweet mush without any hint of roughage (or as my friend Pam used to say, “rubbish”).
This recipephany features a method for cutting fat into flour that I just learned from Allrecipes. Usually I rub chilled butter or shortening into the dry ingredients with my fingers (I’ve never bothered with a pastry blender). Or, I’ll pulse it in the food processor. Instead, for the scones I use a common gadget that has probably inspired many clever kitchen tips: a box grater. I grate a frozen stick of butter right over the bowl. It’s more work, but does a nice job of creating tiny uniform butter curls for a perfect texture. And since I store my butter in the freezer, I don’t have to think ahead to thaw it.
Soon Cortand apples will take over my fridge. Until then, summer’s still in full swing.
Blueberry Whole-Wheat Scones
- 1¼ cup buttermilk (some will be used for soaking oats, a tiny bit for the glaze)
- ½ cup quick oats
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup frozen butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup blueberries
- Sugar to sprinkle on top
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Soak ½ cup quick oats in ½ cup buttermilk for about as long as it takes to do the rest of the steps.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar in a large bowl.
- Grate a frozen stick of butter right into the bowl using a cheese grater. Add blueberries and toss. Add buttermilk/oat mixture, vanilla, and almost the rest of the buttermilk (save just a little for glaze). Stir until dough is just moistened.
- Knead briefly until the dough comes together. Pat into about a 6-inch square, about 1½-inches thick. Cut into 4 squares, then cut each square diagonally into three triangles. Transfer scones onto baking sheet. Brush tops with a little buttermilk, then sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake until well browned and blueberry juices bubble, about 18-25 minutes. Cool before serving.
