blueberry scones with crumble topping {and King Arthur #bakeforgood giveaway!}
A month ago I was invited to be part of King Arthur's three-city Bake For Good tour which made it's stop in Minneapolis, between Seattle and L.A. The tour combined two of my favorite things, baking and doing good for others, into one amazing weekend. It started on Friday with a day full of hands-on baking sessions where I learned a ton about bread baking and pie making. We baked loaves and loaves of bread and more pies than I've ever seen in one room, that were to be served the following day at Family Services Center, which is a temporary housing option for families experiencing homelessness in the Twin Cities. The following day we headed to Family Services Center to prepare a full meal to serve with our baked goods, and serve it to those needing a nice hot meal.
As you can imagine, the weekend was special for so many reasons. The best part for me was seeing the faces of those receiving the meal we cooked, especially the kids. It was humbling to see these families at one of the lowest times in their life, able to sit down and enjoy a good meal. It never ceases to amaze me the indescribable feeling one gets from doing something good for another human being, even something as simple as baking them a loaf of bread.
Everything we made, from the pies to the brownies to the chicken and macaroni cheese dinner were delicious, but the one thing that stuck with me (oddly enough) were the scones. Susan, our baking expert, made two versions of scones for us on Friday morning - one with white whole wheat flour and the other with 100% whole wheat flour. She explained to us the difference between the two types of flours, which is that white whole wheat flour is made from a lighter colored wheat, as opposed to the red wheat that whole wheat flour is made from. It is also lighter and more mild in flavor, which is appealing to those who are used to the flavor of all-purpose flour, making it a great alternative for someone who wants to eat whole grains, but isn't a fan of the strong flavor of whole wheat flour.
Personally, I love the flavor of whole wheat bread most of the time, but there are times in life that call for white bread. Like sourdough. And scones, apparently. While I loved both of the versions of scones we sampled, I preferred the scones made with the white whole wheat flour. The other thing I loved about the scones was the sprinkling of sparkling sugar on top, which gave it an unmistakable sweet crunch in every bite!
When I was making these scones I didn't have any sparkling sugar on hand so I decided to do the next best thing and add a crumble topping. As much as I love crumb toppings, I typically prefer not to make them because I feel they're a hassle, but after a lengthy discussion during our baking sessions with Brenda from A Farm Girls Dabbles about how good crumb toppings are, I've been inspired to change my ways.
This scone recipe is adapted from King Arthur's blueberry scone recipe, and it's one of the best I've tried. I've had some bad scones in my life (hard, crumbly, yuck!) but these were not them. These scones were exactly what I hope scones to be like: firm but with a soft interior. The lemon zest and blueberries were a perfect match, and the crumble topping was definitely meant for this scone. They were definitely some of the best scones I've ever had.
Now, onto the giveaway! I'm giving away the essential King Arthur ingredients for making these scones! The winner will receive a 10 pound bag of King Arthur's All-Purpose and 5 lb bag of White Whole Wheat Flour, White Sparkling Sugar, King Arthur Vanilla (the best!) and their Cocoa Powder (for all of your brownie baking needs). To enter, use the Rafflecopter below. Contest ends Wednesday May 21st at 11:59 p.m. Central time.
Ingredients
for the crumble topping:
- ¼ cup King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoon butter
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
for the scones:
- 2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 6 tablespoon cold unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- 2 large eggs beaten
- ¼ cup vanilla yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
To make the crumble topping:
- Combine all ingredients and work together with fingers, until course crumbs form.
- Set aside.
To make the scones:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line with parchment.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder.
- Add the butter and work it into the dry ingredients till the mixture is unevenly crumbly; use your fingers, a pastry blender, or an electric mixer.
- Fold in blueberries.
- In a small bowl, stir together the eggs, yogurt, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and almond extract.
- Add to the dry ingredients and stir very gently, just until combined.
- The dough will be quite moist, like cookie dough.
- Form dough into a ~8-9" wide disc, ~1" tall, adding 1-2 tablespoon of flour if needed and place onto baking sheet.
- Using a large knife, cut into 8 triangles and gently space them apart about ½".
- Sprinkle with crumble topping.
- Bake the scones for 20 to 24 minutes, or until lightly browned and a cake tester inserted into a scone comes out dry.
- Remove from the oven, and serve warm.
I looove a chocolate chip scone!!!
Me too Kayle! I'm all for chocolate in my breakfast 😉
Yum - love scones!! I made some this week too 🙂 That crumble topping looks awesome!!
Cinnamon chip!!
That sounds delicious Katie!
I'm obsessed with scones!
I love a good sugared cream scone.
That sounds heavenly Elin!
I love a pumpkin spice scone!
Oooh me too! Especially with some sort of caramel glaze!
raspberry with white chocolate...yum!
Now that combo sounds delicious!!
Your Blueberry Scones are my new favorite!
Thanks Elizabeth! 🙂
Love the idea of topping scones with a crumb topping! These sound amazing!
I love a good strawberry scone!
Thanks Jessica! And I should've guessed it - you do love your strawberry desserts! 😉
My favorite kind of scone is either blueberry (and your recipe looks delicious, I should try it!), or chai tea. Wait, I'm kidding, I've never had a chai tea flavored scone but I've been seriously intending on inventing one!!!
I am waiting for the day when you do invent the Chai scone...it sounds delightful!!
My favorite scone is chocolate cherry, but the lemon and blueberry combo must be investigated!
Oooh chocolate cherry sounds intriguing!
Chocolate chip scones!!!
Yum! I'll take any reason to eat chocolate for breakfkast! 🙂
I really like all kinds of scones. Some of my favs are vanilla bean, blueberry, and cranberry lemon that is made with fresh cranberries minced in the food processor!
Oooh that cranberry lemon scone sounds delicious!
Blueberry or chocolate chip scones are my fave
I love blueberry scones.
My favorite is Cranberry Orange. But I keep hearing rave reviews about a lavender with lemon that I need to try.
I just tried a lavender lemon bread a couple of weeks ago and it was heavenly! I love the idea of those flavors in a scone.
i love a good maple pecan scone..... blueberry is a close second!
Love any kind of scones, but especially blueberry
What a great opportunity! I hope more brands decide to host events like this! The scones look delish and i can't wait to try them...after i get off this ridiculous sugar detox!!
maple pecan for me!
Most any fruit scone works for me, but I think my favourite would be a toss up between Cranberry Orange and Blueberry!
I love chocolate chips scones. I'm obsessed with anything chocolate!
That makes two of us Joanna!
Strawberry scones are my favorite- yum!
My favorite scone is anyone I can get my hands on! But these Blueberry ones sure look like they could become the top one!
Any with chocolate in them! lol
I Love Blueberry Scones but some days I just have to have Chocolate!!
I don't eat scones
I like blueberry scones the best
I recently made a scone with blueberries and it was really good.
I absolutely LOVE blueberry scones!
Oooh good choice! 🙂
chocolate chip and blueberry. yummmmmm(you have to use homers voice. lol)
I love the blueberry scone!!!
I love lemon scones
Cranberry Walnut scones are my favorite! The flavor combo is unbeatable!
I'm really quite happy with any type of scone!
Blueberry and apple cinnamon are my favorite.
Oooh apple cinnamon sounds yummy!
I love scones with bits of fruit in them.
Good choice Aly! 🙂
I've never had a scone before. I would think my favorite would be blueberry though.
My favorite is chocolate chip and pecan 🙂
Mmm that sounds like a delicious combo!
Peach
I love blueberry chocolate scones. Just pure yum!!!
lemon
Rich and moist lemon blueberry scones with a sweet and crunchy streusel topping. Get this simple to make recipe that my family will love. Thanks for sharing 🙂
So happy to hear this, Marie!