Blackberry Scones

I know it seems early to have ripe blackberries, but ours have been delivering and who am I to argue with that?  We actually have planted a variety that bears fruit in the spring and again in the fall.  Last year we had berries on the vine until the first frost.  Pretty amazing, huh?  These aren't thornless, but thanks to some kind family members who helped us prune them in the winter, they have been easy to pick.  And they are huge!  And really delicious!

Blackberry pie and cobblers are a favorite around here, but I wanted to try my hand at something new.  I thought scones sounded interesting.  I like scones, but had never tried to make them myself.  I found a recipe online, altered it a little (don't I always?) and was happy with the results.  It appears the key to making a good scone is a lot of cold butter and a hot oven.  Freshly picked fruit is a bonus as well, although I've since tried it with frozen blueberries and that was good too. 

This is how they come together -  I measured all the dry ingredients in a large bowl,

whisking them together.

In a smaller bowl, I mixed an egg

fresh lemon zest and juice

and sour cream.

Then I grated the frozen butter.  I'll warn you ahead of time, this is the most difficult part of the recipe.  Have you ever tried to grate frozen butter?  It's not so easy.  And you have to work fast and handle it as little as possible, because you want it to stay cold.  My arm got tired.

 I gently worked the butter into the flour with my hands until it looked like coarse meal.

Since the berries were so large (I know, horrible problem right?), I rough chopped them and added them to the dough.

The dough is crumbly and I kept wanting to add more liquid, but as I gently kneaded it together, it began to hold it's shape. 

I rolled it into a circle and 

and cut it into wedges. You could cut circles or other shapes, but I like the classic wedge.

This would make a good advertisement for King Arthur Flour.  And yes, I'm partial to KAF. 

Once on the baking sheet, I sprinkled a little raw sugar over the tops.

Since I believe that most things are better with frosting, I whipped up a little lemon glaze. 

The sweet and tangy frosting is the perfect accompaniment to these scones which are crunchy on the outside and flaky and tender on the inside.

They've been a big hit!  I won't tell you how many times I've made these, but it's probably been a few  too many.

Blackberry Scones

2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 cup unsalted, frozen butter

1/2 cup cold sour cream

1 egg

1 T. grated lemon zest

1 T. lemon juice

fresh blackberries ( or any other fruit)

Heat oven to 400.  In large bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, soda and 

salt.  In small bowl, whisk sour cream, egg, lemon juice and zest with a fork.  Use a box

grater to grate butter into flour mixture.  Work in with fingers until mixture looks like

coarse meal.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.

Add blackberries and stir gently into dough.  Dough will be crumbly.  Knead a few

times and shape into a circle.  Cut dough into 8 wedges.  Transfer to cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with sugar.  Bake 15 minutes until lightly browned.  Cool on rack and then

drizzle with thick lemon glaze. (confectioners sugar and lemon juice)

*Thank you Kenzie for taking photos for this post.