Recipe: Meyer Lemon Cream Scones
I was fortunate enough to source some local + organic Meyer Lemons recently and, after much debating, I decided to bake up a batch of Meyer Lemon Cream Scones. These aren’t your dry, powdery, mass produced scones — these are tender, moist, and soft with just the right amount of sugary crumble.
Meyer Lemon zest and raw sugar are folded into the dough before baking for an extra burst of sweet lemony goodness, and they are topped with a Meyer lemon juice glaze. Perfect on their own, with a glass of iced tea, or split in half and served as berry shortcake. Don’t forget the whipped cream!
Meyer Lemon Cream Scones
Ingredients:
9 ounces (255 grams) All Purpose Flour or a baking mix Gluten Free Flour (or a scant 2 cups using the spoon and level method)
1 tablespoon (15 grams) Baking Powder
3 tablespoons (40 grams) Raw or Turbinado Sugar (traditional white sugar works too)
1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) Salt
4 tablespoons (56 grams) Chilled Unsalted Butter, cut into pieces
1 cup (235 ml) Heavy Cream or Half And Half
Zest of 1 large Meyer Lemon (or 1 large regular lemon / 2 small lemons if it’s not Meyer Lemon season. Use organic lemons whenever possible, and wash the rind well before zesting to remove wax / dirt.)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Place flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a mixing bowl, or the bowl of a food processor fitted with a chopping blade. Whisk together, or pulse six times.
If mixing by hand, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter is in pea-sized lumps. Or, If mixing with a food processor, add butter to dry ingredients, cover, and pulse 10 times.
Transfer dough to a large mixing bowl. Fold in cream or half and half with a sturdy spatula until the dough begins to come together. It should be rough and shaggy looking, but with no obvious wet or dry spots.
Dump dough out onto a clean countertop and use hands to shape it into a rough, sticky ball. Be sure to work the dough for a few seconds so the moisture is evenly distributed, but don’t overwork — otherwise too much gluten will form and the butter will soften.
Shape the scones by pressing the dough into an 8-inch round pan (silicone works best) then inverting the dough onto the countertop (dust with flour first). You can also shape the dough free-form by hand. It helps a lot to shape directly on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat! Divide the dough into 8 wedges with either a butter knife or bench scraper; be sure to press gently so as to avoid cutting the parchment or silicone, if using.
Move parchment paper / silicone mat to a baking sheet. Or, place scone wedges on a non-stick baking sheet. Be sure to keep them in their circular shape, with a little space between each one. Bake until the tops of the scones are lightly golden and look dry to the touch, 12 to 15 minutes.
Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
If you’d like to top them with a glaze, juice the lemons you zested. Mix 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with 1 cup of powdered sugar (be sure to sift it first) to make the glaze. You can either dunk the tops of the scones in the glaze, or drizzle the glaze over the tops of the scones. Either way, be sure to let scones cool before glazing, and let the glaze set and dry before serving. (For just a light drizzle, you can mix together 1 tablespoon of juice with 1/2 cup sugar.)
Skål 💚 and Enjoy!