I love scones.  I love the crunchy tops, the soft fluffy middles, and the fact that they taste good in practically any flavor, from savory to sweet.  The one thing I don’t particularly like, however, is the fat and calorie content of most commercially available scones (Now that I’m 30 I find I need to pay more attention to these things, or else buy a new wardrobe when my clothes won’t fit anymore!)  So rather than give into my recent scone craving by munching on a premium pastry from my local coffee shop, in the interests of my wallet and waistline, I decided to set off making my own. 

Given that we’re in prime blueberry season around here, I decided my healthy scone would contain some tasty ripe blueberries.  From past healthy scone baking attempts, I’ve found that if you decrease scone fat very much you also decrease the moisture, and need to drink an extra cup of coffee or 3 to wash it down.  I based my scones around this recipe I found during my search, which incorporated low-fat ingredients like yogurt; from past experiences, I find this tends to keep baked goods moist without the fat.  These scones truly came out GREAT – toasty brown and crisp on the top, moist and fluffy on the inside.  The tart lemon glaze was a fantastic complement to the sweet blueberries: they taste like summer, even now as the sun starts setting earlier and the nights are getting cooler…

Low-Fat Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze – adapted from Anneliese, via What Matters Most

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 1/4 cup butter, chilled
• 3/4 cup fat-free vanilla (or plain if you prefer) greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• Juice from one lemon
• 3/4-1 cup confectioners’ sugar

• Instructions

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and coat a cookie sheet with cooking spray.  Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and lemon zest in a large bowl.  Cut butter into small pieces.  Using a pastry cutter (or a fork) cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture appears uniformly crumbly.  In a stand mixer, beat together the yogurt, egg, and vanilla until well combined.  Slowly mix in the dry ingredients, mixing until incorporated.  Gently fold in the blueberries to the mixture.  Form 2 inch balls of dough and flatten each to about 1 inch thickness on the cookie sheet.  Bake for 18 minutes, or until tops appear golden brown.  Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.  To make the glaze, mix the juice of your lemon with the confectioners’ sugar – you may need to add more sugar depending on exactly how much juice your lemon yields, and how thick you want your glaze.  When scones are completely cooled, drizzle with glaze.  Enjoy!

  Tags: Baked Goods, Scones

  This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 7:26 pm and is filed under Baked Goods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.