The Best Mixed Berry Scones with a Bright Lemon Glaze

I consider these The Best Mixed Berry Scones with a Bright Lemon Glaze my core scone recipe! This is an older post (that is in the queue to be updated); please reach out with any questions!!

The instructions look extensive, but it’s only because I put a ton of detail in them for a perfect outcome. I promise they aren’t complicated!

Oh-So-Important Scone-Making Tips

Freezing Your Scone Dough

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of freezing your scone dough. In previous recipes I have suggested a minimum of 30 minutes in the freezer. This does a couple of things. First, it will give you a higher rise once this dough hits the heat of the oven. Second, it makes this moist dough much easier to deal with.

I have become incredibly cocky when it comes to freezing dough, oftentimes leaving it in the freezer overnight. I’m a bit maniacal that after a quick freeze (say, 60 minutes?), you then wrap it tightly in parchment paper, then plastic wrap, then foil and then place in a re-sealable plastic bag so as not to lose any extra moisture (I like me some moist scones…I’m a little OCD about it).

However, I recently made scone dough, placed it in the freezer and went wine tasting. Totally normal. And P.S., I totally forgot about them. Next morning I shuffled to the freezer and thought, crap, I’ve ruined them. Popped them in the oven (straight from the freezer) and they were perfection. If they have been frozen for longer than an hour, make sure to tack on a minute or two to the bake time.

Also, if you have fresh fruit in the frozen scone (such as blueberries, raspberries, etc.), check to make sure the dough closest to the fruit is cooked through.

The Flour You Use For Your Scones is Important!

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of using cake flour in this recipe. You could use all-purpose flour for the entire recipe, but it will not yield the same fluffy finished product. It’s worth it.

You can make your own cake flour at home. For every 1 cup of cake flour, use 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Then take 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour out, and put 2 tablespoons of cornstarch in. Everyone and their mother will tell you to sift the flour and cornstarch combo 6 times.

I grab my whisk and fluff the ingredients around a bit and keep working. You decide on which approach you’d like to take.

People will also say that this cake flour hack doesn’t work. Is it perfect? Is it exactly the same? No and no. But it works in a pinch!

Your Beautiful Berries

Adding the raspberries is going to be a bit messy and it will make your dough feel a bit odd (almost slick). They’re going to break and you might even have a bit of a panic attack and think you’re doing it wrong. You’re not. Punch on through. You can do it.

Make sure that you clean and dry your fruit (completely) in advance of adding it to the dough. Likewise make sure it is fresh, ripe and firm. If the fruit is overripe it will bleed like hell all over the dough.

The fruit will bleed regardless, however overripe fruit will make it worse. We want pretty streaks, not a crime scene.

Choosing Baking Powder for Your Mixed Berry Scones

Go for the aluminum-free baking powder. Scones can be a bit on the blonde side and the aluminum in baking powder can give them this faint, bluish hue. It’s not a deal breaker, but if you’re at the store pick up the non-aluminum kind.

Humidity

This might be the most humidity-sensitive dough I have ever worked with. The below measurements are perfect for average humidity. If it’s really humid, you should add in 1 more tablespoon of all-purpose flour. If it’s dry out, I would add an extra tablespoon of cream.

Your New Scone Master Recipe

Consider this a ‘master’ scone recipe. You can create all sorts of combinations with this…make it your own. Chocolate chip? Orange? Get creative people.

More Scones Please!

Like I mentioned, I used to bake scones for a living so there are quite a few on this site. These particular mixed berry scones I made every weekend! Seasonally I would add in Fresh Strawberry Scones, Maple Oat Scones and these Chocolate Almond Scones (so good).

You can find all of my scone recipes here!

Let’s make The Best Mixed Berry Scones with a Bright Lemon Glaze!

The Best Mixed Berry Scones with a Bright Lemon Glaze

I used to make these mega delicious Mixed Berry Scones with the yummiest, sweet-tart, Bright Lemon Glaze every weekend for Solvang Bakery (in California!). There is nothing dry here, just buttery, tender, flavorful cream scones. This recipe makes 16 petite scones or 8 larger ones. They're perfect for breakfast, brunch, snacks (!) and can also be made ahead of time (love). Enjoy!

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Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 13 minutes

Chill Time: 30 minutes

Course: Breakfast Brunch

Cuisine: Scones

Keyword: Mixed Berry, Blueberries, Raspberries, Scones, Breakfast, Brunch, Baking

Servings: 16

Author: Rebecca Firth

Ingredients

For the Scones

• 1 1/2 cups (187 g) cake flour
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (162 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 heaping tablespoon lemon zest about 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon (2 g) cinnamon
• 2/3 cup (133 g) granulated sugar
• 8 tablespoons (113 g) cold unsalted butter cut in 8 pieces
• 2/3 cup (160 g) heavy whipping cream, cold
• 1 large egg, cold
• 2/3 cup (99 g) blueberries see note
• 2/3 cup (83 g) raspberries see note

For the Garnish

• 1 tablespoon (15 g) heavy whipping cream, for the top of the scone
• 1 large egg, for the top of the scone
• 3 tablespoons (36 g) granulated sugar, for the top of the scone

For the Glaze

• 2 cup (240 g) confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 lemon zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon (15 g) heavy whipping cream

Instructions

For the Scones

• In a large bowl, whisk together your cake flour, all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, lemon zest and cinnamon. Sprinkle in 2/3 cup of sugar and mix to combine. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender, two forks or your hands. Make sure the butter is pretty evenly mixed in, with a healthy smattering of pea-sized chunks of butter throughout.
• Mix the egg and 2/3 cup of cream together in a separate, small bowl and then drizzle over the flour mixture. Using a fork, fluff around a bit more until a dough is starting to form. I usually get in there with my hands to force the issue. If it looks like it could use a couple of kneads to form a ball of dough, I do that…but not too aggressively. Max out at about five-ish kneads.
• Lift the dough up and sprinkle the fruit on the bottom of the bowl. Set the dough down and gently press it into the fruit. Then flip the dough over and fold the dough onto itself, like a taco shell and press it together. Gently work the fruit into the dough in as few presses as possible. It will be a bit messy. Fruit will break and bleed a bit. That’s ok. It will look pretty in the end. Promise.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. If using the parchment, dust with some flour. Flour up your hands really well.
• Separate the dough into 4 equal-size lumps on top of the parchment/silpat and mold into discs, about an inch thick. Don’t overwork your dough. You just want them to look relatively circular and even. To me, scones are rustic and that’s part of their charm. A really smooth and polished scone makes me nervous. Like someone that never smiles.
• If your hands are getting sticky, add more flour. Just know that there is a fine line with flour here. Add enough that your dough is super easy to work with and you run the risk of having dry scones. Don’t add enough and it will be a hot sticky mess, enough to send you to the sanitarium.

Garnishing + Baking

• In a small bowl, whisk together the 1 tablespoon of cream and egg.
• Using a pastry brush (or whatever you have on hand), brush the cream and egg mixture on top of the 4 dough discs. Then sprinkle, with a heavy hand (which is usually my advice for all sugar- or alcohol-based concoctions), the sugar on top of the dough discs.
• Pop the discs, uncovered, into the freezer. Set the timer for a minimum of 30 minutes. I recommend something closer to 1 hour. At that point, either bake the raspberry + blueberry scones or wrap them tightly (as noted above) and freeze until you are ready to eat them.
• Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F.
• Pull the raspberry + blueberry scones out of the freezer. Using a sharp knife (I love my bread knife for this), cut each disc into 4, equal-size scones (yielding 16 cute, petite scones total). When cutting, make sure to press down quickly and lift straight up. If you wiggle the knife in there or use a sawing action, your sides won’t have a nice, defined edge.
• Pull the scones at least two inches away from each other…they need room to expand. You can gently loosen the bottoms with a spatula if they’re sticking a bit. Some recipes tell you to keep the scones pretty close together while baking as it will help them rise up. However, if they’re too close, the scones will grow back together and be kinda mushy on the sides. Error on the side of space.
• Set the timer for 13 minutes. Start watching them around the 13 minute mark to see how they’re doing. Make sure the area around the fruit is cooked through (especially if they were frozen solid). Don’t go over on the time looking for a bronze tinge. As soon as you see a light tan around the edges, pull them out. They should look firm on the tops and not dough-like, but not even close to George Hamilton dark.
• Set the raspberry + blueberry scones on a cooling rack. After about 5ish minutes, you should be able to take them off of the baking sheet and let them finish cooling on the rack.

For the Glaze

• While the scones are cooling…grab a bowl and whip up the glaze. Mixing schmooey is a tango…listen to what it wants and needs. Throw the zest, juice, confectioners' sugar and cream in a bowl and mix away.

  Does it need more powdered sugar? More lemon juice? Add more of each in little bits until you get the right consistency…which is when it is thin enough to drizzle, yet thick enough to stop in its’ tracks and not just run off the scone. Let it sit and mingle while the raspberry + blueberry scones cool. Smear the schmooey on top and you’re done.
• These are best the day that they are made. However, if you wrap them up tightly and store at room temperature, you can happily serve the next day as well. Tootles.

Notes

Substituting Cream

You can substitute with any milk (whatever you have in the fridge). Just note that they won’t be as moist if you use less a milk that has less fat than heavy whipping cream. So nonfat milk won’t yield as tender a scone.

Your Berries

If using fresh berries, make sure they are completely dry before using otherwise the area around the fruit can become gummy. If using frozen fruit, do not defrost. Be sure to use the fold and press method (listed in the instructions). There are more fruit notes above the recipe!

Thanks for baking with me! Please rate + comment this recipe and tag me on social @displacedhousewife #displacedhousewife so I can see your beautiful treats! xo