Spring into the Kitchen: Lemon Blueberry Scones

Here’s a little fact about me, I should probably be in scone lovers anonymous, I’m addicted. What I’m not addicted to is the caloric intake of the aforementioned scones. Growing up, I associated the thought of a scone, with an elegant tea-party, not a traditional staple in the breakfast regime. They seem fancy and complicated, something to be purchased at the local bakery, not made from home. In reality, they’re fairly simple.

Did you know that a Lemon Cranberry Scone from Starbucks clocks in at 410 calories? And that’s a pretty consistent number from a plethora of places. As you can imagine, I don’t want to indulge in a huge chunk of my caloric intake before I’ve finished my first cup of coffee. That being said, I sat down and began browsing the bookshelf of cookbooks collecting dust in my cabinet–what I found was horrifying. 1/2 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of oil just for starters? No wonder the average caloric value of these delicious treats is so high. But does it really have to be? The answer is no.

A little birdie once told me that applesauce or yogurt made a perfect substitute for oil. This ingenious little trick will save you calories, and in this recipe, open you up to a world of possibilities. Key lime strawberry scone? Orange Cranberry? By using a flavored yogurt, you cut the calories, keep the moisture, enhance the flavor and open yourself up to a world of variety.

What are you waiting for? Skate on into the kitchen and bake, bake, bake!

Lemon Blueberry Scones 
Roughly 135 calories per scone (If you make a batch of 12-13)

Ingredients 

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup lemon yogurt (I used, 6 oz container of Yoplait Lemon Merengue, and 2 oz Dannon Greek Lemon yogurt, because it’s what I had on hand)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (Fresh is going to be so much better, but frozen will work as well)

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, with the exception of the blueberries with a hand mixer until a thick, sticky batter forms.
3. Fold the blueberries into the batter with a spatula.
4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spoon the batter onto the cookie sheet in large heaping mounds, the batter makes 12-13 scones.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. I would suggest checking the scones frequently after the 15 minute mark as ovens vary. When the peaks of your scone turn golden brown, they should be done.

Bakers Note: These scones will be a bit more moist than your traditional scone, in the past, I’ve cut the yogurt to just the 6 oz instead of the full 8 oz to give them a stiffer drier feel. But ultimately, I always go back to the full cup because they taste best that way!

Tip: These scones freeze well, if you’re making the batch for just yourself, or two people, freezing half of them is a great solution. Once they’ve cooled, place them in a tupperware container, or ziploc bag and freeze. Taking them out the night before you’d like to use and allowing them to defrost. Popping them in the toaster or 3-4 minutes under broil in the over makes for a delicious treat.