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Joanne Chang’s Maple-Blueberry Scones
![Joanne Chang’s Maple-Blueberry Scones](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2020/07/05/magazine/05mag-eat/05mag-eat-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus chilling and cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1⅔cups/240 grams whole-wheat flour
- 1cup/130 grams all-purpose flour
- 1½teaspoons baking powder
- ½teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾cup/170 grams unsalted butter (1½ sticks), cold, cut into ½-inch pieces
- ½cup/120 grams crème fraîche, Greek yogurt or sour cream, at room temperature
- ½cup/120 milliliters maple syrup
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1cup/125 grams fresh blueberries
- ½cup/60 grams confectioners’ sugar
- 2 to 3tablespoons maple syrup
For the Scones
For the Glaze
Preparation
- Step 1
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, briefly mix both flours, the baking powder, baking soda and salt on low speed. Add half the butter and paddle until fully mixed into the flour, 2 to 3 minutes. (This will coat the flour with butter so the scones are tender.)
- Step 2
Add the remaining butter to the bowl of the stand mixer. Pulse the mixer three or four times to mix the pieces into the dough while keeping them whole. (This step will give you small pieces of butter in the dough, which will help the scones be a bit flaky.)
- Step 3
In a medium bowl, whisk together the crème fraîche, maple syrup, buttermilk and yolk until thoroughly mixed. Stir in the blueberries. With the mixer on low, pour the blueberry mixture into the flour mixture, and paddle on low for about 10 seconds to get some of the liquid mixed into the flour. Stop the mixer, and mix the rest of the loose flour into the dough by hand: Gather and lift the dough with your hands and turn it over in the bowl several times until all the loose flour is mixed in. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or for up to 1 day. (This gives the flour time to fully absorb the liquid.)
- Step 4
Heat the oven to 350 degrees, and position a rack in the center. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Step 5
Using a ½-cup measuring cup or ice cream scoop, scoop out 8 mounds of chilled dough, and place them on the baking sheet a few inches apart. Bake scones for 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the baking sheet midway through the baking time, until the scones are evenly golden brown and firm when you press them.
- Step 6
While the scones are baking, make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and enough maple syrup to make a thick, spreadable glaze. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Rewhisk before using.
- Step 7
As soon as you remove the scones from the oven, use a pastry brush to brush them with the glaze while they’re warm. Let cool on the baking sheet for 30 minutes, then serve.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
These look wonderful. Alas, I have no whole wheat flour. Can I use only all purpose flour, and if so how much?
Not everyone has a "stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment" - any other preparation suggestions? Thank you.
HI Janna! If you don't have a stand mixer I suggest you take half of the butter and work it into the dry mixture with your hands and then cube the other half (make sure it's cold!) and toss and mix into the mixture until the cubes are marble sized. Then add the wet and proceed as directed. I hope that helps!
To use all purpose flour instead of whole wheat: 1) substitute an amount of AP equal to WEIGHT, not volume, called for in the recipe. Obviously easier w/ scale (highly recommended!) but can deduce via wt/vol info on bag of AP flour/ For wt of WW https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart 2) Water: 2 teasp less water needed for e/ cup of AP replacing WW. Maybe why it's wet. 3) NYT should be the ones telling you this! Everyone is substituting ingredients w what's on hand.
Mary! We make these with apples and walnuts in the fall- it's an awesome combo! Happy baking!
Oh my ~ so much talk about the hand mixer and paddle attachment. If you have cooked and baked enough, you take a look at any recipe, realize it's possible to do a great job with your own methods and innovations. Also, please stop trying to please 12 different people with their food preferences. If they're fussy, tell them you won't care a bit if they bring their own vegan, allergy-free, wheat-free dish minus nuts. I liked my Belgian grandmother's advice - "Eat what the pot cooks."
Made as directed using yogurt, but using 1/3 c portions for the dough, yielding 12 still large scones. Crisp edges with a light and tender inner. The whole wheat and maple is a great combination. The blueberries are nice, but I’ll be trying them next without. Wondering about apples come fall...
I freeze the butter and then toss the frozen stick of butter in the measured-out flour to coat and then I grate the butter (grater with large holes) directly into the bowl of measured flour. This incorporates the butter and flour efficiently. I don't have a stand mixer and learned this technique from a buttermilk biscuit recipe.
Delicious. Easy. A real winner. The only change I made to the recipe was in terms of method. I didn't use the stand mixer. Instead, I grated frozen butter straight into the dry ingredients, worked it in with a pastry cutter (in the manner of biscuit dough) and then added the wet ingredients and blueberries. I was so anxious to eat them that I put them straight in the oven without noticing we were supposed to chill the dough! But no problem as the final results were great. Thanks for this recipe.
No need to use an electric mixer for this - use your dominant hand to do the mixing - it will get gloriously sticky and covered in the mixture, but will also be much better than an electric paddle at telling you when the mixture is wet enough. For hand-mixing, change the order of adding slightly - add the blueberries to the dry mix, then add the wet mixture - not all at once, but about 2/3s first, then add the rest in dollops until you have a floppy, but not wet mixture.
I know- I rolled my eyes at that too. Everything here can do done by hand, or with the added help of an electric mixer.
The thing about scones is that they are easy peasy and highly adaptable. If you don't have whole wheat, just use plain. If you don't have a mixer, rub the butter and dry ingredients between your fingers. To me, using a mixer over-complicates a simple recipe. But, whatever you do, the result will be delicious. That's the beauty of scones.
Joanne Chang - I just made these and they are truly wonderful. I am sorry you have to endure people feel the need to be snarky and do nothing but complain when someone kind shares such a great recipe. Thank you for this recipe - I'll be making these for special occasions and friends parties in the future. And to everyone complaining about a stand mixer with the paddle attachment - they are not THAT expensive.
These scones are seriously good. Flour is my favorite bakery in Boston. Their lemon-ginger scones are even better, and they make the best breakfast sandwich I have ever eaten. I look forward to the day I can visit Boston again and have breakfast at their location on Farnsworth Street.
Can these scones be made using gluten-free flour?
This comment is for those, like myself, with minimal culinary talent but mega curiosity. Don’t be intimidated by the mixer with paddle attachment debate - just take it as appropriate direction that if you have one, it could be used here. I used a handheld electric mixer, made sure to get all the dry spots and they turned out beautifully. Repeated compliments from my mother level beautiful, which hasn’t happened… maybe ever. Thank you, Joanne Chang. My self-esteem really needed this win.
High altitude (6,200 ft) adjustments: 1 tsp baking powder, scant 1/2 tsp baking soda. 35 min at 350 for 8 scones. Delicious & perfect texture
BEST scones I’ve ever made!! Truly. My friend shared the recipe after I went blueberry picking & I decided to make them the next morning. I had everything mise-d out but hadn’t fully read over the recipe, which is typical kitchen behavior for me. After I got in bed I saw that the dough is best chilled overnight so I got out of bed at 10:45pm to make them. I even made the glaze, which I don’t usually do either. Anyway, INCREDIBLE recipe. Make these while blueberries are still in season!!
The whole wheat / maple syrup vibe deceived me into thinking this butter-rich recipe was healthy and hearty. I would recommend upping the amount of blueberries a bit. I chose not to glaze them so they wouldn’t be too sweet for my palate.
Can honey be substituted for the maple syrup?
Can I use milk instead of buttermilk?
all the butter melted out when baking… My oven said it was preheated to 350 but im wondering if it was cooler than what it was reading.
I have been making scones for a long time and while they taste very good, I am never able to get the consistency of bakery scones, until now. I love this recipe, it is simple and the scones are just like the ones you get in bakeries or coffee shops. While the blueberry is very good, you can also play around with different kinds. I have made apricot, rhubarb, and raspberry and all have turned out delicious. I just substitute the fruit and use agave or honey in place of the maple syrup.
I doubled the batch added more spices and froze the scones for weekday cooking. Make the glaze with extra maple syrup for a more distinct flavor.
These are wonderful, but needed more baking time — I should have added 5 minutes although the tester came out clean, they were a bit gooey. Frosting hardened and had to add more maple syrup before glazing the scones.
Loved this recipe! I didn't have whole wheat flour, so just subbed in all-purpose flour at a 1:1 ratio, and was very pleased with the results. Given that I don't have a stand mixer, I followed Joanne's suggestion in the comments to work the first half of the butter into the dough by hand, and then stir in the remaining half of the cubed butter until just combined. The scones were delicious!!
So I cut my butter in 1/2 inch pieces, and there's no way these get even roughly mixed in in 3-4 pulses. I am working the big pieces in with my fingers, making sure to stop while they are still a bit chunky. Has anyone else wondered about this?
This recipe is a great base to work off of. I love the more cake like texture the method creates. The only issue I have is that I feel like the recipe needs sugar and a bit more seasoning. Yes, I know… controversial. I added 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp vanilla. They came out insanely good!
One of the best things I've ever made.
I have been making these for 3 years now. I make ten scones from the recipe and mix the butter into two sizes. I don't find that my mixer breaks up the butter in the second round. The one amazing discovery I have made is that they freeze beautifully. Just make the dough and portion into ten scoops and freeze them in a ziploc bag. Then bake them at 350 for 30 minutes -- you may need a few more minutes than that -- or start them in a cold oven and start the timer when the oven come to temp.
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