I have a thing for scones. The best ones are dense but tender. They might fall apart slightly, but somehow they’re still moist. All that is probably thanks to the half and half and butter. Oh, yum.

My favorite place to go when I have some “me” time is Caribou Coffee. Being able to get out of the house, visiting with friends, reading a book in peace or just drinking coffee without someone talking to me is a really nice luxury when you are the mom to 4 little kids. So, I find myself at Caribou once or twice a week. My friend, The Inspired Cook, introduced me to their Lemon and Thyme Scones. At first, I was a little hesitant. Lemon and thyme? That seemed like a weird combination for a scone. I was wrong! These are so good.

The lemon and thyme combo is great. They play off of each other well. The flavors are subtle, which is really nice.

I made these using whole wheat pastry flour. I don’t think I’ll ever use all-purpose flour again. You can’t even tell these are made with whole wheat flour. Seriously. Whole wheat pastry flour is so fine and soft that it’s perfect for all your baking needs. Scones, muffins, cookies, bars, pancakes, whatever you want. Except bread. I would probably use regular whole wheat flour for bread.

That said. The whole wheat flour is the only healthy thing about these. There’s sugar, butter, half and half, and powdered sugar. So, we’ll eat these once in a while as a tasty treat.

Lemon and Thyme Scones

recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 1/4 cup sugar (I think I’m going to try replacing this with honey next time)
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1/2 cup half & half
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• For the glaze: 3 cups powdered sugar, 6 T half & half, and 1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and thyme. Grate in your cold butter until your flour is a really fine, sand-like texture.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together, your half & half, egg, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir this into your flour mixture. Roll it into a ball, and on a lightly floured surface, knead a few times until it all comes together. If the dough seems pretty dry, you can add a tablespoon at a time of half & half or milk until it comes together nicely.
4. Roll dough into a rectangle about a 1/2″ thick.
5. Cut rectangle into 6 rectangles, then cut each one in half. If you want them even smaller (mini), then cut them in half again.
6. Put scones on the lined baking sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes for the mini scones, and 8-10 for the larger ones. They’re done when they’re just starting to brown. Move scones to a wire rack.
7. While the scones are cooling, whisk together your glaze ingredients.
8. When scones are cool, dip each one in the glaze, and then put back on the wire rack for the glaze to harden.
9. Enjoy!

– Jill

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Another yummy scone recipe. I really love scones. They’re perfect for breakfast, with coffee, or tea, for brunch. They’re so easy to make, and always a crowd pleaser.

These are full of cinnamon chips (which you can find by the chocolate chips at your grocery store), and sometimes you bite into a pocket of melty butter. Best thing ever.

We’ve been having really hot, ridiculous weather but that hasn’t stopped me from baking. I think I might have a problem. At least I do all my baking in the morning. That’s something, right?

Cinnamon Chip Scones

recipe adapted from The Coupon Project

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup cinnamon chips
• 1/2 cup cold butter
• 1 egg, separated
• 3 T honey
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (or 1/3 cup milk mixed with 1/2 tsp lemon juice)
• 1-2 T sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat.
2. In a large bowl, mix your flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon chips. Grate in your butter and mix until crumbly.
3. Separate the egg white and yolk. Set the egg white aside.
4. In another bowl, mix your egg yolk, honey, and buttermilk. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix until everything is incorporated.
5. On a slightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times to make sure everything is really mixed together. Then roll your dough into a ball, put on your lined baking sheet, and pat out until it’s a half inch thick and 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 8 equally-sized pieces.
6. Whisk the egg whites until it’s foamy, and brush over tops of scones. Sprinkle cinnamon/sugar mixture on top.
7. Bake 15-20 minutes or until scones are light brown and completely baked through.
8. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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I’ve got another scone recipe for you all. I’m kind of obsessed with scones,  maybe even more than cookies. (Okay, that’s probably a lie!).

These Whole Wheat Strawberry Almond Scones are the perfect breakfast treat. The almonds give off a really nice nutty taste. These scones are light and crumbly, bursting with strawberry flavor.

I don’t feel a bit bad eating one or two of these considering they’re sugar-free, full of oats and whole wheat flour, with a mix of almonds and flax seed meal and you’re pretty much ready to go. (Don’t mind all the butter– we’ll pretend it’s not there. Fat is good in moderation, right? And I suppose technically these aren’t sugar free because I sprinkled some raw sugar on top before baking but you could easily leave that part out and sprinkle more oats instead).

Whole Wheat Strawberry and Almond Scones

recipe slightly adapted from The Little Red House

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 6 T milk, plus more for brushing
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 & 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed (I used flax seed meal)
• 1 & 1/2 T baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 11 T unsalted butter, cold
• 1 cup strawberries, diced
• raw sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk your maple syrup, 6 T milk, and almond extract together. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, oats, almonds, flax seed, baking powder and salt. Grate in your cold butter with a hand grater or put everything in a food processor and pulse until you get coarse crumbs.
4. Add your maple syrup mixture to the flour. Mix until you get a dough. If you need more milk, now is the time to add it. I added about an extra tablespoon of milk and that seemed to bring the dough together.
5. Mix in your strawberries, being careful not to overmix.
6. Put the dough on a floured surface and knead a time or two until you get the dough to come together. Put your dough onto your lined baking sheet and either make it into a circle and cut into even-sized pieces or do what I did and make your dough into a rectangle and cut into rectangles.
7. Brush the tops of your scones with a little bit of milk and sprinkle with raw sugar or more oats.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes or until baked all the way through.

– the Jilb

This recipe has been shared on Justa’s Fantastic Frugal Foods Link-Up!

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I really love scones. Well, I really love any breakfast food, especially if it’s sweet. Muffins. Scones. French Toast Bakes. And honestly, I almost feel the need to have some sort of sweet thing for breakfast every morning.

I found this recipe in an old Food Network Magazine. There’s always good recipes in those magazines.

Back to these scones. They were the perfect, light snack to go with coffee. They’re sweet, but not overly sweet. I love the hint of chocolate that you get from the mini chocolate chips.

They’re really easy to make, and you get 16 petite scones. So, if you make these have some friends over. Or you could freeze half the dough to use another time. Or, in my case, have a bunch of kids who loves scones, and will eat them all. The Baby alone is known to devour many, many scones or whatever breakfast item I make.

Petite Chocolate Chip Scones

recipe adapted from The Food Network Magazine

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk, plus extra for brushing
• 2 T raw sugar (turbinado sugar), for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. Whisk the flours, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix in your mini chocolate chips.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together your melted butter, vanilla, and milk.
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.
5. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about a minute, adding more flour if needed.
6. Divide the dough into 2 balls. Roll out each ball into a 1/2-inch-to-3/4-inch disk.
7. Move disks to baking sheet. Cut each disk into 8 wedges. Brush milk on top of wedges and sprinkle with raw sugar.
8. Bake 12-16 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
9. Best eaten immediately.
10. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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A savory scone. With my love of scones, I don’t know why I didn’t think of these earlier.

These are so good. I mean, so good! They’re light and buttery. There’s a hint of rosemary, and that mixed with the cheddar is to die for! Yes!

These scones are the perfect side to pretty much anything you’re having for dinner. So, go make them. Do it soon!

Cheddar Rosemary Scones

recipe slightly adapted from Eat, Live, Run

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 6 T cold butter
• 3/4 cup milk, cream, or half and half (I used cream)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, rosemary, black pepper, and baking powder together. Add the cheese and mix well. Using a grater, grate your cold butter into your flour mixture. Mix until you get coarse crumbs. Add the cream and mix until just combined.
3. Pat dough into and 8-inch circle, and slice into 8 triangles. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until just golden brown.
4. Enjoy!

– the Jilb

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