Lemon Poppyseed Scones Recipe

By
Sydney Oland
Sydney Oland: Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Sydney Oland
Sydney Oland lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where she develops recipes and owns and operates three businesses: a bean-to-bar chocolate company, an ice cream company, and a collective food production space. Previously, she wrote brunch and British food recipe columns for Serious Eats.
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Updated May. 07, 2020
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Sydney Oland

Scones are a simple quick bread commonly served with tea, jam, and butter or a thickened or clotted cream. Served often at breakfast or in the afternoon with a light meal or snack, scones come in both sweet and savory varieties. Although throughout Britain sweet scones are more common, you can definitely find a potato scone alongside the occasional fry up.

This recipe takes the simple scone and adds a few poppyseeds and some lemon juice to give it some added dimension. The classic combination would be more suited as something sweet to serve alongside a pot of strong tea in the afternoon, rather than a bread to accompany breakfast.

Although ideal straight out of the oven, you can get away with making these scones a day ahead and storing them in a airtight container. They are delicious at room temperature with soft butter, but for those who can't resist warm bread, a few minutes in a warm oven can perk them up nicely.

Recipe Facts

Active: 15 mins
Total: 35 mins
Makes: 12 scones

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Ingredients

  • 3 cups (15 ounces) all purpose flour
  • 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
  • 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons fresh juice from 1 to 2 lemons
  • 1/3 cup milk

Directions

  1. Adjust oven rack to medium position and preheat to 375°F. Prepare a baking dish by lining it with foil, or using baking spray. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, and salt, and whisk to combine. Using two butter knives or a pastry cutter, cut butter into dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.

  2. In a separate bowl, combine egg, lemon juice and milk, and whisk to combine. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and, using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix until a dough forms, but take care to not over-mix.

  3. On a lightly floured surface, pat dough into a 10- by 6 1/2-inch rectangle, then cut that rectangle into 6 equal squares; then divide each square diagonally through the center to create 12 triangular scones.

  4. Place scones on prepared baking dish and bake for 18 minutes, or until scones have browned.

Special equipment

baking sheet

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