lemon ginger scones

One of my all-time favorite fruits is the lemon. I don’t eat them straight up (I’m not that hard core), but I can’t get over how bright, crisp, and yellow they are. This isn’t new to most – lemons have been around for a while – but for some reason I am always shocked at how refreshing and exciting lemony flavored things are.

I’ve already hinted once or twice before at how tiny my kitchen is, but the only thing smaller than my kitchen is my counter space. Who would embark on a complicated baking endeavor, using a tray table as your only work space? The determined. The desperate. Me, in a fit of craving for lemon ginger scones.

I had been thinking about recreating a lemon ginger scone from a local coffee shop (that sells heavenly baked goods) for weeks. Thinking, thinking, thinking. Until finally one night I had to make them – now. It was an urge that overcame the need to clean the apartment, fold my laundry, or do my reading for the next day’s class. In the end, I was happy with my delinquency because these are the most flavorful, delicious, bright, flaky-but-not-airy scones I have ever eaten.

It might have been that I was craving them to the point that I couldn’t focus, or that they were hot out of the oven and dripping in a tangy lemon glaze. They may have been delicious beyond all imagination because I was shocked that they even looked or tasted like a scone. This was my first time making scones, and now I don’t know if I have the capacity to stop.

I was wearing flannel and was completely in the zone. And yes. Those are rain boots. I thought this was a judgment-free zone?

This dough is so light and flaky that I was getting nervous trying to coerce it to come together. Little did I know it’s all part of the design, because LOOK at how light and flaky and delicious these came out. Yeow.

A lemon-ginger glaze was well-received.

This image is tantalizing. I can’t stand it. You need to go make these, now.

Lemon Ginger Scones

This recipe is adapted from an Epicurious recipe for cranberry-orange scones.

3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbs grated lemon peel

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 cup chilled buttermilk

 

For the glaze:

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

1 tsp powdered ginger

1 tbs unsalted butter

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and get your baking sheet ready by throwing down a piece of parchment paper. While your oven is heating, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a good-sized bowl. Add your butter and mix together using your hands, until the butter is incorporated with the dry ingredients. The butter should be in small balls, and don’t worry about making it perfect. You want to mix it in well, but not so much that your hands melt the butter.

Add your lemon zest to the mix, and then slowly add your buttermilk to the mix while stirring lightly with a fork. Stir only until the dough has clumped together. Dump your dough onto a floured counter top, and knead the dough very briefly (the recipe says about 4 turns – I ended up doing about 6 or 7 to get the dough to come together). Flatten out your dough so that it is about 1 inch high circle. Cut the dough into 8 triangles, and then place the triangles on your baking sheet with space in between them.

Bake your scones for about 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown on top.

While your scones are baking, prepare your lemon-ginger glaze. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk together until smooth. When the scones are done baking, let them sit for about 30 minutes until just cooled. Dip your scone “face-down” into your bowl of glaze, and then set on a cooling rack. Repeat for all 8 scones, and make sure the glaze can drip off the scones. Let sit until glaze has hardened.

Enjoy!