My mom isn’t afraid of spiders. I am deathly, unreasonably, irrationally afraid of spiders. My Mom is the only one that will walk me down the spider-ridden stairs to my car when I stop by for family dinner. Ok… to be fair, my dad will walk me down the stairs too, but it took a lot of irrational screaming about spiders to make him understand my crazy brain.
I figure I’ll have to get over my fear of spiders before I become a mom myself. Is that normal? Does a fear of spiders dissipate during pregnancy or will I constantly be calling my mom every time I’m about to vacuum a spider (not that I’ve actually ever done that) (sorry spiders).
Because my mom saves me from spiders well into my thirty plus years on this planet, she has earned warm, lavender-scented scones. She’s actually earned so much more… but scones will have to do for now.
Spiders to scones. Yea… we just did that.
Tossing cold butter into flour might be one of my favorite past times. Breaking butter down into flour and sugar is a baking meditation. Adding fragrant dried lavender just adds to the zen moment.
Sometimes food is best color coordinated. I like pale lavender paired with deep purple blackberries.
Some berries are sliced in two. Some berries are left whole.
The idea is to get a big heaping bite of warm berry in almost every bite of scone.
Oh man… can I please write an entire book about biscuits and scones?
Please say yes.
Scone rounds are brushed with a bit of beaten egg and sprinkled generously with sugar. The idea is to create a lightly browned slightly crisp scone top.
Baked!
I usually insist on eating these just as soon as they come out of the oven. With extra butter and blackberry jam? Heck yes. Be like me.
image credit: Paola Parsons
If you’re not going to eat them right from the oven, maybe you want to make them extra pretty! Erica from HonestlyYUM made this precious tiered serving stand. That DIY is coming your way tomorrow!
These scones are tender, flakey, not too sweet, but studded with sweet summer berries and fragrant lavender. They’re more on the flakey side, more flakey than dense which is how I prefer is my scones. Less dense? Maybe we can have two instead of one! That’s smarts. I hope you love them. I hope your mama loves them too. Spiders… no!
Lavender Blackberry Scones
makes 10 to 12 scones
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon dried lavender
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup cold buttermilk
1 cup fresh blackberries(you can used thawed and drained berries from the freezer although the scones will have a more purple color)
1 beaten egg and granulated sugar for sprinkling on top before baking
Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, lavender, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in butter (using your fingers or a pastry cutter) until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Work the butter into the dry ingredients until some of the butter flakes are the size of peas and some are the size of oat flakes. In another bowl, combine egg and buttermilk and beat lightly with a fork. Add to flour mixture all at once, stirring enough to make a soft dough. Fold in the blackberries.
Turn out onto a floured board and knead about 15 times. Roll or pat out into a 1-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch rounds using a round cutter or cut into 2×2-inch squares. Reshape and roll dough to create more scones with excess scraps. Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve warm. Scones are best the day they’re made, and though they can be frozen and lightly reheated in the oven if you need a future treat.