I love a good scone. Scones are so under-utilized and under-appreciated in the world of baked good and pastries. What’s not to like? They are flaky, moist, flavorful, and can be modified to fit almost any additional ingredient. I don’t think they should only be for brunch and tea time; I say we break free of these rules and enjoy a scone at any time of the day whenever we damn well please. Are you with me? Good!

I recently went to Seattle to visit my sister and her husband and while I was there they gifted me several beers. Naturally, I wanted to use one for baking so I choose the Sound Brewery’s Entendez Noel Belgian Quad (11.4%ABV) because I thought the flavors would lend an excellent hand to a fruit scone. Fruity quad with a sweet and slightly sour blackberry sounded like a match made in heaven.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups AP flour (plus more for work surface)

3/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick cold unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)

3/4 teaspoon course salt (I used a chunky black Hawaiian sea salt…but you can use any sea salt)

3/4 cup beer

3/4 packet of powdered buttermilk

1 egg yolk

1 cup blackberries (or however many you want to incorporate)

I know what you are thinking….powdered buttermilk?! Well, it’s a terrific option for those who want to incorporate beer but don’t want to mess-up the consistency of what you are making and who just has buttermilk on-hand all the time? I know I don’t. I bought dried buttermilk packages and I keep them in the back of the cabinet just in case I want to make something and the only ingredient I am missing is buttermilk and I don’t feel like running to the store. It’s 1 package dried buttermilk + 1 cup water = 1 cup buttermilk. It’s so easy to substitute the water for beer and it adds so much more flavor! Don’t judge, just try it 🙂

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, sea salt and powdered buttermilk into a food processor and pulse until incorporated. Add in the cold butter and pulse until it has the consistency of sand. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolk and beer together. Pulse in the egg/beer mixture slowly until the dough just comes together.

2. Put the dough on your floured work surface and flatten slightly. Start folding in your berries, gently. It’s ok if it starts to get a bit messy, but you want to have at lease one or two berries in each area you want to cut a scone from. I usually cut scones in triangles from a circular shaped-dough but this time I shaped the dough into a rectangle and cut them into more square shaped pieces (about 10-12 pieces). I placed the pieces about an inch to 1 1/2 inches apart on a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I also pushed a few berries on the top of a few pieces that looked like they could use more berries. I then sprinkled a little vanilla sugar on top of the pieces before putting them into the oven. Cook for about 18-20 minutes and you can optionally broil them for a minute to brown the top (which I like to do). Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Optional Blackberry Frosting:

I also made a blackberry frosting to drizzle on top because I wanted to get that intense purple color and I needed to use the rest of my blackberries. I blended the rest of the blackberries in my fabulous new ninja blender then strained it through a fine mesh strainer (about a 1/2 cup’s worth). I then added powdered sugar until it was the right consistency that I wanted (1 cup, or 1 and 1/2 cups??) and used a spoon to drizzle the frosting over the cooled scones. It’s totally optional but it sure did taste good 🙂

Lasts: 1-2 days in airtight container

Yield: 10-12 scones

Season: Any

Level: Beginner