Lemon Poppy-Seed Scones

Lemon Poppy-Seed Scones

Scones have become a part of my family tradition.  It is one of the lasting cultural effects I got from living in England.  Unlike the British who eat theirs during tea time, we serve ours for breakfast with coffee - milk in the case of my children who refuse to have their growth stunted.  We have our standard fruited scones which resulted from a lot of experimentation but when feeling inspired, I still continue to experiment on other ingredients and methods.    

If your food processor is getting dusty in the cabinet, this recipe will fix that problem.   It makes mixing a lot faster - but of course you still can use the normal procedure that you've always known.  The food processor is only recommended to simplify the process.  

The scones in this recipe are crusty on the outside and moist inside.  They are really good.  You can make the scones smaller as these are very huge ones. 

Lemon Poppy-Seed Scones

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup poppy seeds

4 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp grated lemon rind

1 teaspoon salt

10 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cubed 

1 large egg

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup reduced-fat milk

1 Tbsp sugar (for frosting)

Method:
Preheat oven to 375º F.

Position rack in middle of oven.

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, lemon rind and salt) in food processor.

Add butter and cut in, by using pulse action until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Whisk egg and lemon juice in medium bowl to blend.

Add to flour mixture.

Pulse until moist clumps form.

Transfer the mixture into a larger bowl.

Add 1/3 cup milk.

Using a spoon gently work the mixture until dough comes together, adding more milk if dough seems dry.

Gather dough into ball with floured your hands

Flatten to 8" round on a flat surface

Cut round into 8 wedges

Transfer scones to large baking sheet one-inch apart; brush with milk.

Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbsp sugar.

Bake until scones are golden brown and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!