Berries are always a nice addition to scones, because even the most buttery scones can be a little bit dry (hence the popularity of clotted cream and other spreads as condiments) and berries add a punch of flavor as well as a little bit more moisture to every bite of an otherwise buttery scone. This recipe for Blackberry Scones starts out with a basic vanilla scone dough. Butter is rubbed or cut into a flour mixture to create a flaky dough base, which is held together with milk before whole blackberries are kneaded in.
I happened to have a lovely basket of fresh blackberries in my kitchen and added those to my scones. Frozen blackberries will work just as well, and since they’re much firmer than my fresh berries, they won’t make as much of a mess when you knead them in. Don’t worry if blackberry juice gets into the dough as you incorporate the berries: the juice will add color and flavor to your scones. I topped my scones off with a generous sprinkling of coarse sugar before baking, adding a little extra sweetness and a nice crisp topping.
These scones are best when they are still a bit warm from the oven, when the berries are still firm and that sugary topping is still crunchy. Serve them plain, with a cup of tea or coffee, or put them on your table with butter, clotted cream or even whipped cream (because those things are still excellent with berry-filled scones). If you can’t eat all of these in one sitting, they will keep well for a couple of days when stored in an airtight container, but taste better if they are slightly warmed before serving.
Blackberry Scones
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, chilled
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup blackberries, fresh or frozen
1 tbsp coarse sugar, for topping
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into 6-8 chunks and add to flour mixture, tossing to coat. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until mixture is sandy and butter is well distributed, with no pieces larger than a big pea.
Combine milk and vanilla extract and pout into flour mixture. Stir until dough comes together.Add blackberries and gently knead into the dough. It is ok if some berries get slightly squished.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and flatten dough into a disc about 3/4-inch thick. Use a knife to divide disc into six triangles. Place scones on prepared baking sheet.
Sprinkle generously with coarse sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes, until scones are golden brown.
movita beaucoup
January 23, 2012Oh, scones! How I love thee… These look marvellous!
pushups with polish
January 23, 2012ahhh these look so good! you have inspired me to make these tomorrow on my day off! xxo
Maureen
January 24, 2012I love scones, especially if there are berries in them. I also like them with jam and cream too! Okay any old way and I’m happy with a scone. 🙂
Neil | Butterfield
January 24, 2012These sound and look incredible. I must get my wife to make these for the family. Thanks so much for sharing.
Pattypro
January 24, 2012We’re big scone fans. Of all the berry scones I’ve made, I’ve never used blackberries. That situation needs to be rectified!
Cookin' Canuck
January 24, 2012Blackberries always make me think of summertime, which is why I’m always happy to discover packages of frozen ones in my freezer in the middle of winter. These scones must be made in my kitchen…stat.
CookwareBliss
January 25, 2012These look amazing! I will have to test them out real soon, thanks for sharing!
Living The Sweet Life
January 25, 2012YUMM!! I love how the blackberries in these scones are just fighting to be eaten 😉 lol. These looks simply delcious – – fantastic recipe
FrugalMom
January 25, 2012I would eat them with a mouse.
I would eat them in a house.
I would eat them here or there.
I would eat them everywhere.
I do so love those berry scones, ma’am.
I’m a scone lover – yes I am!
Lynette
January 25, 2012I made these last night and at the times wondered about the 2 tbsp baking powder. I went ahead and followed the recipe but I believe it’s a typo. I could taste the baking powder. Next time I’ll use 2 tsp.
Nicole
January 26, 2012Lynette – I am so sorry, but that WAS a typo! The recipe is meant to use 2 tsp baking power (as you suspected). Again, I’m so sorry about that and have updated the recipe!
Amy
April 19, 2012I have always considered myself a ‘cook’ not a ‘baker’… and told myself and everyone else that I couldn’t bake to save my life. Recently I started coming out of that shell some- and today I made these scones. As the dough came together I thought I’d totally screwed it up… but when they came out of the oven I couldn’t believe it! I had scones! They aren’t the prettiest but they taste amazing. Loved this recipe and can’t wait to try adding all kinds of different fruits- I’m thinking bananas next, then blueberries, then strawberries! 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe.
Lauren
June 13, 2012Great recipe! I just made them (though with skim milk as I did not have whole milk in the house). Came out great! Gonna make them with blueberries or strawberries next as i have lots of berries leftover from a three berry pie making jaunt last week. 🙂
John
March 26, 2016Great recipe! Live in Seattle so we always have blackberries in the freezer. Helped my wife making these today. We used no sugar. Came out of the oven a little wet and oozing blackberry but cooled perfectly. We ate after they cooled. First time making scones, but it was really easy and we saved maybe fifteen bucks as opposed to buying them. Of course, homemade is always better than store bought. But you are right, the flavor improves if they are warmed up for about twenty seconds in the microwave. We used one percent milk. Using frozen berries that had been picked early and therefore were not too juicy, many survived the baking process whole, and it was a pleasure to encounter them.
John
March 26, 2016Would like to make a correction to my previous post. We did not use the coarse sugar at the end, but we did in fact use the sugar at the beginning of the ricipe. Sorry for any confusion.
Abigail
July 27, 2017I never comment on recipes online, but these scones were INCREDIBLE!!! I made them gluten and dairy free (used GF flour + xanthan gum, vegan butter, and vanilla almond milk). It’s REALLY hard to get recipes to taste great when you take out the gluten and dairy, but these taste literally amazing! I used fresh blackberries from berry-picking, and oh my gosh one batch is no where near enough! This recipe is going straight into the favorites collection!
I’m planning to make 6 or 7 batches today, and will freeze some! I might update this and let everyone know how they are out of the freezer later!
Thank you for such a great recipe!!!