Friday, May 10, 2019

Lemon Poppy Seed Scone with Fresh Strawberry Glaze – These Passed the Test…Will You?

Certain things just go together, like lemon and poppy seeds, or gorgeous, freshly baked scones and a fancy brunch, which is why, with Mother’s Day coming up, the timing for these may be perfect. And yes, I was kidding about the poppy seeds affecting your Mom’s drug test, although if there are issues, I believe my joke disclaimer in the intro shields me from any liability.

The method for making these scones is very simple, but can be a little scary for a novice baker, since the dough starts off in such rough shape, but if you’re able to wrestle it all together on the table, verses mixing into a dough ball in the bowl, you’ll be rewarded with a much more tender scone. Having said that, even a slightly tough lemon poppy seed scone is a great thing to eat, so don’t stress either way.

Once again I’m using self-rising flour, and hope you do the same. It just works better for these recipes, and every serious baker should have some in their pantry. If you want to make your own, for every cup of regular all-purpose flour, just sift in a teaspoon and a half of baking powder, and a half teaspoon of fine salt. But regardless of which flour you use, or how you glaze these, I really do hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 8 Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
2 3/4 cups self-rising flour (see note in blog post above)
1 stick (4 ounces) very cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
grated lemon zest from one lemon
1 large beaten egg
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/3 to 1/2 cup whole milk or as needed

- Bake at 375 F. for about 25 minutes

For the Strawberry Glaze:
3 or 4 strawberries, cut in quarters, and then finely mashed
enough powdered sugar to make a thick spreadable glaze
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18 comments:

DSLAlex4 said...

Yuuuummmmm! I’ll have to try these. I love poppy seeds.

Jimmy said...

Whenever I make something with sugar and lemon zest, in order to get extra lemon flavor, I like to put the zest and sugar in a bowl and then rub them between my fingers until the sugar resembles wet sand. This happens because the rubbing releases oils from the zest into the sugar. It gives extra flavor and fragrance.

Mary said...

Chef John, the strawberry icing has prompted me to ask you a question. My eldest had a cake once topped with a strawberry butter cream frosting that was perfect, tasted of real strawberries and begged me to recreate it for her birthday. I tried using puréed strawberries in a buttercream frosting but it was too watered down. Any tips to get a natural strawberry tasting buttercream frosting that doesn’t have too thin a consistency?

Unknown said...

I made these this morning, without the glaze, and they turned out fabulous! Plenty sweet and flavorful even without the glaze

Laura said...

Do I need a silicone baking sheet?

ken koiii said...

OMG that looked so scary, Thank u Chef John!!! I love ur recipes bouncing balls , red ball

Ratty said...

Mary, on an ATK episode once they set the strawberries to drain then reduced down the juices to a syrup to add in later. This was to reduce the liquid in a recipe. You might try that. You've got me hungry for strawberry buttercream now!

CaseyRocky said...

I couldn’t find “self rising” flower for years online where I do my grocery shopping, and then based on this blog, I persisted and typed in “self raising” and voila! Mystery solved. The bag comes with a picture of a blue 1950s lady and says for cakes and pastries - I hope it’s the same stuff. But I gotta say that now my beer battered fish and crisps from your recipe a few weeks back are perfecto, and I get to try all your other self rising or raising recipes again. I haven’t been this excited for awhile, and I’m wondering whether you can also make powdered mini donuts out of it - that’s my official food wish please.

Unknown said...

Hey, Chef J,

About to make the scones, and was just wondering if frozen grated butter like you used in another recipe I did recently, would work as well as cold pastry cutter-cut butter?

CaseyRocky said...

If I got lost and sea and had to live the rest of my life on some remote key, and could only take one recipe with me, this would be it, and I’d name my new home Sconey Island.

Unknown said...

@Mary, I recommend Bravetart's method of adding freeze dried strawberries that have been pulverized in a blender.This gives a bright strawberry flavor without throwing off the water content, or resorting to cooking the strawberries

Unknown said...

Looks great, trying it now😊

Mary said...

@unknown, thank you for the suggestion to use freeze dried strawberries I will give them a try

PolonaMiha said...

For inhabitants of the planet Earth:

306 g flour
113 g butter
17 g poppy seeds
96 g sugar
10 ml lemon juice
83 ml - 125 ml milk

And by the way chef John: planet Earth doesn't know self-raising flour, we actually go through the trouble of putting baking powder into the flour. Never trust anything pre-made because chances are it comes from the US. And we all know what that means.

GREAT RECIPE CHEF JOHN! Thanks!

Unknown said...

@PolonaMiha, the US, unlike Russia, Eastern Europe, France, Spain, China, has food safety laws protecting us from contaminated foods. What few problems we have had originated overseas. Russian and European beef has been found to contain horse dna, and it was exposed that their cattle feed has ground up horse in it. China has been caught selling toxic powdered milk and infant formula, toxic produce including pineapples, Spain, France and Europe have frequently been caught with foods contaminated with parasites. Self rising flour is popular in the UK as well in the US. I have far more confidence in US foodstuffs than I do in imported ones.

Mary said...

To @bravetart and @unknown, the freeze dried strawberries were a success, the frosting was perfect and my daughter was thrilled. Thank you so much for the advice.

aarti yadav said...

so yumm, I'll have to try this, very tasty and as well as healthy breakfast

Hilda J Gritton said...

What are your thoughts on using buttermilk in place of cream? I have some on hand, and I noticed you mentioned it in another recipe. hudgames