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I’m a rusher. I do things quickly.
Case in point, sometime years ago, I read about a cool cookbook, emailed it to Tim as a part joking, part serious suggestion of something he should buy me for an upcoming gift, and as soon as the note left my draft screen, I forgot about it. On to the next thing…
Good thing he didn’t forget though, because that’s how Breakfast, Lunch, Tea joined my cookbook hoard, when he gave it to me as a birthday gift. It’s such a fun cookbook.
Written by a bakery owner, it’s super spare and minimal in style, but filled with repeatedly tried and tested recipes and the kind of inspiring headnotes that say things like, “everyone loves these at the bakery,” or “this is one of my favorites.”
Breakfast, Lunch, Tea via Amazon
I loved it all over again when he handed it to me last year, and I loved it afresh again last night when we got to talking about it and I immediately jumped up from where we were sitting to grab it from its home on our waist-high wooden bookshelf in the dining room.
Soon the two of us were talking about recipes we wanted to try out, like chocolate mousse and gluten-free shortbread and, ooh, hellllooo, blueberry scones.
This morning, mixing together ingredients and feeling dough between my fingers was just the thing to help me mentally unwind and remind me that, oh yeah, I like to bake.
It’s easy to forget that when you haven’t been mentally present in the kitchen for a while.
I like what Farhana Dawood wrote at BBC News right around the time when Tim gave me this book, that “there is a physical element to baking – kneading the dough or cutting out cookie shapes. But there is also a strong creative or artistic component – the intricate decoration of cakes or biscuits.”
It’s true – it’s amazing how the act of putting together a recipe can release some sort of pent-up mental block (same article: it’s even sometimes recommended as a therapy for depression!). And when you have a tested recipe to rely on, you can be just creative enough, while also knowing you can count on what will result at the end.
In our version of the kamut scones here, we’ve gotten a little creative with some ingredient swaps, but still basically followed the structure of Rose Bakery’s version.
What results are tall, light, flaky towers perfect for breaking in half, and topping with honey, cream, or lemon curd.
Print
Blueberry Whole-Grain Kamut Scones
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: Makes 11 2.25-inch scones 1x
Description
These beauties are light and flaky, tall and biscuit-like, dimpled with blueberries that hold their form through the mixing and baking that occurs. And they’re especially nice topped with honey or a fig jam.
Ingredients
- 500 g (3 1/2 cups) whole-grain kamut flour (or other all-purpose flour)
- 2 heaping tablespoons baking powder
- 2 heaping tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 110 g (scant 1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter (or coconut oil — we used a mix of the two), cut into pieces, plus extra for greasing pan
- Zest of 1 lime (or other citrus fruit)
- 1/2 pint (about 2 handfuls) fresh blueberries
- 2 large eggs, divided
- Just under 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) milk of your choice
- 1 tablespoon coarse sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C/Gas Mark 6, and grease a baking sheet with a little butter or oil, or use a Silpat or other silicone liner.
- Sift kamut flour into a large bowl and add baking powder, coconut sugar, and salt. Next, cut in cold butter (or coconut oil) with a pastry cutter or your fingers until mixed throughout. The flour mixture should look like coarse breadcrumbs. Add lime zest and blueberries, and gently toss mixture together.
- In a large measuring cup, beat one of the eggs, and then add enough milk to reach the 1 1/4 cup (300ml) level.
- Make a well in the middle of the bowl of flour and pour in the milk and egg mixture. Use a fork to slowly add the flour to the milk, working the mixture together. Finish mixing by using your hands, just enough to turn the mixture into a dough. (If it’s too dry to come together, add a little extra milk; if it’s too wet, add a little extra flour. You don’t want the dough to be sticky anymore.)
- On a lightly floured surface, pat dough into a solid shape that’s 1 1/2 inches (3 cm) tall. Use a small (roughly 2-inch) biscuit or round cookie cutter to cut out rounds, and place them on the prepared baking sheet. If they are almost touching, that’s totally okay.
- Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl and brush on top of the dough. Sprinkle organic sugar on top of that.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly golden. If the scones bake into each other, that’s totally okay; just separate them after they’ve cooled.
- Serve warm, with jam, honey, or cream.
Notes
This recipe is adapted from Breakfast, Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Scones
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Breakfast
Keywords: blueberries, scones, kamut flour, whole grain
Did you make this yummy recipe? Did you love it as much as we did? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and please rate the recipe!
Looking for more scrumptious scone recipes? Try some of these tasty options:
Photos by Shanna Mallon, © Ask the Experts, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. See our TOS for more details. Originally published on August 23rd, 2014. Last updated: January 14, 2019 at 17:19 pm.
Nutritional information derived from a database of known generic and branded foods and ingredients and was not compiled by a registered dietitian or submitted for lab testing. It should be viewed as an approximation.
About Shanna Mallon
Shanna Mallon is a freelance writer who holds an MA in writing from DePaul University. Her work has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including The Kitchn, Better Homes & Gardens, Taste of Home, Houzz.com, Foodista, Entrepreneur, and Ragan PR. In 2014, she co-authored The Einkorn Cookbook with her husband, Tim. Today, you can find her digging into food topics and celebrating the everyday grace of eating on her blog, Go Eat Your Bread with Joy. Shanna lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with Tim and their two small kids.
1. I love “Breakfast Lunch Tea”. Such a great book, all of the recipes look so comforting (I’ve only tried 2, which I need to remedy)
2. I really like the Farhana Dawood quote you posted. I find that baking (or cooking) mentally releases something in me too.
3. The blueberry scones in Breakfast Lunch Tea have been on my “to make” list for a while – your adaption looks really delicious (and nutritious, with the kamut flour substitution). Yum!!!
I’ve only made a few from the book, too! Life goal: make more. Every time I look at it, I am newly inspired. I want it all!
Yes, there is something about baking and cooking that does my heart and soul such good. I always love reading your words and seeing what’s coming out of your kitchen. These scones look beautiful. The in-process shots are just perfect too.
You are sweet, Monet, especially to enjoy a simple post like this one, which I always wonder whether or not to post. Thanks for the encouragement!
These scones are pure perfection. Love the recipe!
Thanks!
I am absolute sucker for scones. If I could have one everyday, I would. Have you ever tried this recipe with almond flour? I was thinking of making it with this. If you haven’t I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Nicole, I haven’t, but I know it wouldn’t be a basic one-to-one swap. For a gluten-free scone recipe, I think the one for a grain-free lemon blueberry version on The Kitchn looks great.
Love everything about this post. I’ve been meaning to get a biscuit cutter for some time. Maybe one of those nice, inexpensive gifts to myself. Cooking helps me let go of mental traps too, I find it relaxes me more than anything else I do. Hope you and Tim are having a great summer! xo
I didn’t have biscuit cutters until last year and, unlike a lot of random kitchen gadgets, these are tools we use all the time. I never know how much I needed them until I had them, haha! Do it!
These look fantastic! Love the blueberry and the whole grain nuttyness!
Thanks, Millie!
I am also a rusher, married to a slow and steady person. I can’t count the number of times we’ve started a task, me thinking it will be slapped together in 10 minutes and THANK GOD we can go on to the next thing, but winds up taking 2-1/2 hours because why do it if you’re not going to do it right? I could use a little more of that in my life. But I’ll start with scones. mmmmmscones.
Yes times a million. Nobody gets it like you. It is freakish how much our husbands have in common and how much we do. Freakish and amazing! You are a gift.
Happy birthday dear friend! These scones look amazing – and the cookbook they came from sounds just like a keeper! Glad Tim didn’t forget to get it for you 🙂
Me too! : ) Thanks, F!
Hey Shanna!
How are you and Tim and rocco?? Wanted to send some love your way!
I’m preparing a scone roundup for Parade Magazine, and would love to include your blueberry whole grain kamut scones in the roundup.. If you’re fine with that, could I use one of your photos and link it back to your original post?
Let me know, and thanks friend!
xo,
F.
Sure, feel free! ; )
If I were still in the business of eating gluten, I’d be all over these little scones.
In other news though, I am drinking my first batch of kombucha and its pretty delicious! Hoping to figure out the carbonation a little better with this next batch. But remind me what flavoring combo worked super well for you? and when do you add the flavoring agents? Thanks!
and man oh man are y’all good at taking pictures!?
Katie: GINGER. I am obsessed with ginger kombucha forever and ever amen. In the second ferment, add a big knob of peeled ginger to each jar. 2-3 days later = so good.
Hey Shanna, just curious what you’re thoughts are on Kamut vs Einkorn? I can tolerate einkorn ok (I can’t have regular wheat or spelt), but I’m hesitant to try kamut as it seems to be more complex genetically. I would love to hear your experience with it.
Great question, Renee. The short answer is that kamut is not as ideal as einkorn. It is more manipulated, but less so than wheat or even spelt. So when we can’t get our hands on einkorn, emmer or kamut are the next best thing…. but we don’t an issue with gluten, so I can’t say for sure how it would affect you (or anyone with gluten sensitivities). On the one hand, it’s a high-quality version, like a second best to einkorn; on the other, it is still a gluten flour and so I don’t know. Tim could probably explain with more data behind it, haha. : )
How perfect are your scones?!
Aw, thanks, friend!
Beautiful! I love the buttery richness of kamut flour and it seems ideally suited to the tender flakiness of a scone. Your step by step photos are just wonderful too; I feel like I’m there in the kitchen with you.
Thanks so much, friend!
These are beautiful! I grind my own flours at home, including Kamut berries from Bob’s Red Mill. This recipe looks so delicious.
i need these in my life. scones are delectable
These are absolutely delicious even with substituting coconut water for milk and using all coconut oil and no butter. However, doing so made them into a crumbly biscuit, rather than a scone, that is not really palatable without a jam. :/ Although my Godson who is 1 year and 5 dsys old loves them. Also, eye grind my own kamut and eye dont think the setting eye used for this flour in this recipe was fine enough. So…eye will grind it finer next thyme and make them again. Eye consume one of my own homemade sourdough raisin pumpkin scones each and every morning and was looking for a substitute. My specifics this thyme did not work for what eye require. Eye have to reduce my sugar intake so the necessity of using jam to eat the biscuits eye made this thyme will not substitute.
Thank you so much for putting me on a path to discovering yummy treats this grain can produce. Eye would still eat and serve my concoction as a desert or sweet breakfast treat. Namaste.
I had a question in the recipe. Does it really need 2 heaping TABLESPOONS of baking soda? This seems like a lot of baking soda…?
Thanks for your message, Cat. This recipe actually calls for baking powder, not baking soda. While baking soda is pure calcium bicarbonate, baking powder is a combination of calcium bicarbonate and an acid to activate it, usually cream of tartar. Recipes made with whole grain flower sometimes require a larger quantity of ingredients for leavening as well.
We’ll add this recipe to our list for re-testing and will update if needed!
My daughter said they tasted like baking powder, but it was better with jam. My husband said they were just more like savory scones. No one wanted seconds.
Thanks for trying something new, Lee! We always love when the whole family gets involved with the first taste test.