Let Them Eat Lemon & Basil Scones

I love me some scones. jwa is not crazy about them but I don’t care about this fact much. He doesn’t have to eat them. I like to make scones every once in a while and snack on them for breakfast all week. They travel well. They’re already in their own little serving size.

Hmmm, it also appears that I like to combine lemon with different herbs. Oh well, here’s another lemon and add herb here recipe.

You can also, as I do sometimes, use a scone mix — Krusteaz is pretty good — and just add lemon zest and basil to the mix. There’s no shame in that at all!

But sometimes on a Sunday morning it’s relaxing to listen to This American Life and make scones. Wow, I am a dork. Regardless, here’s my standard scone recipe with the addition of the basil and lemon.

Lemon & Basil Scones
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup Sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon
5 tbsp butter, cold, cut into small cubes
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
4-5 medium basil leaves, sliced thinly (chiffonading works well — roll them length-wise tightly and then slice the roll. You should end up with little strips of basil “confetti”)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp milk (if you are feeling truly decadent, use cream or half and half here)
raw sugar for sprinkling (or regular granulated sugar if you are not feeling fancy-pantsy)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Blend together flour, baking powder, sugar, baking soda, salt, lemon zest and basil. Cut in butter until the texture resembles a coarse meal. Alternately, you can use a processor to do this Just pulse until you get small pea-sized lumps. Mix together lemon juice with the milk and add to the scone mixture. Combine until dough just comes together.

On a lightly floured surface, shape dough into a disc shape (w/ about an 8 inch diameter), leaving the center slightly higher. I use a pizza cutter and just slice the disc into eight pieces (just like a pizza). Place scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with remaining tablespoon of milk and sprinkle the tops lightly with some of your sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden on top.

Let cool a few minutes and then eat them all up. Mahahahhaha!

Er, wait, no, just have one and save the rest for breakfast all week. Yeah. That’s what I meant.