Two takes on whole wheat blueberry scones

Sometimes I forget how much I like things made with whole wheat flour. Ever since I started hosting a sourdough starter, I don’t make my mother’s stand-by whole-grain bread recipe anymore, the bread my husband refers to as Real Bread. But I still have a hankering for that taste from time to time, so when I ran across these recipes for blueberry scones, I thought this would fill the bill.

Blueberry and ginger scones

From Real Simple August 2015 (Sometimes there are advantages to being stuck in the doctor’s waiting room, flipping through magazines pages.)

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1½ sticks of butter

1¼ cup fresh blueberries

½ cup chopped crystallized ginger

¾ cup milk, plus more for brushing tops

Coarse sugar for sprinkling

Method

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with a pastry blender until small crumb stage. Gently fold in blueberries and ginger. Stir in the milk.

Knead briefly into a mass. Divide into two pieces and pat each out on a floured board into a 6-inch circle. Cut each circle into 6 wedges. If baking immediately, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Very blueberry scones

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

Zest of 1 lemon, or ½ teaspoon cinnamon (I didn’t have lemons on hand the first time I made these, so I improvised and was happy with the cinnamon version too)

3 tablespoons raw or light brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon coarse salt

5 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

1 cup fresh blueberries

2/3 cup milk or half and half

1 large egg, beaten

Coarse sugar for sanding

Method

Combine flours, zest, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add cold butter and cut in with a pastry blender until it’s mixed up and only small pieces of butter remain. Stir in blueberries, then milk. Knead mixture briefly to form a mass.

On a well-floured baking sheet, pat into a circle about 1 inch high. Cut into 8 to 10 wedges. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush tops with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake in preheated 400-degree oven for 15 to 17 minutes.

Rating: The only clear winner between these two recipes was whoever got to eat them. Both have their relative merits; I really liked the crystallized ginger in the Real Simple recipe, but the Smitten Kitchen variety was possibly more traditionally scone-like in texture, since it contains less whole wheat flour. Both were perfectly fine ways to make the most of the all-too-short local blueberry season.

Follow up: I've since made the second recipe with the addition of 1/4 cup chopped candied ginger, which nicely splits the difference.

Make ahead tips: Both of these recipes can be made ahead to the point where they’re cut into wedges. Place in freezer container between sheets of waxed paper. Then thaw overnight before baking and proceed with brushing with the egg or milk and sprinkling with sugar and bake as directed. I tried both of these recipes that way, and there was no material difference between baking them immediately or baking them after thawing them, but there was a material difference in my quality of life to waking up to preformed scones ready to bake vs. making a mess of my kitchen first thing in the morning to mix them up. Plus, this way blueberry season lives on.