Easy Blueberry Spelt Scones

It has been a busy summer here in apartment 2b, as they always seem to be. I am finishing up my book (!), working on a couple of fun freelance projects, and also trying to eat lots of ice cream and grilled corn and tomatoes and other summery things while the getting is good. Tough life, I know...But! I want to pop in to say a quick hello and share this easy recipe for blueberry scones with a bit of spelt flour. I am liking spelt flour more and more these days, mostly because you can easily substitute it for all purpose flour in most recipes and it has a great nutty flavor (and some added nutrition if that makes you feel better about eating baked goods).

These scones are a riff on the tangerine poppyseed scones I posted a few months ago with a summery twist: a generous amount of blueberries. This is the kind of recipe I love because you can swap ingredients in and out easily to suit your own tastes: change up the lemon for lime or orange, use raspberries, blackberries or currants instead of blueberries, add a handful of chopped chocolate, use all purpose flour or part whole wheat, rye, or oat. Go for it, and have some fun!

Easy Blueberry Spelt Scones

makes 8

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

one lemon

1 cup (4 1/2oz/128g) all purpose flour

1 cup (4 1/2oz/128g) spelt flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 ounces (112g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

1/2 cup (120ml)  buttermilk

1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add the sugar to a large bowl and zest the lemon into the bowl. Add the flours, baking powder, and salt to the bowl and whisk to combine. Add the butter and use your fingers to press each cube of butter into a flat shard about the size of a quarter. Keep tossing the butter in the flour mixture to ensure that it is well coated. Make a well in the center of the mixture add add the buttermilk and heavy cream. Stir gently to combine, but don't worry if there are a couple of dry spots. Add the blueberries and stir gently couple more times. It's best to not over mix this type of dough. Use your hands to knead the dough a couple of times in the bowl then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat the dough into a circle about 1-inch tall and 7- inches wide. Use a knife to cut the dough into 8 wedges. Transfer the wedges to the baking sheet, brush each one with a bit of heavy cream and sprinkle granulated sugar on top. Bake until the scones are golden brown, 18-22 minutes. Enjoy warm. These scones are best enjoyed on the day they are made. 

Blackberry Rhubarb Pie and a video!

I'm so excited to be sharing a new video with you today! Get a sneak peek into my kitchen, and see how I made this delicious blackberry rhubarb pie (including a mini lattice-weaving tutorial) in the video below. 

video by Pete Lockhart

Between writing my book, blog, and my general love for fruit in buttery crust, I have made so many fruit pies over the last couple of years, and they have become my favorite thing to bake. You may have noticed this on Instagram, it's practically all-pie-all-the-time over there. This pie highlights blackberries and rhubarb, which is a combination I first used during my annual summertime visit to see my family in Seattle a few years ago.

It was the August after my brother’s twin daughters were born, and his family had just moved into a new house. Late summer is wild blackberry season in the Pacific Northwest, and my dad and I had picked blackberries from his favorite secret spot earlier that day so we had a pile of freshly picked berries sitting on the counter just waiting to be used. My parents’ rhubarb plant had a few last stalks that were looking wilty from the heat so I picked those too, then combined them with the blackberries and made a crisp covered with buttery streusel. 

We took the crisp to my brother’s new house, then after the babies were in bed we ate bowls of it warm, topped with Earl Grey Ice Cream from Molly Moon’s which is just down the street from my mom’s shop in Wallingford. The combination was perfectly buttery, sweet, and tart with little crunchy bursts of seeds from the blackberries and soft silky pieces of rhubarb. 

This pie combines those same flavors, along with a wholesome rye crust for a new take on a flavor combination that I just love. 

Blackberry Rhubarb Pie

makes one 9-inch pie

Crust

1 1/3 cups rye flour

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

6-8 tablespoons ice water

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Filling

1 pound rhubarb stalks

1 1/2 pounds blackberries

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 lemon, zest and juice

1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped from the pod

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg, lightly beaten for egg wash

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

To make the crust, combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut in half of the butter until it is the size of peas, then cut in the other half until it is the size lima beans. Some of the butter will be completely worked into the flour, but you should have lots of visible pieces of butter in the dough too.

Combine the water and apple cider vinegar in a measuring cup. Make a well in the flour/butter mixture and slowly stream about 6 tablespoons of water into the dough while mixing gently. If the dough seems very dry, add more water a couple of teaspoons at a time. You have added enough water when you can pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze it together easily without it falling apart. Press the dough together, then split it in half, form into discs and wrap each disc in plastic wrap. Chill the dough for at least one hour before using, or overnight. I prefer an overnight rest if possible

When you're ready to make the filling and assemble the pie, preheat the oven to 400º F. In a large bowl combine the sugar, lemon zest, and vanilla bean seeds. Use your fingers to rub the zest and seeds into the sugar until well combined and fragrant. Stir in the flour, cinnamon, and salt.

Cut the rhubarb into 1-inch pieces and add it to the bowl. Add the blackberries and lemon juice, but don't stir quite yet.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out one piece of the dough into a roughly 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick and place it into a 9-inch pie pan. Place in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the pie. Roll out the other piece of dough into a roughly 12-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick, and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill that too.

Stir the filling ingredients together, then fill the pie shell and top with the second crust.

Trim the edges so they are even, then crimp them together. Alternately, cut the second crust into 1 1/2 to 2-inch strips and weave a lattice top.

Slide the whole pie into the fridge or freezer for about 15 minutes or until the crust is very firm. When you are ready to bake, carefully and gently brush the top of the pie with a beaten egg and sprinkle with a healthy dose of coarse sugar.

Put the pie on a baking sheet to catch any drips and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the crust is deep golden brown and the juices bubble. Cool the pie before slicing.