Berry Week Day 1: Marionberry Lavender Scones
Berry week! It’s like shark week, except more delicious. But I swear to god it’s just as dangerous. At our berry picking expedition I was stung by a hornet, pricked with thorns, tripped over a vine and scabbed at least one knee.
The other weird thing about berry week is that it begins on Thursday, skips the weekend and then continues on Monday. It’s more a berry business days.
Our first recipe is for Marionberry Lavendar Scones, and now that the weather is cooling down a bit for most of us, why not bake a dozen on Sunday morning? Lavender always seems like a foofy kind of ingredient, only suitable for the kind of person that talks about the “legs” on wine and the hickory undertones of chocolate. But, really, it’s just a nice fragrant taste that is the perfect backdrop for sweet tart berries. If you can’t get your hands on any, try 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped rosemary instead.
Scones are kind of a pain in the butt if you’re making them into triangles, so just do the scoop and drop method with these. They’re light and crumbly like a scone should be, and the batter isn’t too sweet but the light sprinkling of sugar on the tops is a perfect little sweet roof to bite through. We had to trudge through the mud to get the last of the marionberries so they might not be available everywhere right now. In that case, you can’t go wrong with blueberries, blackberries or raspberries.
Thanks to my berry cohorts, Kimmy Kokunut and Veganknitting! In the next few days, their recipe for Blueberry Ginger Jam. Kimmy actually did most of the work for these scones, I just closely supervised.
Marionberry Lavender Scones
Makes 12 scones
1 1/4 cups almond milk (or your non-dairy milk of choice)
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh culinary lavender, chopped
1/2 cup non hydrogenated shortening
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups marionberries, or berries of your choice
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Measure out the milk and add the vinegar to it. Set aside to curdle.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the shortening in small clumps, then use your fingers to cut it into the flour until it appears like small pebbles. (You an also use a food processor for this, but I prefer to use my hands.) Mix in the lavender.
Create a well in the center and add the soy milk, oil and vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon just a bit, then add in the berries. Mix again until everything is moistened, but don’t overmix. A couple of dry looking spots are just fine.
Use a 1/4 cup measuring up to scoop the scones out on to the baking sheet. Spray it wth cooking spray first so that the batter comes out easier.
Sprinkle tops with a bit more sugar, then bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until tops are firm to the touch and lightly browned. Serve warm!
August 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Looks wonderful–but how much berries do you use?
August 21st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I’m pretty sure there are berries involved in this recipe. Quantities?
August 21st, 2008 at 5:09 pm
2 cups, I updated the recipe!
August 21st, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Did you use fresh lavender or dried? I can get dried from work and I’m always trying to find ways to use it.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:11 pm
We used fresh. I would use a tablespoon of dried.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:36 pm
looks great. pmgvfcethio@yahoo.com
August 21st, 2008 at 8:12 pm
Can anyone recommend a brand of non-hydrogenated shortening? Maybe I’m thick, but I don’t know what that is?
August 21st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Spectrum shortening is the one I usually use, but Crisco makes a non-hydrogenated one as well.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm
This looks like the perfect recipe to try out lavendar as a flavoring, which I’ve never tried before. Also, I have a problem whenever I make berry breads that the entire bread turns purple, but sometimes tossing the berries in flour before adding helps. (or maybe I’ve been overmixing?)
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:49 am
Nice photo! I must point out that I did most of the work for the scones, though! Kimmy did the crisp.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:35 am
Is Marion Berry related to Chuck Berry?
August 22nd, 2008 at 6:37 pm
jgh, the trick to minimal streakiness is to fold the berries in, not mix them. So lift the batter up and over the berries, don’t stir them around.
Emily, whoops! My mistake. Kimmy was chopping the lavender, I guess that’s why I got mixed up.
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Just made these and they are the best scones ever. I had to sub blueberries since I don’t live in Oregon with all the cool people.
August 23rd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Is there a cobbler in this business days of berries? *prays for cobbler*
August 24th, 2008 at 9:29 am
really 2 tablespoons of baking powder? that seems to be too much
August 24th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Yeah, Isa. That’s a typo. It was 2 teaspoons of BP.
August 24th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
No, it’s 2 tablespoons. It was a modification of the vwav recipe, right?
August 25th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
The VWAV recipe is 2 Tbl, I assumed we used that amount. These scones are amazing! I adore lavender and the flavor really came through. Fine, Emily, you can have credit for the scones, but without my lavender they wouldn’t have been as awesome.
August 25th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
In the haze of my head cold, I thought that said, “Mandatory Lavender Scones”…but after seeing the photo, I actually think they might be. Yum.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
We would like to feature this recipe on our blog. Please email haleyglasco@gmail.com if interested. Thanks
Haley
http://blog.keyingredient.com/
August 27th, 2008 at 11:27 am
These look great! The elderberries in my yard are finally getting ripe and I think they will work well in this recipe. Are you using a commercial almond milk or homemade? I know the commercial ones usually have sweeteners and other ingredients (including more almond flavor).
August 27th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I use plain unsweetened almond milk. It doesn’t taste very much like almond at all.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Amazingly good! Out here in the middlewest, we’ve never seen a marionberry, but blackberries are ripe now. I used the rest of my backyard harvest, which was not quite enough, so I added a handful of alpine strawberries. Then, instead of using the lavendar, I substituted some “herbs de provence” which was chock full of lavendar, along with rosemary and thyme. Even so, these were the most amazing scones I’ve ever had. My teenage children liked them, too.
Thanks for sharing a great recipe,
indianagirl
September 5th, 2008 at 6:19 am
[…] Marionberry Lavender Scones […]
September 5th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Sounds yummy! I love lavender.
April 4th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
I made these with native Juneberries (aka serviceberries, Amelanchier, sugarplum, etc.) and they were aMAZing! The frozen berries (from a bumper 2009) harvest worked quite nicely! Thank you for this recipe — and all the rest!
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