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!
Looks wonderful–but how much berries do you use?
I’m pretty sure there are berries involved in this recipe. Quantities?
2 cups, I updated the recipe!
Did you use fresh lavender or dried? I can get dried from work and I’m always trying to find ways to use it.
We used fresh. I would use a tablespoon of dried.
looks great. pmgvfcethio@yahoo.com
Can anyone recommend a brand of non-hydrogenated shortening? Maybe I’m thick, but I don’t know what that is?
Spectrum shortening is the one I usually use, but Crisco makes a non-hydrogenated one as well.
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?)
Nice photo! I must point out that I did most of the work for the scones, though! Kimmy did the crisp.
Is Marion Berry related to Chuck Berry?
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.
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.
Is there a cobbler in this business days of berries? *prays for cobbler*
really 2 tablespoons of baking powder? that seems to be too much
Yeah, Isa. That’s a typo. It was 2 teaspoons of BP.
No, it’s 2 tablespoons. It was a modification of the vwav recipe, right?
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. 😉
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.
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Haley
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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).
I use plain unsweetened almond milk. It doesn’t taste very much like almond at all.
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
Sounds yummy! I love lavender.
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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Hi Isa, this may be a dumb question:
I am growing organic English Lavender in my kitchen. Could I use that in this recipe–or, would it be smarter to substitute dried rosemary? I always want to bake with lavender, but don’t know where to find it.
So great! I added blue poppy seeds. Next time maybe I’ll try some lemon something too? My batch actually made 18. and I used maple to cut out the sugar. And cuz I’m a freak i added up the calories and its like 146 per if anyone was wondering I used blueberries. Which is like super awesome. I don’t comment on anything ever… but this was really fun to make! Thanks so much!
I made these w/blackberries and rosemary. Delicious! I love your stuff. This week’s menu is all Vegan w/a Vengence. I’m looking for a good curry leaf scone recipe…anyone have ideas in mind: I’m thinking golden raisens, walnuts, masala mixture and curry leaf. Any other ideas, e-mail me, ileyanicole@gmail.com
Has anyone tried making this with earth balance butter instead of shortening?
I made these today, and they were so delicious. I love lavender, and my BF who’s not crazy about “unusual” flavors didn’t seem to mind it at all.
Allison – as long as you keep the earth balance butter very cold, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve made a lot of scones like this – both vegan and non, and it’s a great soft biscuity texture, as long as you’re using shortening, or cold “butter.”
it says “2 cups marion berries or berries of your choice”
looks delicious!!! 🙂
can I freeze these?
I just made these, and they smell delicious. I mostly followed the recipe (but using dried lavender) and subbing 2 cups spelt flour as I was almost out of whole wheat pasty. This must have been a huge mistake because my scones flattened out from the nice scoop shape that they previously were. Unless over mixing would have been the culprit?
Can these be made gluten-free?
I just made these and they are lovely. I substituted dried lavender for the fresh but they are a little heavy on the lavender. I used about 1.5 T. i think I would go for like 1 or a little less than 1 next time. Besides that they were awesome except for the fact that I dropped a tray on the floor 🙁
I like the idea of lemon and poppyseed. Would be a nice addition.
Just made these for breakfast the morning of my yard sale. Used strawberries and blueberries. Amazing! No one believed there was lavender in them, but everyone thought they were super delicious!
I just totally failed at these. I used coconut oil instead of shortening and had to add about 2 more cups of flour and they still were more like baked pancakes 🙁
what can be used in place of the shortening and how much?
You can use refined coconut oil, the same amount.
I was reading though the comments and it was kind of unclear about whether the baking powder was a typo or not. I just put these in the oven with the 2 tablespoons of BP and THEN read the comments…now I am wondering about the BP. I did kind of wonder when I added it, like “whoa, 2 tablespoons is a ton, but hey, I’ve never made scones before and Isa has never let me down…”
So…was it a typo or not? 🙂
If anyone else has the new book help me…In the scone recipe is the banana just a replacement a non vegan item and if it is how can i replace it
YUM. Perfect!! These are our new favorites! Made the scones before reading the comments, and used two tbs dry lavender vs fresh so the lavender came through perhaps a little more loudly than need be. Wonderful, wonderful. thanks SO much!! Isa, you’re the best! i think I have all your books now, and I’m completely delighted to be cooking my way through “Isa Does It!”. I don’t adore them all, but I certainly adore many many of your recipes. And, I always love the “pre-ramble”. You’re the best. thank you1
This sounds very good but can I sub lavender with something else? Not a fan of lavender