Lemon Cream Cheese Scones

lemon cream cheese scones

My oldest daughter has really found her baking groove this year. After a long week of school or whenever she has a moment, she’ll ask me: “Mom, can I bake?” And I, who will take all the help in the kitchen I can get, quickly make room for my cooking buddy. Her specialties are desserts: cookies, cake, cupcakes, muffins. Which is great, because desserts are not (as you know) my favorites. She recently had a hankering for something new and happened upon this recipe. As chief sampler, I can testify they are melt-in-your-mouth delicious. She’s made them twice in as many weeks. Will I be so lucky as to get them again this weekend? I can only hope!

Recipe slightly adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.

Makes 12 scones

Ingredients

for the scones

  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon zest
  • 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp. aluminum-free baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp. fine sea salt
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, cold and cut into pieces
  • 6 Tbsp. butter, cold and cut into pieces
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup whole milk (local if you can get it)
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

for the glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine sugar and zest. Then add flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk until all is well-mixed.
  3. Put the cream cheese, butter and eggs into a food processor with the knife blade and pulse to combine, about 6 to 8 times. Scrape down the bowl. Add the dry ingredients, milk and lemon juice. Pulse 3 more times and scrape again. Pulse a few more times until the dough is well-mixed.
  4. Remove the dough from the food processor and place on a lightly floured surface. Fold the dough over itself a few times until it’s smooth. Do not overwork.
  5. Divide the dough in half and form each half into a circle measuring about six inches across. Place the circles on a cookie sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut the circles into triangles, six in each circle. Then gentle pull apart the triangles so that each is close, but not touching the others.
  6. Bake for 15 minutes, until the scones have risen and are nicely browned. Remove from oven and set on cooling rack. Cool completely.
  7. While the scones are cooling, stir together sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle glaze atop the scones and then dig in!