Lemon Ginger Scones

I'm generally a morning person, but I have a really hard time waking up on weekdays this time of year. My room is darker and colder than I'm used to, and it just seems much more pleasant to sleep until its brighter and warmer. I needed something to help get me out of bed in the mornings, and it seemed like lemon ginger scones might do the trick.

I was thinking about lemon, ginger and scones after reading recipes for lemon poppy, ginger spice, almond, and cranberry orange white chocolate chip scones from Sandy at Eat Real. Unlike scone recipes I'd previously seen, her recipe called for heavy cream instead of butter or yogurt. And, I just happened to have some heavy cream on hand, after making Bengali Spinach this weekend.

I strayed from Sandy's recipe in two ways. First, I improvised my own lemon-ginger flavoring, using the zest of two lemons (about 1 tablespoon) and 1 teaspoon of ground ginger. Second, although I was interested to learn how scones made with heavy cream would turn out, I wimped out when it came time to add 1 1/4 cups of cream to the mixing bowl. It just seemed like so much! Instead, I went with 1 cup of plain lowfat yogurt (also leftover from the Indian dinner) and 1/4 cup heavy cream. I brushed the top of each scone with a little more cream, and sprinkled on a bit of sugar.


The scones baked up beautifully. They also smelled amazing: lemony, of course, but also cream-y. As for the flavor: good, with the right amount of lemon, but not as gingery as I'd hoped. I think that next time I might grate in fresh ginger, in addition to the lemon zest.

I'd never used parchment paper in making scones before; it seems a bit wasteful as it is thrown away afterward, but it also made clean-up much easier.