I never opened Flour Blossom Bakery intending to become the scone lady. Actually, if you had asked me what I wanted the bakery to look like in the beginning, I could have told you exactly. Cute. Whimsical. Girly. Pink. I had a very specific vision in my head. And then I started actually decorating the place.
Turns out, you can have all the plans in the world, but sometimes who you really are just keeps showing up anyway. And apparently, I cannot be trusted around vintage kitchen tools and antiques. Before I knew it, I had completely farmhouse’d the place.
It was beautiful. Warm and welcoming, with all those vintage touches I loved. Thankfully my husband made sure I didn’t farmhouse the pink and whimsy completely out of Flour Blossom, so somehow it all came together. It was farmhouse. But make it pretty. And once the bakery started finding it’s personality, I realized the menu needed to match it.
Of course, there would still be beautifully decorated cakes and cupcakes and all the cute little pastries I’d imagined. But this sweet farmhouse bakery needed something a little more rustic sitting in the case too. That’s when I thought about scones. They were rustic enough to belong in the space but still sophisticated. They could be beautiful without being fussy.
And blueberry? Well blueberry just felt sweet and pretty. So onto the shelf went the blueberry cream cheese scone. Nobody asked for it. There wasn’t some grand business strategy behind it. I certainly wasn’t sitting there thinking…this is it. This is the pastry that’s going to become part of Flour Blossom’s identity. I just thought it belonged there.
Turns out, our customers thought so too. Before long, scones became a staple in the bakery case. I would always have a least 2 flavors available each day and believe me when I tell you…the scone list grew.
Blueberry Cream Cheese. Chocolate Chip. Orange Cranberry. Almond Poppyseed. Spinach & Feta. Garden Veggie. Ham & Jack. And those are only the ones that immediately come to mind.
People started talking about them. Regular customers came back for them. Special orders started coming in. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, one of the very first social media posts I ever saw from a customer about Flour Blossom Bakery was about some of my scones. Somewhere along the way, without ever deciding I was going to be…I became the scone lady.
It’s funny what you remember when you start digging around in a part of your life you haven’t visited in a while. For years, Flour Blossom was something I mostly kept tucked away. Then I decided to start working on the cookbook I’d talked about and dreamed about for so long. And when it came time to choose the first bakery recipe I wanted to really work on? I chose the blueberry cream scone. Of course I did.
There were certainly other places in town where you could occasionally find a scone. But at Flour Blossom, they were part of us. They were on those shelves regularly, in different flavors, sweet and savory, week after week.
So there I was again with cold butter, soft billowy flour, cream cheese, fresh blueberries making something my hands remembered very well.
All these years later, that sweet little scone was right back where it had always been. At the beginning of Flour Blossom. Maybe the things that become important parts of our story don’t always announce themselves when they arrive. Sometimes we just put them on the shelf because they feel like they belong. And then we keep making them. And people keep coming back for them. Until one day, years later, we look back and realize…Oh.
That little thing helped build the whole place.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones
The Scone That Built My Bakery
Makes 8 scones
Prep: 20 minutes, plus chilling
Bake: 18–20 minutes
Oven: 400°F
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) very cold or frozen unsalted butter
- 4 ounces cold cream cheese
- 1 large egg
- 3–4 tablespoons heavy cream, plus more for brushing
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
Vanilla Glaze
- 1–1½ cups powdered sugar
- 2–3 tablespoons heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Method
- 1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- 2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- 3. Grate the very cold or frozen butter directly into the flour mixture. Gently toss the butter through the flour with your fingertips so the individual pieces stay cold and coated.
- 4. Add the cold cream cheese in small pieces and gently work it through the flour mixture, keeping everything as cold as possible.
- 5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, 3 tablespoons of heavy cream and vanilla.
- 6. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Using your fingertips, gently lift and fold the ingredients together rather than squeezing or kneading. Add the remaining tablespoon of cream only if the dough needs it. The mixture should begin to form a loose ball.
- 7. Gently fold in the fresh blueberries, being careful not to crush them.
- 8. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently bring it together. Shape into a round about 1 inch thick, then cut into 8 wedges.
- 9. Place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet and freeze for at least 15 minutes.
- 10.Brush the tops lightly with heavy cream and bake for 18–20 minutes, or until the scones are risen and lightly golden. Allow them to cool before glazing.
Make the Vanilla Glaze
Whisk the powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla together until smooth, beginning with the smaller amount of cream and adding more as needed.
Drizzle over the cooled scones and allow the glaze to set.
From My Kitchen
Cold is your friend.
Cold butter, cold cream cheese and that little rest in the freezer all help create the tender texture and beautiful rise I want in a scone.
And when you’re bringing the dough together, resist the urge to grab it and squeeze. Keep your hands gentle. Lift and fold until that soft, shaggy mixture becomes a loose ball.
Scones don’t need much fussing. Maybe that’s part of why I love them.
A Little Flour Blossom Note
If you make these in your own kitchen, I hope you’ll tell me. Because once upon a time, one of the sweetest parts of baking these was seeing people walk through my bakery doors for them.
These days, I think it might be even sweeter knowing they’re being baked in kitchens far beyond mine. And apparently, after all these years…I’m still the scone lady. 🤭
Enjoy,
Natalie💛
