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Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

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Light, tender, and moist Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Scones drizzled with a lemon glaze are a perfect way to start any day!

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a plate filled with lemon flavored scones

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones are tender and moist, filled with buttery lemon goodness! Top it off with Lemon Curd, and you’ve got the BEST scones on the planet.

I think I’ve mentioned before that we are HUGE Biscuit fans in this house! We love mile high buttery moist biscuits…more than dinner rolls! (eek!)

There’s just something so “down home” about a great buttermilk biscuit smothered in thick berry jam. (Are ya drooling yet? My goal is to get you all drooling, so I’m not the only one. It could be an age thing and not a food thing? Hmmmm!) 

The only thing better than a delicious biscuit? A SCONE! A Scone is nothing more than a biscuit all dressed up in its sparkling sugar panties for breakfast or afternoon tea! (Sugar panties? We may have to re-think that one…lol) I love scones.

I love scones. (Have I mentioned that I love scones?!) My love affair with them started back when I worked in an Escrow office and every day a little gal came in, a basket on her arm, loaded with fresh scones and lemon curd. (She was evil!)

I would get the Cranberry Orange Scone or the Lemon Poppy Seed Scone. Drenched in that lip-smacking Lemon Curd…it was my Happy Place for an entire 3.5 minutes…which is how long it would take me to inhale it!

Plate full of Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

TIP: The one thing you need to keep in mind when making scones…don’t over work the dough! Same principal as biscuits or pie crust. The more you handle the dough…the tougher it gets. That said…these Lemon Poppy Seed Scones are absolutely delectable.

How To Make Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

Preheat your oven to 350°. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper or your silicone baking sheet.

Grate 3/4 cup of frozen unsalted butter. Say What? Yep, I said “grate” frozen butter. Scones always call for “chilled” butter.

I learned from another baker that grating the butter when frozen works wonderfully in scones. It makes it super easy to cut the butter into the flour mixture, and it creates little chick pea size butter/flour balls which in turn will create wonderful buttery air pockets in your scone.

Once your butter is grated…stick it back in the freezer until you are ready to use it.

Grated butter

In a small bowl, using a fork or your fingertips, rub one Tablespoon of lemon zest and 1/3 cup of sugar together until fully combined and fragrant. This step smells so refreshingly wonderful!

In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, all of your lemon sugar, 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 Tbsp of poppy seeds.

mix for scones, flour, lemon zest, and flour

Add in the 3/4 cup of grated butter and cut with a pastry cutter/blender or a fork until the mixture looks coarse. You should have those flour/butter balls about the size of peas.

grated butter added to scone dough

Make a well in the middle and add 1 cup of buttermilk. Mix until just combined. This is where “not overworking” the dough comes into play.

You’ll notice mine doesn’t even look very “combined”. It’s okay you are going to turn it out onto a floured surface and gently knead it about 3–4 times. All those “dry” bits will work in the wet dough. No worries.

add cream to dough

Transfer the dough onto a flour surface and lightly knead into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. I kneaded the dough about 3–4 times very gently.

TIP: I get a lot of questions about my “dough disc”. I bought mine YEARS ago off of QVC. It is by far…next to my KitchenAid…my NUMBER ONE all-time favorite kitchen tool! The disc is a hard plastic circle that is covered by an elastic cotton cloth. You just flour the cloth and roll away. Pie crust, biscuits, rolls…you name it…it doesn’t stick. Clean Up… A breeze! Toss the cotton cloth into the washing machine.

I bought mine years ago… I’ve been searching all over and found my new one on Amazon. It is as close to mine as it comes. I mean mine is 26 years old. I just ordered this one, and I’m super excited to get it. (I kinda feel like I’m cheating on it by ordering a new one!)

I trimmed the edges of my rectangle with my pizza cutter. Straight edges where a must since I was making these for my Mother’s Day Brunch. Cut them into smaller triangles for a petite scone rather than a huge scone.

Space them out evenly, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10–12 minutes or until lightly browned. In the meantime you can prepare your glaze.

Lemon Poppy Seed scone dough on floured surface

Lemon Glaze for Scones

For the glaze whisk together 1 cup of powder sugar with 2 Tablespoons of fresh squeeze lemon juice until your mixture becomes “pasty”. Add more sugar or juice to achieve the desired consistency. Place your scones on a cooling rack with foil underneath. Drizzle the glaze over the warm scones and…the best part…SERVE! Which translated means EAT!!!

Aren’t those just the most beautiful scones ever! You can see how high they rise while cooking. We can thank those “pea” sized flour/butter balls for that!

Plate full of Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

I have to tell you… I did the photo shoot on this brunch and as soon as it was over…my daughter and I were digging into those scones and drenching them in the Easy Microwave Lemon Curd…we barely made it up for air!   

When our husbands came home, they are living with us while their house is being built…and they saw the scones…they asked what they were?

We told them, and then said “They’re awful! HORRIBLE! We’d stay clear of them.” I have no idea why they didn’t believe us? It could have been all the lemon curd and scone crumbs around our mouths! Maybe? 😉

Favorite Breakfast Pastry Recipes

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Yield: 16 scones

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

Elevate your brunch game with these beautiful light and flaky lemon poppy seed scones! Enjoy them fresh out of the oven with loads of butter or drenched in Lemon Curd!

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/3 c granulated sugar
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen and grated (see notes)
  • 1 cup buttermilk

Lemon Glaze

  • 1 Cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or use parchment paper or silicone baking sheets. Set aside.
  2. In a small bowl, using a fork or your fingertips, rub 1 Tablespoon lemon zest and 1/3 cup sugar together until fully combined and fragrant.
  3. In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of flour, all of your lemon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds.
  4. Add the 3/4 cup grated butter and cut with a pastry cutter or a fork, until the mixture looks coarse. (You should still see pieces of butter/flour "balls" about the size of small peas)
  5. Make a well in the middle and add 1 cup of buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
  6. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and lightly knead into a 3/4 inch thick rectangle. Cut in triangles using a pizza cutter. Place them on our prepared baking sheets. Space them out evenly, about 2 inches apart.
  7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
  8. Place on cooling rack with foil underneath to catch the glaze.

Lemon Glaze

  1. Whisk 1 cup of confectioners sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice until your mixture become pasty. Add more sugar or juice to achieve the desired consistency.
  2. Drizzle over warm scones. Serve

Notes

To make grating butter easier, place the butter in your freezer at least an hour before you plan to grate it. I use a regular standard cheese grater. Once you've grated all the butter, put it back in the freezer until ready to use.

Rather than rolling the dough into a rectangle to make smaller scones you can divide the dough into two 3/4 inch thick, 6 diameter rounds. Cut each round into 8 wedges.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

16 scones

Serving Size:

1 scone

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 214Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 213mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 3g

Norine’s Nest in no way provides any warranty, express or implied, towards the content of recipes in this website. It is the reader’s responsibility to determine the value and quality of any recipe or instructions provided for food preparation and to determine the nutritional value, if any, and safety of the preparation instructions.

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Barbara parker

Friday 1st of March 2019

Where are the poppy seeds in the recipe?

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Friday 1st of March 2019

Hi Barbara! That's a really great question! I can't believe I missed that...and for TWO YEARS! Guess I need to keep that eye appointment later this month! Gads! I'm so sorry. I've gone in and fixed it and I sincerely apologize for that over sight. These are really great scones...I hope you get a chance to make them. Thanks for stopping by and bring this to my attention. I always proof read...but sometimes my eyes miss it multiple times. Thanks! ~Norine

Kayleigh | Whisks & Wooden Spoons

Tuesday 16th of May 2017

Yum! Lemon poppy seed anything is the best. Scones especially.

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Tuesday 16th of May 2017

Hi Kayleigh! :) I completely agree! I'm a sucker for anything with Lemon Poppy Seed! Throw on some Lemon Curd and I'm a goner! Swooning for sure. Thanks so much for stopping by my Nest. Have a GREAT week! ~Norine

Nikki@SoulfullyMade

Thursday 11th of May 2017

These are gorgeous and look absolutely amazing! I am in love with anything lemon poppy seed! I can just smell them baking and wish I could reach in a grab one! Cannot wait to make these!

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Sunday 14th of May 2017

Thank You Nikki! I really appreciate your sweet comments. I'm a lover of lemon myself! Hope you love them as much as I do! Have a Fantastic Day! ~Norine

Little Quiltsong

Thursday 11th of May 2017

These sound wonderful! Love our scones - I need to try these!

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