I’ve been on a Greek yogurt kick lately, and I’ve been intrigued by the idea of baking with yogurt after the smashing success of these blueberry muffins. Yogurt is fantastic in baked goods; it imparts a light, moist texture and flavor and is so much better for you than fattening alternatives like butter, sour cream or cream cheese. Generally speaking, you should be able to replace half the amount of butter in baked goods with half the amount of Greek yogurt (e.g. 8 tablespoons of butter becomes 4, plus 2 tablespoons of yogurt).
Since scones are notoriously heavy in butter, I thought they would be prime for adaptation. I attempted to replace some butter in these raspberry oatmeal scones with yogurt, while also replacing the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour. I ended up with pretty pictures of mediocre scones, so the photos joined the ranks of failed recipes in my Lightroom. That happens more often than not—I only share the absolute best on the blog.
So I searched around for a whole wheat scone recipe with Greek yogurt, and eventually landed on a gorgeous post by Caroline of chocolate & carrots. It was exactly what I was looking for, so I followed her recipe closely and a mere 35 minutes later, took a bite of the best scone I’ve ever tasted.
The scones are everything a scone should be: slightly crispy on the outside and delicately moist and fluffy on the inside. Not too sweet, yet packed with flavor. Thanks to the lighter texture of whole wheat pastry flour, they don’t taste like heavy, nutty whole wheat scones. The Greek yogurt lends moistness and a slight tang, which plays nicely with the lemon zest. Truly, I believe this is the scone recipe to end all scone recipes.
Not convinced? Let’s examine the reaction of two grown boys who had the fortune of walking into my kitchen the day I baked these scones. After one bite, the first yelped in delight and cursed its perfection. That night, the other boy practically waltzed around the kitchen, mm-mming as he relished every last bite of his scone. The latter may have had a few drinks beforehand, but I assure you that these boys don’t normally get excited about scones. They’re just that good.
Scroll down for the man-approved scone recipe!
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3 tablespoons turbinado (raw cane) sugar, plus more for sprinkling on top
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
- zest of one lemon
- 1 cup blueberries (I used frozen but fresh would be even better!)
- 1/2 cup plain low fat Greek yogurt (I used 0% fat yogurt by Fage)
- 1/2 cup low fat milk (I used 2%)
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Combine flours, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
- Slice butter and drop into dry ingredients. If you have a pastry cutter, use it to cut the butter into the flour. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, use a knife to cut the butter into tiny pieces and mix it into the flour.
- Add blueberries and lemon zest and gently stir. You can use frozen blueberries, no thawing necessary.
- Gently mix in milk and yogurt. Eventually you’ll need to use your hands to knead the last of the flour into the dough.
- Form dough into a circle about that’s about an inch deep all around. Cut the circle into 8 slices.
- Separate slices and place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper or foil.
- Sprinkle the tops of the scones with a bit of raw sugar.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until light brown.
41 Comments
Aww, thanks Kate! I’m so glad you liked them! :-) One of my favorite recipes ever. Yum!!!! And your photos are beautiful! :-)
Thank you for the recipe, Caroline! I’m so glad I found your blog the other day. Your recipes are fantastic! I found so many I want to try.
Awww, I love your blog at first sight! These scones look very yummy (using yogurt sounds delicious)! I’m now following you on Bloglovin! -^_^-
Hi Kate, I’m so glad I just came across your lovely blog! You have so many tasty recipes and your photos are gorgeous. And Cookie is just the cutest dog. :-) I also have a mutt (named Felix, but she’s a girl) that we rescued from the street when she was a tiny puppy. Looking forward to following your blog. Have a great day, Karen.
Thank you, Karen! I’m glad you found my little blog. I’d love to see pictures of Felix!
im not much of a scone maker but i think i will give this a go soon! looks pretty amazing – just need get my hands on some WW pastry flour – haven’t seen any around here before!
once again your photography is stunning and inspiring! :) might sound like a silly question – but how do you put multiple photos into 1 photo? like the pics of the flour/butter and blueberries? im thinking of getting LR or photoshop but dunno which ones better…
Hey Vivienne, I hope you try this scone recipe! I was surprised at how easy they are to make. I find whole wheat pastry flour at our local health food stores.
Thank you for your kind words about my photos. I feel like I still have so much to learn! Your question isn’t silly at all. I use Adobe Lightroom to organize and edit my photos. If I want to create a photo collage (the two photos in one), I open the edited photos in Photoshop and paste them into some really basic templates I set up. I have not found a way to create a collage in Lightroom.
I love Lightroom and wouldn’t be able to go without it, so if you have to pick one program and do a lot of photo editing, I would go with Lightroom. If you happen to have a Mac, you could also buy a cheap program by Apple called Pages. My friend swears by it for making collages—I have never figured out how to use it that way, but it looks easy, and Pages only costs around $20 in the app store.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
thanks for the detailed response Kate!
i’ve downloaded the trial version of LRoom and couldn’t find the collage function as well! Think I will end up buying LR over photoshop as it just seems much more user friendly/simpler, and learn to use Pages to do the collage :) thanks again for your tips :D
yeah i do feel like there’s so much to learn in photography – but it is a lot of fun and a joy when the final image turns out the way i intended it!
anywyas, you have a great weekend ahead :)
Thanks for posting this! I made these scones this evening and they turned out really well. I usually use buttermilk when baking scones, but I really liked the non-fat greek yogurt/milk combo in this recipe. They still had the tang I like from the buttermilk but they seemed lighter and much more moist. And to finish off the scones, I reserved some of the liquid and used it as a wash to coat the scones and I sprinkled the tops with some more turbinado sugar. They browned nicely and the sugar added to the crunch.
Thanks again for the recipe!
Thank you for commenting, Richard! I love hearing from readers who enjoy my recipes. Great idea using the liquid as a wash. I think I’ve found my scone recipe for life! :)
Hi Kate!
I just found your blog and LOVE it. The pictures are so vibrant, I want to reach into my computer and taste everything! Anyways, I just wanted to thank you for the scone recipe. I’ve been searching for a healthy scone recipe for a while now and yours has become my standard. I’m making my third batch today (although I think I’ll try substituting apples and cinnamon since I ran out of blueberries). Thanks again!
Thank you so much for commenting, Molly! I’m glad you love the scones. I just can’t get enough of them. How did the apples and cinnamon turn out in your third batch? That sounds perfect for fall!
I actually ended up going with cherries and vanilla. I left out the lemon zest and added a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Delicious :)
Kate,
SO thrilled to find a blueberry lemon scone recipe that is eggless! And more so with greek yogurt ++
So glad..
These look delish! I can’t wait to try them. Can i use regular sugar or another sweetener in place of the turbinado sugar if I don’t have it on hand?
Good question, Meg! Yes, I think regular sugar in place of the turbinado would be fine. Since you’re only adding 3 tablespoons to add a bit of sweetness, I think a wide range of sugar and sugar substitutes would work. Maybe even a tablespoon or two of honey would suffice.
Kate-
This scone recipe looks fabulous!! Will collect the ingredients and give it a go for sure!! Any idea of nutritional breakdown?? With the less fat should be better than your normal scone (which I love, but tend to avoid due to calorie/fat content!!)
Thanks
Hi Beth! I’m sorry I don’t provide nutritional breakdown details, but I am certain that these scones are much lower in fat than most thanks to the fat-free yogurt.
When I saw the greek yogurt in the recipe I knew I had to make these scones. What a great way to save calories and not sacrifice taste. I made a batch today and they are heavenly! Light and moist, but still crunchy on the outside. Thanks for the amazing recipe! I’ll be saving this one for sure.
Oh. my. goodness. I’m a fan of this recipe for life. They turned out great, I just baked them for a few extra minutes to get them nice and crispy. Delicious!
Yes! So glad to hear it, Erin! I really want to try these scones with cherries this summer, and fresh cranberries and orange zest next winter (somehow I never got around to it this winter).
These had lovely flavour and I loved the moistness from the Greek yoghurt..I used strawberry as I didn’t have any plain…YUM! I found that 400 was too high as they browned quickly but weren’t finished in the middle so I turned the temp down to 350. Thanks for the great recipe!
So delicious and easy as well – my three year old helped make them this morning. Excellent base scone recipe. Can’t wait to try with other fruits/flavors. Thanks!!
Thanks so much for your feedback, Emily! I’m so glad your little one got to help. I can’t wait to try making these scones with fresh strawberries and cherries this summer!
Hey Kate,
I was wondering if I could use soy for both the yogurt and milk? Have you ever tried it? I think I may just to see how they turn out!
Hi Julia! I haven’t tried either, but I’d love to hear how the scones turn out with those substitutions! I bet they’ll be great.
Making these tonight for an early morning road trip! They are in the oven and look more blue than yours but my biggest thing was the pastry flour so I found a calc with cake flour and extra regular whole wheat flour…. But was not easy to make into a circle and cut so made individual ones. The batter tastes great so I am sure they will be wonderful cooked!
I found your blog a couple of days ago and I am in love! From all the desserts and sweets I’ve made, I have never made scones. I guess I am intimidated by them. :x But because of your clear instructions and tips, I think I will give them a shot; thank you for sharing!
-Jessica
Thank you, Jessica! I hope you get a chance to make the scones soon. I promise that if I can make them, you can, too!
These scones have become by go to scones. I’ve made them with blueberries and raspberries and I absolutely love them. Can’t wait to try your other recipes!
Happy to hear it, Ana! Thank you for commenting!
Hello,
I’m still new to baking but making my way through various pan keys JD cookie recipes JD me cross this scone recipe. I have them in the oven right now but after forming my 1″ thick dough circle I couldn’t get them ‘cut and separated.’ Can you share your technique or what utensils are used? Thanks
Hi Josheph, if I remember correctly, I used a chef’s knife or serrated knife to cut the slices. Then I think I used my chef’s knife to wiggle underneath each scone and remove it from the rest.
Hey Kate!
I absolutely looove scones and I’m SO GLAD I found your recipe! I love your blog and could sit and read for hours! I tried your recipe this weekend for a bake sale and my friends LOVED the scones. I’m fairly new to blogging, so my page doesn’t have the greatest bells and whistles or the most posts quite yet, but I’d love if you checked it out! Here’s a link to my post of your recipe :)
http://foodie-on-foot.blogspot.com/2013/02/lemon-blueberry-scones.html
Thanks, Jamie! I’m really glad you enjoyed the scones. I meant to try making some with orange zest and cranberries this winter!
I made these tonight and accidentally started cooking them at 325, then looked again and saw that the directions said 425!! I quickly changed the setting and they finished in about 10 minutes.. because I had the wrong temp at first, they spread out a bit but they are still absolutely delicious (they just do not look pretty like yours). I will make them again definitely. Thanks for the great recipe, and I love that it is so much healthier than typical blueberry scones. I also could not find whole wheat pastry flour, until I saw it at Whole Foods store in the bulk section… Kim
Thanks, Kim! I’m glad you enjoyed the scones, even if they spread out a little more than they should have. I think you could really play around with flavors here by adding different berries or mix-ins and changing up the citrus zest.
Hello Kate. From your description of how crunchy it is on the outside and soft and tasty on the inside, I can’t wait to make these scones. I am a scone lover and follow all types of gourmet scone recipes but I am new to personal blogs. I normally get my recipes from FoodNetwork or major recipe sites. I have yet to find out the difference between those and blogs. I will usually go to scone mix sections and browse through for some wholesome picks. I found some of them very good but quite pricey.
Once I go to Whole Foods and find some WW pastry flour, I will be all ready to try them! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for commenting, Matilda! I hope these scones meet (or preferably exceed!) your expectations. I love using whole wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour in baked goods—you get all the health benefits of whole wheat flour without the wheat-y taste.
I use a similar scone recipe, except instead of the butter I use chilled coconut oil and instead of using whole wheat pastry and whole wheat flour, I use ww pastry and oat flour.
Thank you for your site. I have made a few and have not been disappointed. :)
Thanks, Valerie. I will have to try using chilled coconut oil and oat flour in scones soon.
12 Trackbacks
[...] in my pantry and freezer. I also have a freezer stocked with my favorite banana bread and blueberry scones, which are easy to defrost. And hey, sometimes I eat dessert for breakfast. There’s nothing [...]
[...] progress photos, because 6 a.m. is too early to be mucking around with a camera. I used this recipe from Cookie + Kate, swapping out cranberries for the blueberries and using just whole wheat flour, since I don’t [...]
[...] Chocolate Cake and Frosting from Never Home(maker) Greek Yogurt Lemon Bundt from Food Librarian Healthy Lemon Blueberry Scones from Cookie and Kate Elizabeth February 17th, 2012 | Print This [...]
[...] and fat. Instead, have some toasted brown bread with a cup of tea, whip up some delicious scones (http://cookieandkate.com/2011/healthy-lemon-blueberry-scones/), or have a healthier version of fish and chips by baking it [...]
[...] uses for citrus curds: Serve on honey or molasses bread, buttered toast, scones, pound cake, gingerbread, shortbread, or molasses cookies, either on its own or with a dollop of [...]
[...] this recipe (adapted slightly from Cookie & Kate’s) is made with (among other ingredients) whole grain flours, fresh blueberries, freshly zested [...]
[...] Heavenly Lemon Blueberry Scones [...]
[...] Heavenly Lemon Blueberry Scones [...]
[...] Heavenly Lemon Blueberry Scones [...]
[...] in the mood for more blueberry lemon goodness, check out my blueberry lemon muffins and scones, which are made with yogurt as [...]
[...] Lemon Blueberry Scones [...]
[...] Recipe adapted from Cookie and Kate: http://cookieandkate.com/2011/healthy-lemon-blueberry-scones/ [...]