Meyer Lemon & Ricotta Scones with a blood orange glaze
I can’t believe I am saying this, but John and I are officially Californians again! Seattle was our home for over 6 years, so while it’s a little weird not to be there anymore, I will say that it feels great to be back in the state where we both grew up. It’s so nice being near family. That was seriously one of the hardest things for me when living in Seattle—missing birthdays, holidays, and other important events was the worst. But now that we are back, I get to reconnect with friends, spend more time with family, and bask in that glorious California sun.
Since we’ve moved, I haven’t let a single week go by without consuming a load of fresh, bright citrus. Every market I’ve gone to has the most impressive selection of fruit. I have even found varieties that I have never seen like finger limes (which are crazy cute) and cocktail grapefruits (which taste like a sweet lime crossed with grapefruit) I’m loving all this citrus so much that I’ve baked these meyer lemon and ricotta scones three times already. It all started with some inspiration from The Smitten Kitchen, which I then adapted into this citrus-forward recipe. I made a batch to snack with my morning coffee, another for a party we went to, another for a weekend brunch gathering. Try out the recipe below—you won’t regret it.
Lemon & Ricotta Scones
Serves 8
Scones
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 large meyer lemons, zested (about 1 tsb)
2 cups AP flour
1 tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tbs poppy seeds
6 tbs unsalted butter, cold
⅓ cup plus 1 tsp heavy cream
¾ cup ricotta
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Blood Orange Glaze
⅔ cup plus 3 tbsp powdered sugar
5 1/2-6 tsp blood orange juice
Method
Heat oven to 425F. Line a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside.
To a large bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest and rub the zest into the sugar with your fingers for a minute or so, or until the sugar has turned slightly yellow and has become fragrant. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds to the bowl and whisk to combine.
In a medium bowl add the heavy cream, ricotta, and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth.
Add the cubed butter to the bowl with the flour mixture and with your fingers rub the butter into the mixture until the butter forms into pea-sized clumps (you could use a pastry cutter).
Add ricotta mixture to the flour mixture and mix until you form a shaggy dough. Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead together into a disc roughly 7 inches wide.
Cut into 8 equal sized pieces and place onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Cool for a minute or two in the pan then transfer to cooling rack. Once cooled, start making the glaze.
To make the glaze, mix powdered sugar and blood orange juice together until smooth. Drizzle over scones and enjoy. Just a quick note, the glaze yields just enough to cover all 8 scones, so try to be judicious when it comes to this part.