Scones are the perfect accompaniment to tea…or even coffee. And this simple recipe means they are easy to have on hand for any occasion…or just on a random Tuesday?! Celebrate everyday, right?

We had a scone emergency of sorts recently…meaning we needed something to serve with tea for a guest that was coming in a couple of hours.

These were the perfect solution - they are quick, delicious, and we had all the ingredients on hand. Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner!

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Since I originally wrote this post, I have made this recipe many times, most recently as a gift for clients to celebrate their new home.

These Lemon Ginger Scones are adapted from a very basic cream scone recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks: Having Tea. With really only two main ingredients - flour and heavy cream, these rely on baking powder to rise.

And you can add pretty much anything that appeals to you. I often use this recipe to make cinnamon chip scones that taste just like the ones from our beloved local Concord Teacakes bakery, but chocolate chips or dried fruit or chopped fresh firmer fruits like apple or pear could work as well. '

For this variation I used diced crystallized ginger which I keep on hand from my favorite online vendor (the same place where we bought an overabundance of dried black beans, but that’s another story…), and grated lemon peel.

If you love lemon but hate grating lemon peel, you need this microplane. It’s transformative - no more grated knuckles! I have a few favorite kitchen tools which you can read about here, and this is one of them!

I often top these cream scones with a sprinkle of coarse sugar. For an extra hit of lemony sweetness for these lemon ginger scones, I made a simple glaze and drizzled it over them.

Lemon Ginger Scones

Makes 2 dozen mini scones

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
~1/2 cup diced crystallized ginger
grated peel from one lemon
heavy cream ~1 cup+

optional: coarse sanding sugar

optional glaze: juice of one lemon mixed with confectioners sugar to desired consistency (~1 cup) NOTE: confectioners sugar can be mixed with ANY juice or milk or even water to make a glaze - but beware, it takes way more powdered sugar than liquid so add the liquid slowly!

Directions

Preheat oven to 425ºF
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder
Toss the grated lemon peel with flour mixture. Stir in the crystallized ginger.
Stir in enough heavy cream until a dough forms
Turn dough onto a floured mat and knead gently - do NOT overwork the dough as it needs to retain air to rise properly when baking
Roll dough to a 1/2” thickness
Cut with a small biscuit or cookie cutter - I used a 2” heart shaped one. You can gather scraps and re-roll to use the remaining dough, taking care not to knead any more than necessary.
Arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet ~1” apart
Optional: brush tops with heavy cream and sprinkle with sanding sugar
Bake for 10-12 minutes until tops begin to turn golden
Serve warm or at room temperature

Bonus: drizzle tops with lemon glaze.

For the glaze, mix together the juice of one lemon with enough confectioners sugar to reach a consistency similar to that of melted chocolate.

I spooned the glaze into a small Ziploc bag and snipped the corner for an impromptu disposable piping bag and piped the glaze in casual zig zag stripes across the scones.

These are absolutely at their best served the day that you make them, but they do keep for several days stored at room temperature in an airtight container. We managed to make all 2 dozen disappear in the space of 12 hours…though to be fair, we did give a few away. I think I ate 4…which is about 2 more than I probably should have eaten, but they’re small and pretty irresistible.

Scones are delicious all on their own, but I often offer clotted cream, lemon curd, jam, or whipped butter as accompaniments when I’m feeling decadent or hosting a tea party.