Lemon Poppy Scones

My morning stash of breakfast muffins is finished! Alright, they lasted over three weeks, but still! In need of a new breakfast item, I decided to make scones, both because I haven't made a batch in ages and because I love everything about them. I love their triangular shape, their craggy, coarse, crumbly consistency, their Scottish heritage, their versatility. Take any basic scone recipe, drop in some add-ins and flavorings and you have a scone wonderfully tailored to your personal taste. The batch of scones I made was lemon-poppy. Inspired by my lemon-poppy cake, I added some zest and extract and two tablespoons of poppy seeds to KAF's basic scone recipe. I know this is a classic combination, but I must say, it's delicious! And it tastes exactly like the cake in this form. Somehow the tartness of the lemon is rendered delicate and mellow by the addition of dairy. It's heavenly. I also love the visual pop that the poppy seeds add. For this recipe, I used milk and a combination of margarine and shortening. Take care to make sure everything is cold and that the dough is cold as well before going into the oven or else risk having a melting bubbly mess in the oven. Even if this does happen, I can assure you they'll still be delicious. Scones are best eaten fresh but I stashed the lot of them in the freezer to pull out as needed.

Lemon Poppy Scones

adapted from KAF Baker's Companion

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

2 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp lemon zest

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon extract

1/2 cup milk or buttermilk

8 tbsp cold margarine, or a combo of margarine and shortening

Preheat the oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Place all of the dry ingredients in a bowl,

and whisk until combined.Add in the fat. I grated in my margarine, so it looks kinda cool.

Rub it in with your fingers or a pastry blender until coarse crumbs are formed. Don't go too far, you want nice flaky scones.Place the liquid ingredients in measuring cup,
and mix to combine.
Pour this over the dry ingredients,
and using a spatula fold the ingredients together until almost all of the flour is completely moistened. Take care not to over mix. If this mixture isnt cold, chill it.
Divide the dough into two equal portions.
Pat into circles.
Cut each circle into eight wedges. My dough was too warm and soft for them to separate, but they separated after the baking.
Bake until theyre light golden and have puffed up about ten-thirteen minutes.
Break them up and set on a wire rack to cool!