Blood Orange Buttermilk Scones

I’m sharing my recipe for my blood orange scones, ideal for blood orange season, that short time in January/February when blood oranges with their deep red flesh are in the shops.

All about blood oranges

All citrus fruits are in season at this time of year (at the time of writing) but I particularly love to squeeze blood oranges and enjoy a glass or two of deep red blood orange juice with its gorgeous colour. 

Apparently the dark blood-like colour of the flesh comes from a pigment and develops when the fruit develops with low temperatures overnight.

I also love to use orange zest in baking to make the most of the fruit and use as much of it as possible. Those vivid oranges produce the deepest red juice, which I made into a blood orange syrup to drench my blood orange scones.

The scones contain zest and a few tablespoons of juice from the blood oranges too.

Split them when warm and serve with ricotta, mascarpone or clotted cream. Just perfect, and making the most of the produce of the season too.

Buttermilk in baking

Buttermilk adds a lovely tang to your scones and goes so well with the sweetness of the blood orange syrup.

You’ll find it near the cream and creme fraiche at the supermarket, I love to use it for soda bread too, as well as in chocolate cakes.

Ingredients

Here’s what you will need for the recipe. Get the quantities in the recipe card below:

• flour
• caster sugar
• baking powder
• butter
• buttermilk
• blood oranges – zest and juice and 1 whole. Normal oranges can be used if they are out of season or you can’t find any.

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and add the sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest.
2. Rub in the butter until it forms rough breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in the buttermilk and orange juice to form a soft dough.
4. Turn it out onto a work surface and pat the dough into a rough rectangle shape out 4 cm thick.
5. Using a small fluted cutter, cut out approx 10 small scones.
6. Add a little more orange zest on top of the scones and brush with a little milk.
7. Place the scones on baking sheet lined with baking parchment.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 210°C for 9-11 minutes until golden.
9. While the scones bake, place the blood orange juice and sugar in a small bowl. Microwave for approx 30 seconds and then stir, the sugar should dissolve.
10. Then to reduce to a syrup, microwave on high for 2-3 minutes, keeping an eye on it and opening the door and stopping the cooking time each time it boils up to prevent it from boiling over.
11. Once the syrup has reduced, leave it to cool and it will thicken further.
12. Remove the scones from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
13. Place a thin slice of blood orange on top of each scone and pour over a little syrup.
14. Serve warm, split and filled with ricotta, mascarpone or clotted cream.

Blood orange recipes

More blood orange recipe ideas from my food blogging friends:

• orange curd made with blood oranges
• Plum and Blood Orange Cobbler
• blood orange and berry smoothie from Food to Glow
• blood orange gin fizz from Supper in the Suburbs

Giveaway (now closed)

To zest my blood oranges I use my Deiss Pro citrus zester and cheese grater (also available here for US readers).

With a wide blade made of premium quality stainless steel, and dishwasher safe too, I find it indispensable in the kitchen whether for grating cheese, garlic, ginger or zesting lemons or oranges.

Enter the giveaway below where you could win one of three Deiss Pro citrus zesters/cheese graters.