Stuffed Lemon-Poppy Seed Scones

 

This stuffed lemon poppy seed scone recipe had been sitting in my bookmarks for a while and I finally made it. They were out of this world when warm – crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and truly one of the best things you can put into your mouth. The Engineer agrees! 

I don’t keep cake flour on hand, so I always replace it with a mixture of corn starch and all-purpose flour. For this recipe, I put a bowl on the scale, turned on the scale, put ¼ cup of corn starch in the bowl, then added all-purpose flour until I reached 270 g. Also, since I didn’t feel like making lemon curd, I used this vegan lemon curd. I still have half the jar left, so I’ll have to make these scones again! 

1/3 cup lactose-free whole milk, plus more for brushing 

1 Tbsp. poppy seeds 

2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest, plus 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (1-2 lemons) 

2 ¼ cups cake flour, plus more for dusting 

3 Tbsp. granulated sugar 

1 Tbsp. baking powder 

1 Earl Grey tea bag, leaves removed and finely crushed (about 1 ½ tsp.) 

½ tsp. salt 

1 stick lactose-free butter, cold, cut into small pieces 

1 large egg 

¼ cup lactose-free lemon curd (like this one)

turbinado sugar, for sprinkling 

Preheat the oven to 425 °F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat and set aside. 

Heat the milk in a small saucepan or warm in the microwave until steaming. Remove from the heat and stir in the poppy seeds. Let stand until cooled, about 20 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice (to thicken and sour the milk). 

Whisk the cake flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, tea, and salt in a medium bowl (I do this in the food processor). Work in the cold butter and lemon zest with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse meal (again, the food processor is just so convenient for this, but you could also use a pastry cutter). Make a well in the center, then add the egg and milk-poppy seed mixture (you can do this in a bowl if you’re nervous about overmixing). Stir together until combined and a soft dough forms, gently kneading the dough in the bowl once stirring becomes difficult. 

Divide the dough in half and gently pat each portion into a 6- to 7-inch disk (¼ o ½ inch thick), lightly dusting the dough and your fingers with flour if the dough is too sticky (I dusted the counter too). Transfer one disk of dough to a baking sheet and spread the lemon curd on top, leaning a 1-inch border around the edge. Place the remaining disk of dough on top of the curd and pinch the edges together to seal. Brush the top with milk and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Score the dough into 8 wedges, cutting about halfway into the top layer of dough but not into the filling. 

Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes (I baked mine 22 minutes). Transfer to a rack and let cool 4 to 10 minutes on the baking sheet. Slide off the baking sheet and onto the rack; let cool at least 45 more minutes. Cut into wedges along the scored lines.