Low Calorie Blueberry Scones

As you can tell, I LOVE home baked goodies.   That's why I bake all the time but the biggest drawback is the calories.  Now this is where this great recipe comes in handy.  These scones are only 196 calories as opposed to 460 at Starbucks.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Starbucks and am a regular customer but man, when they started listing the calorie content of their foods...uh, that was like an instant repellent for me.  I can't live without a hot cup of coffee in the morning and a nice chilled coffee drink in the afternoon but the extra calories and poundage I'd gain from eating their scones or pastries...umm..no, not good.  Anyways, as I'm waiting in line to order my coffee I wistfully gaze at the scones and wave goodbye to them.   Too many calories!

Determined to find a way to be able to have my cake and eat it too, I went on a recipe hunt. I didn't have to hunt for very long though.  Hello...CookingLight.com.  This recipe calls for very little butter and sugar which is a good thing.  An even better thing is that they taste really good.  I've baked them and everyone who's tasted them really like them.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light:

1/2 cup 2% reduced fat milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

To brush over scones:
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons sugar ( I used turbinado sugar-natural brown sugar)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, level with a knife.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Cut butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal.  I usually start out using a pastry cutter then end up using my hands to combine the butter with the flour mixture.  Add milk mixture, stirring until moist.  Warning: The dough will be really sticky especially if you're using fresh blueberries that have just been rinsed.  That little bit of extra water on the blueberries adds to the stickiness.

Dust a surface flour and turn dough out onto it.  I also dust the top of the dough too so its easier to work with.  Pat dough down into 10 wedges and place dough wedges onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

I used a flower cookie cutter with this batch so that the scones would be round but you can cut yours in to triangles.  Either way looks attractive.

I use parchment paper every time I bake cookies and scones.  It just saves to much time and is so much easier to bake the goodies on.  It's not that expensive so I highly suggest that you buy a roll.

Brush egg white over dough wedges, sprinkle evenly with turbinado sugar.  Bake scones at 375 degrees for 18 minutes or until golden.  Serve warm.

Mmmmm, nothing like warm blueberry scones right out of the oven!!! Yummm!!!