Minneola Tangelo-Buttermilk Scones

It’s great to see so many magazine articles authored by food bloggers these days. In the February issue of Living, Clotilde Dusoulier wrote about crepes, and Deb Perelman wrote about cupcakes. There have been several instances of articles by bloggers in other magazines too, and it’s a nice acknowledgement of the popularity of food blogs. In Living’s January issue, Clotilde wrote about citrus, and that’s where I saw these delicious-looking, tangelo scones. Kurt is a fan of scones since forever, and thus, these were destined to be a treat for our Valentine’s Day breakfast.

I had never made scones with buttermilk, or minneola tangelos for that matter, so I was intrigued. This recipe makes a lot of scones, and had I been thinking more clearly, I would have cut it in half. Although, having some of these in the freezer isn’t such a bad thing. For the full recipe, six tangelos were peeled, segmented, seeded, and chopped, and one was zested. The dough was mixed in a large mixing bowl and then turned out onto a floured surface and patted into a rectangle as usual for scones. I made a lame attempt at cuteness by trying to cut out heart shapes. This wasn’t the scone for cute hearts. The tangelo chunks squirted and were squashed in the sticky dough by the cutter, and the resulting heart shape was less than precise. I abandoned that quickly and cut the rest in triangles.

There is a lot of liquid in the dough from the chopped tangelos and the buttermilk, and the cut scones need to be chilled for at least a couple of hours before baking. I brushed the tops with an egg wash since I didn’t have any cream and then sprinkled on turbinado sugar. Just to make them extra fancy for my Valentine, I squiggled on a confectioner’s sugar glaze before serving. The juicy bits of tangelo were lovely in the scones, and the buttermilk balanced the sweetness. I’m guessing these scones will make repeat appearances in my kitchen each time tangelos are in season.