In my quest for the perfect scone recipe, I discovered this lovely Scottish variation using oats.  Think oatmeal cookie meets scone.  The oats add something homey and filling, and make this recipe a healthy breakfast choice.  So I should feel no guilt whatsoever about piling them high with lemon curd or jam, right?  Right.

Today, I'm making lemon poppy seed scones, but you can really add anything you like to this basic recipe.  I also make them with dried cherries and slivered almonds, dried cranberries and orange zest, cinnamon apple, chocolate chip, etc. 

Here's what you'll need:

For the basic recipe, you'll use flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, butter and an egg. 

To make lemon poppy seed, you'll want a lemon and some poppy seeds...and I like to boost the lemon flavor with lemon oil.

There are a lot of photos here, but these come together pretty quick.  So lightly grease a cookie sheet (or use a sheet of parchment paper), and preheat your oven to 425. 
Let's get started by melting the stick of butter into a liquid measuring cup.  I like to measure everything in one cup to cut down on dishes.  So just pour your 1/3 cup of milk right in with the butter. 

and crack an egg in on top. 

Whisk it all together until the eggs are frothy, and there you have the wet ingredients.


Now, to assemble the dry ingredients.  Add 1 1/2 cups of flour to a mixing bowl.

Now add 2 cups of rolled oats.

1/4 c. of sugar,

1/2 t. salt

and 4 t. of baking powder. 

Stir to blend the dry ingredients.

You can stop here if you just want a plain scone recipe.  But why go with plain when you can make lemon poppy seed scones? 
So, first, I tweak the dry ingredients...add in about a T. of poppy seeds.

Next, zest a lemon into the flour mix.

Chop the lemon in half and juice it into the dry ingredients. 

Or you can use a 1 1/2 T. of lemon juice from concentrate...and you can add this to the wet ingredients instead of the dry.  Duh.

Now we're gonna tweak the wet ingredients with a 1/2 t. of pure lemon oil. Cooking with oils adds a lot more flavor than extracts.  I buy NOW brand from my favorite vitamin website, Lucky Vitamin. 

Now you're going to pour the wet ingredients into the dry.

And stir until it comes together into a loose dough. 

You want it to just cling together, but not have any dry spots.  You can add a sprinkle of milk if it's still too dry to come together.  Flour is very fickle and absorbs moisture out of the air, so sometimes you have to tweak and add a little more milk to make it work.  Divide the dough in two.

Now, sometimes, I am conflicted about which flavor I want to make, and I wait until this point in the recipe to stir in my flavorings.  I might knead almond extract and dry cherries into one lump of dough, and poppy seeds, lemon oil and zest into the other.  It works just as well.

Next, place the dough on your prepared cookie sheet pat it into 1/2 inch rounds.  Score the tops with a knife, and bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Serve with butter, jelly, or lemon curd.  Printable recipes are below. ♥

printable pdf scone recipe
black and white pdf scone recipe