The night before we attended my brother’s college graduation ceremony to cheer on his record-setting 18 A+ grades and devoured fancy deep-dish pizzas to celebrate, our family bought tickets to attend our old high school band’s spring concert. Although I finished high school ages ago and my brother barely knew anyone in the ensemble too, we had a very special reason for going.
The new band director decided to create a slightly more modern program than the Tchaikovsky and Mozart my old director selected for us, which included six fun percussion-only pieces, as well as each of the three concert ensembles (freshman, regular, and elite) playing an electronic song.
For those new-age songs, the band performed a typical classical piece, while a laptop plugged into speakers played the accompanying electronic melodies. The director would press a tiny headphone into one ear while conducting the band, and he glanced offstage every so often to check in with the assistant director standing behind the computer.
Before the second ensemble began their electronic piece, a traditional song with the electronics added afterward, the band director called my younger brother up to the stage. My brother had actually composed the electronic accompaniment as a senior in high school, and the band had played it in a concert competition that year! He graciously spoke about how the band director had invited him to create the piece and explained his concept for the electronic sounds, and as the band played the song, both my mom and I were fighting back proud tears. (I’m actually crying now as I write this!)
Just like how my brother added a creative twist to a familiar song, I put a little spin on a classic flavor combo. Instead of the iconic muffins, I created these Lemon Poppy Seed Scones for my brother as the last installment of Lemon Week!
The scones’ flavor comes from both lemon juice and lemon zest. The latter provides the majority of the bright sunshiny taste. The oils in the lemon peel pack in quite a flavor punch, much more so than the juice, so don’t skip the zest! If you can find them, I recommend Meyer lemons because they’re slightly sweeter.
While traditional scone recipes require 1 or 2 sticks of butter (plus heavy cream) to keep them tender, these healthy ones use just 2 tablespoons! The rest of the moisture comes from Greek yogurt. It’s my secret weapon in healthier baking, and I’ve used it in everything from muffins to cupcakes to frosting. It provides the same moisture as additional butter or oil but without the excess calories. Greek yogurt also gives your baked goods a little protein boost!
Just before baking, we’ll slice the scone dough into 8 wedges and brush each with milk. The milk helps create their characteristic crusty exterior, which contrasts beautifully with the lovely tender texture on the inside.
Although it’s pure torture to sit around waiting for the buzzer to ding with the warm, lemony aroma wafting throughout the kitchen, I promise these scones are worth it! Paired with a cup of tea or iced coffee, they’re such a lovely sweet breakfast or snack.
And as for my brother’s opinion… I didn’t see a single crumb left!
| Lemon Poppy Seed Scones | | Print |
- 1 ½ cups (180g) white whole wheat or gluten-free* flour (measured correctly)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tsp poppy seeds
- 1 tbsp lemon zest (about 1 medium lemon)
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- ½ cup (120g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 tbsp (45mL) agave
- 2 tbsp (30mL) lemon juice (about half of 1 medium lemon)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp nonfat milk
- Preheat the oven to 425°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, poppy seeds, and lemon zest. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter or the back of a fork until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the Greek yogurt, agave, lemon juice, and vanilla.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared baking sheet, and shape into a 1”-tall circle. Using a very sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 wedges. Brush the tops with the milk. Bake at 425°F for 16-19 minutes, or until the tops begin to turn golden. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
For the gluten-free flour, I recommend as follows: 1 cup (120g) millet flour, ¼ cup (30g) tapioca flour, ¼ cup (30g) brown rice flour, and 1 teaspoon xanthan gum.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
More lemon scone recipes from other food bloggers…
♥ Whole Wheat Blueberry Lemon Ginger Scones by The Lemon Bowl
♥ Lemon and Vanilla Bean Scones by Baked Bree
♥ Lemon & Cherry Whole Wheat Scones by Cookin’ Canuk
♥ Strawberry Lemon Scones with Lemon Glaze by Keepin’ It Kind
I made these yesterday, and they’re delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
My pleasure Eve! I’m really glad you enjoyed the scones!
These look delicious Amy 🙂
Do you think I could make these with coconut flour?
Thanks Miranda! I don’t recommend substituting coconut flour. It behaves very differently than other flours and will most likely make the scones too dry and crumbly. I hope you enjoy them if you try them!
Quick question, I plan to make these after work today and wanted to know if regular whole wheat flour would work, and/or can I sub all-purpose flour?
Both will work fine Myaa! The lemon flavor will be more prominent with all-purpose flour, but the texture will be almost exactly the same. I hope you enjoy the scones!
Can I substitute Chia seeds for the poppy seeds?
I don’t recommend substituting chia seeds for the poppy seed. Chia seeds are very absorbent, so there is a possibility that the scones would turn out dry. I hope you enjoy the scones if you try them Sue!
These look delicious! Do you think I could freeze them? Should I try before or after baking? Also do you think I could try 1/2 brown rice flour and 1/2 white rice flour? Should I add any starch or anything else for gluten free?
Any suggestions appreciated!
Thanks!
Yes, these scones freeze really well after baking Christine! For the best results, I recommend using the gluten-free flour blend I included in the Notes section. However, if you only have those two GF flours, then I’d also recommend adding 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum to ensure the texture turns out as close as possible to the original version with white whole wheat flour. (Xanthan gum imitates gluten’s structural properties and will help the scones hold their shape after baking instead of collapsing!) I can’t wait to hear what you think of the scones! 🙂
I really wanted these to be good, I followed your recipe exactly, the one exception is I used brown sugar to replace the agave. They did not come out good at all. Could the brown sugar have changed the texture? they are bad, I tossed them out.
Yikes! Yes, that substitution is exactly what changed the texture. Agave adds both sweetness and liquid/moisture to the scone dough, whereas brown sugar only adds sweetness. If you prefer to use brown sugar, you’ll need to add an additional 2 tablespoons of milk to the dough along with the lemon juice. That should ensure the scones turn out with the proper texture next time! 🙂
needs more lemon but otherwise very good!
I’m glad you enjoyed the scones Ally!
Hi Amy? Thank you for yet another great recipe! I made these for a picknick at my church today and they were just so good, everybody loved them. That was the third of your scone recipes that I have tried and I loved all of them.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday ?
Katja x
Oh my, I’m SO honored that you made one of my recipes to share at your church picnic! It really means a lot to me that everyone enjoyed them — thank you for sharing that with me, sweet friend! 🙂
In the oven now (added 1 cup frozen strawberries and used whole wheat flour). Review to come, but it smells delicious!
We love lemon + strawberries together, so I can’t wait to hear how that combo turned out Audrey! 🙂
Unfortunately these didn’t turn out for me. The dough was really dry (couldn’t completely mix), so added a pinch of cream to mould it into the 1″ circle. The scones didn’t rise. I would use 1/2 the lemon zest. Too bad, I was really looking fwd to these!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! If the dough was really dry, then there was too much flour in it. Did you use a kitchen scale to measure, or did you scoop it directly from the container? When measured like that, you can end up with 1.5 times as much flour as when you lightly spoon and level, and that extra flour is definitely causing the issues that you’ve experienced! If you don’t own a kitchen scale, here’s what I recommend doing for measuring flour (and cocoa powder, oats, etc!): use a fork to “scoop” up flour from the container, and lightly shake the fork back and forth over the top of your measuring cup to transfer the flour into it. Once there’s a small mound of flour extending past the rim of the measuring cup, then place the flat back of a knife against the top of the measuring cup, and gently scrape it across the top to get rid of the excess flour. Never “pat” the flour down with the knife or fork. This fork method acts like a sifter (without dirtying another dish!) and guarantees you’ll add less flour to the dough, so you’ll end up with moist and tender scones. Does that make sense? 🙂