Lilacs everywhere! I have officially decided that I will have lilac trees growing at our new house, I cannot get enough! Not only are they so gorgeous to look at and smell amazing… but they are also so great to bake and adorn your food and drinks with!  We DID discover the other week that they are, in fact, edible, therefore we had to incorporate them in a recipe for Mother’s Day.

Scones are absolutely one of my favourite baked treats.  I don’t know what it is about them, maybe the simplicity of ingredients that makes them taste soooo good. And obviously homemade are better!  This is a classic scone recipe that you could do so much with, either bake as-is and add a pretty white chocolate glaze (like we did) or try adding in some frozen berries. A touch of raspberry is my favorite and/or lemon zest. The possibilities are endless. Enjoy! I know you’ll love them!

I get so many questions about the crock that has the lilacs in it, I was lucky enough to find it in a little vintage shop but we have found these amazing crocks from Studio McGee and they are absolutely some of my favorite. I also love the  Large Canyon Crock as it has that perfect French country feel to it, as well as these smaller farmhouse crocks. I have a couple in the house. They are perfect for pretty much anything from a vase for florals to the perfect place to store your utensils beside your range. The perfect touch of old country… love love love.

Lilac Sugar Scones with White Chocolate Glaze
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Cook time: 15-18 minutes
Portions 8

Ingredients
Scones 
2 1/2 cups +2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. of lilac sugar*
8 tbsp. or 1/2 cup or 1 stick of the best quality unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1″ cubes
1 cup +1 tbsp. 35% cream
1 large free-range egg

Glaze
1/4 cup 35% cream
1/2 cup white chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preparation
In a large mixing bowl, sift in the flour, salt, and baking powder. Whisk in the lilac sugar to evenly distribute it into the flour.

Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until there are pea-sized portions. You can do this either with a pastry blender or in your food processor.

Whisk together the cream with the egg, pour it over top of the dry ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Do not over-mix. I like to fold the dough over itself a couple of times to create layers in the dough.

On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a rough 8″ disk shape and cut the dough into 8 equal parts to create “wedges.”  Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pop in the freezer for around 20 minutes.

At this time preheat your oven to 400°F. Once the 20 minutes of the scones chilling has passed, brush the tops lightly with cream and place them in the oven. Immediately turn down the oven to 375°F and bake the scones for around 15-18 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool for a couple minutes before transferring to wire rack to complete cooling.

Glaze
Chop the chocolate and place in a medium-sized bowl.

In a small saucepan, gently heat the cream until hot and simmering. Remove from the heat and add in the chocolate. Whisk until all of the chocolate is melted. Place back on a gentle heat if needed to melt the chocolate. Whisk in the icing sugar. Drizzle over the scones when cooled.

• *To make lilac sugar, simply add some of the flowers into your sugar and let it infuse for around 3 days. Sift out the flowers, label the sugar, and use within one year.

Other additions:
Feel free to add in things like lemon zest or vanilla into the mix. If you would like to add fruit into the scones,I would use around 3/4 -1 cup of fruit for this mix. I prefer frozen fruit as it bleeds less into the mix. Always mix the fruit with a couple tablespoons of flour (taken from the original amount) so that they do not break down too much when mixing it into the scones.