You’ll love how fresh blueberries and lemon zest pair with ricotta cheese for the perfect crumb on these Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Amish Friendship Bread Scones.
Today I’m super excited to feature a recipe by Kitchen Friend Stacey Doyle, who also contributed this wonderful Pistachio Cardamom Amish Friendship Bread variation to the Recipe Box.
I love using 1 cup of Amish Friendship Bread starter to make scones, because you get a sweet and tangy hit plus a lovely rise. Stacey came up with this amazing recipe for Amish Friendship Bread drop scones using fresh blueberries, lemon zest and ricotta cheese.
Stacey runs the food blog Little Figgy, which is all about creating great family meals with an unexpected or inspired ingredient. Please go visit her and say hello!
Here’s what she has to say about this recipe:
After living in the UK and Ireland for 12 years, my palate was graced with some of the best scones and biscuits anyone could ask for.
For the scones today, I’ve used an Amish Friendship Starter in place of buttermilk. My other little kicker in this recipe would be the addition of ricotta, which gives the scones a delicate yet dense crumb.
Stacey recommends trying this with a side of raspberry jam or dollop of clotted cream (and yes, she gave us a great recipe for that, too).
Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Amish Friendship Bread Scones
Ingredients
- 1 cup Amish Friendship Bread starter
- 1 egg
- ½ cup ricotta cheese
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted and cooled
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon lemon extract optional
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2½ cups flour divided
- 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F (218° C). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk starter and eggs together until well incorporated.
- Add in the ricotta, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest and lemon extract (if using). Mix well.
- Whisk in sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well blended.
- Slowly add 2 cups flour and continue to mix.
- In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with ½ cup of the flour.
- Carefully fold in the flour-covered blueberries until just incorporated. Do not over mix or mash the blueberries.
- Drop approximately ½ cups of the sticky, wet dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet 2-3 inches apart.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until just starting to turn golden.
- Remove from oven allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving with your choice of clotted cream, preserves and/or creamy butter.
- ENJOY!
>> Have you tried this recipe? Share your best pic with us or leave a comment below and let us know how it worked for you!
I’ve made this recipe before and loved it but I decided to substitute raspberries for the blueberries and it turned out so good!
Fab-u-lous! Incredibly simple to make and so delicious! I made a double batch that yielded 18 scones. I zested 4 lemons and juiced 2 of them, I didn’t measure how many cups of blueberries I added, but I put 2 full pint containers of them in. I took my 2 cup pampered chef Measuring cup, drew it down to 1/2c line filled it up, turned it out on to the parchment lined cookie sheet! Put 6 to a tray. I baked them 1 tray at a time for 18 minutes. I put a empty try on the rack below to shield it a bit from the intense heat. They were beauties! I gave some to our neighbor, and he said I should package them and sell them! Loved them! Can’t wait to try them with some other fruits!
So glad you loved this recipe, Beth! If you took any pictures, we’d love to see them on our group Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amishfriendshipbread
So good! Perfect texture and very easy to make. This will be on our list of AFB favorites!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Amy! It’s definitely one of our favorites, too.
I would like to try this because one of my favorite recipes is a lemon ricotta “biscuit” that is more muffin-like in texture. But I’ve read through this recipe multiple times and can’t find the quantity it yields. Some recipes are just too large for empty nesters with limited freezer capacity.
An easy recipe to follow, with wonderful results! I did not have a lemon or extract, so used a little more lemon juice concentrate, and I slightly froze my fresh berries, and added some sugar to the flour when coating them. It turned out DELICIOUS! With or without tweaks–this recipe is a wonderful addition to my recipe book! Thank you!
Hi Alesha, so glad this recipe worked out for you! If you have any luck, we’d love to see a picture! Feel free to post them on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/amishfriendshipbread/
CAN I USE SOURDOUGH STARTER IN PLACE OF THE AMISH FRIENDSHIP STARTER? ALSO COTTAGE CHEESE INSTEAD OF RICOTTA?
Hi Monica —
Here is a post that may help: https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/faq-substituting-regular-sourdough-starter-in-place-of-amish-friendship-bread-starter/. I haven’t tried this with cottage cheese, but if you’ve substituted it before with ricotta in other baked recipes, you should be fine. Just remember to drain it well so it has the same consistency as ricotta (firmer and not as wet). xo
Lemon, ricotta and scones…3 of my favorite things…yum
I am going to make these for my daughter and my sister as they both love blueberry and lemon and I love making scones!
I am excited to try this! I plan on making ricotta cheese this week. What a great way to use it!
Hi DJ! You’ll love this recipe — send a picture if you end up making it! 🙂