According to my son, these are the best scones I’ve ever made and I am inclined to agree with him. I have had delectable scones at the Saskatoon Farm in Okotoks years ago that were Saskatoon and white chocolate and have had them in the back of my mind since. With my bounty of Saskatoon berries this week I knew that now was the time to try to make a batch of my own.
I do believe the ones I ate had cinnamon, which was very good, but cinnamon and berries is seldom my favorite combination, then adding in white chocolate meant that I really didn’t want a cinnamon taste.
My basic scone recipe has a lovely tang to it thanks to the sour cream which was a better foil for berries and chocolate.
I just had one for breakfast with my morning coffee and I can definitively say that these are in my top 5 favorite scones, possibly top 3 even. The Saskatoon berries are tougher than blueberries and can take a little more manhandling without crushing, the white chocolate brings out their lovely taste and these baked up so delectably.
Saskatoon scones are such a unique Alberta cuisine that they should be gracing every prairie tea-time table during Saskatoon season.
Ingredients:
1 cup of sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups of flour
1 cup of white sugar
1 1/2 cups of Saskatoon berries
1 package of white chocolate chips
1 cup of butter
1 egg
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Kick the tires & light the fires to 350 degrees.
In a small bowl combine the sour cream and baking soda together, this is going to poof up while you are mixing the rest of the recipe up.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter using two knives scissor style or with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse peas in the flour mixture.
Add in the sour cream and beaten egg, gently mixing until it’s almost together.
Once the mixture is thisclose to being completely combined, add in the bag of white chocolate chips.
Mix gently again.
Then when it’s just ready, add in the Saskatoon berries.
I usually have my mixture looking like this by the time the berries are in, almost combined. By the time you scoop it together in the bowl and roll it into a log, the ingredients are combined just right.
By now you have scooped it together and rolled it into one large log. This is the start of how you make perfect scones every time.
Cut the log into three pieces.
Flatten each round disk into a 6 inch square then cut into 6 equal triangles. I never do scones any other way now, this technique makes things so easy now.
Take your 18 scones and place on a well-greased cookie sheet or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until browned and beautiful, about 20 minutes.
I hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday after our day of tornado watches and warnings, swirling thunderclouds, hail, rain and generally one freaky night last night here in Edmonton!
The sun was peeking out briefly and we have plans on heading downtown to try out a Taste of Edmonton. I haven’t been in years- wasn’t impressed the couple of years that we went- so I am hopeful that things have improved a lot. I of course will let everyone know!
Have a fabulous day and get baking!
Love,
The Really Wanting Some Butter Chicken Magpie
White Chocolate Saskatoon Berry Scones
Ingredients
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 cups flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 cups Saskatoon berries
- 225 grams package white chocolate chips
- 1 cup butter
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a small bowl combine the sour cream and baking soda together, this is going to poof up while you are mixing the rest of the recipe up.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Cut in the butter using two knives scissor style or with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse peas in the flour mixture.
- Add in the sour cream and beaten egg, gently mixing until it’s almost together.
- Once the mixture is this close to being completely combined, add in the bag of white chocolate chips.
- Mix gently again. Then when it’s just ready, add in the Saskatoon berries. I usually have my mixture looking like this by the time the berries are in, almost combined.
- By the time you scoop it together in the bowl and roll it into a log, the ingredients are combined just just right. By now you have scooped it together and rolled it into one large log.
- This is the start of how you make perfect scones every time. Cut the log into three pieces. Flatten each round disk into a 6 inch square then cut into 6 equal triangles. I never do scones any other way now, this technique makes things so easy now.
- Take your 18 scones and place on a well-greased cookie sheet or parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350 degrees until browned and beautiful, about 20 minutes.
Laurel says
these. are. SO. GOOD.
people, if you think it’s too dry – just trust the process.
my dough was falling apart and I couldn’t keep it together for the life of me. I couldn’t even move it to the baking sheet in one piece because it was so crumbly. I was nervous that I did something wrong, but I decided not to change anything and just see how they turned out.
they turned out like a DREAM. so buttery, with an amazing crunch on the edges, and a moist, cakey center. the berries and white chocolate go perfectly together. my first time baking with serviceberries, and I had just the right amount! very rewarding as I foraged them myself. 🙂 I’m so glad I found this recipe!
my only complaint is it took my scones closer to 30-35 minutes to finish cooking, and they still came out slightly underbaked because I was nervous that it was taking so long, I didn’t want them to be overdone. but I’m sure that’s dependent on weather, altitude, thickness, etc.
thanks for sharing this amazing recipe!
Samantha says
Good flavour combo but the dough did NOT come together, was very dry and crumbly. Followed the recipe exactly but had to add 1/4 cup of milk to get the dough to come together. I’ll use a different scone recipe next time with these mix-ins.
Bobbi says
I made these this morning using frozen saskatoons. Because I have tried so many scone recipes I was not expecting great results – however they turned out great – just as good as any at Cobbs bakery if not better. Next time I will use Callebault chocolate and frozen raspberries. The only thing I did different was I grated very cold butter and used regular not light sour cream,
Super recipe and super results. I agree with your son that they are the best!
Nancy says
4 star only because I had trouble this time! I made these a couple years ago and they turned out just wonderful. Today the flour and butter wouldn’t come together. I dumped it out on my rolling sheet and it just crumbled. I also ended up with 4 sections for my roll. Did I not count my flour correctly? Does the weather have an impact on the result? While they were cooking liquid was coming out of them and dripping on the bottom of my oven, causing an extremely hot oven. Did I not cut in the butter enough? Because they were so dry I added Greek Yogurt as I didn’t have any more sour cream. Do you have any suggestions, please?
Gisele says
Hi Karlynn,
I am going to attempt to recreate my fave scone normally purchased at a bakery I can no longer access because of Covid border restrictions. I plan on using your recipe as a base and incorporate items from their ingredient list. The modifications would be: use whipping cream, buckwheat and cornmeal; omit baking soda. Can you please suggest what amounts to add in relation to your recipe?
Many thanks!
Terry says
Well second try they are so dry can’t get dough to hold together , what am I doing wrong ? Added some cream because they were falling apart like powder . I checked all my ingredients and I did not miss any . I even added a 1/4 cup extra butter . So sad big waste of yummy ingredients.
Richard Collins says
Followed recipe; they turned out perfectly!
I like the sour cream and baking soda!
I love scones!
Jennifer says
These look delicious. Can I use honey instead of sugar and whole wheat flour or does it need to be done just as you’ve listed?
Darryl Friesen says
These sound SO incredible, and the idea of them has kept me coming back time after time to try again. I have been making scones my entire adult life, and I’ve tried every single trick I know—mixing by food processor, mixing by hand, a little extra sour cream, a little less flour… Nope—this recipe simply doesn’t work. It’s so dry it doesn’t hold together, and I’m tired of wasting batch after batch of white chocolate and precious saskatoon berries. Can you post a video and share your secret as to how you get these to work?!
Karlynn Johnston says
Hey Darryl,
If the dough is too dry, add a tablespoon or two of cream until it comes together. Scone dough NEEDS to be very dry, that’s how you get that crunchy outside and flakey inside, it’s like a pie dough, it has to JUST come together, no more. Adding a little cream will help.
Also, the recipe really does work, it’s based off of my Best Scone Recipe on this website that has been peer tested by hundreds upon hundreds of people now ( it’s been on this site since 2009!) so there’s something else going on when you’re making it…ingredients wise maybe….
Del says
I made these yesterday from freshly picked Saskatoons , and they were a huge hit with my family. They are a little too sweet for me, I prefer a scone with less sugar, but my adult children devoured them!
The Lunchbag says
Do you think this recipe would work with frozen saskatoons?
The Kitchen Magpie says
Well done! Good avoidance of cleaning!
Bev Baxter Thomas Batchelor says
I avoided doing closet- chose making a full course roast dinner- and to avoid it further I’m making choco chip cookies lol!
Tracey L Bureyko says
Saskatoon berries, always a great idea! ❤️
Jude says
I made these scones today with fresh berries from the Saskatoon Berry Farm and they are delicious!!!
Guest says
Could a person use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream?
thekitchenmagpie says
@Guest Yes,you can!
Kim says
I just made these. I swapped out the flour for gluten free flour since my kids have celiac and added 2 tsp’s of Xanthan gum. Worked great. Thanks for sharing the recipe. :)
Kelly Ann Vass says
Made these yesterday! Delicious! I had lots of berries. Recipe doubled really nicely! Thank you!
The Kitchen Magpie says
It would be fabulous with blueberries too!
Kimberly Hamilton says
Saw the title of this recipe and the words from my mouth were “oh, good lord!” I think I want them. Haven’t spotted any saskatoons in the uk. Will play with blueberries I guess 😉
Karlynn says
The recipe will certainly work! The lovely thing is that it’s my basic scone recipe and you can add whatever your little heart desires. I make them with only berries all the time! I would try a few chocolate chips in half the recipe – really, chocolate isn’t bad with anything I don’t think. Then enjoy the other half just plain Saskatoon berry, maybe sprinkle a little sugar on top as well to jazz it up a bit. Let me know how you like them!
Tracy says
I’m housesitting at a place in Yellowknife with TONS of Saskatoon bushes! I’m getting a little tired of eating them raw, and these scones sound great…. except I’m not a fan of white chocolate. Do you think these would be good with regular chocolate instead? Or, if I leave out the chocolate altogether, would the recipe still work or would it need some adjusting to the other ingredients?
ACanadianFoodie says
Did you see my post today? and I will have another one with Saskatoons in it, again tomorrow, I think… just trying to keep up with the Magpie. Looks very very yummy! 🙂 XO
V
CookTheStory says
O.K., seriously, these look amazing. I have again posted them to my FB page so that my Canadian followers can make me jealous by making them. Love the idea of white chocolate with sask berries, btw. The combo seems like it would be perfect!
thekitchenmagpie says
_u*****@li******.com" profile_url="https://www.livefyre.com/profile/93846/" ns="true">CookTheStory They were FABULOUS~! (I’m so modest) but seriously…WOW. I was amazed how well white chocolate pairs with them. Glad you got some Saskatoons in Manitoba while visiting, that’s where they grow like weeds!
Jodi says
I like that you used sour cream for the base. I’ll definitely have to give these a try!
thekitchenmagpie says
I love a good sour cream based scone and it really fit these well. Let me know what you think!!