Blackberry Key Lime Scones

The grocery store closest to my house (a whole three minutes away, thank goodness) is not exactly known for being the nicest place to shop. So much so, that some Memphians like to call it "ghetto". Which, honestly, I have to laugh at. The place is just fine. I've shopped at much sketchier grocery stores (ok, Kroger's) in my hometown of Cincinnati (Over the Rhine, anyone?). So, rather than look at it like that, I tend to see my grocery store for what it truly is: a goldmine.

Let's start with the basics. It's never uncomfortably crowded. The produce is always in stock, and never out of, say, arugula. They've got the sweetest lady working at the floral department, who is so nice and went out of her way to special-order some rananculus for me. I mean, who does that?

But the deal was sealed when I found key lime juice in the product section. I wasn't expecting to find it here, as the store typically doesn't carry your more hard-to-find ingredients. But there it was, hanging out with the lemon juice. I was elated. I'm very easy to please, as you may imagine.

I was also thrilled when these scones turned out. I couldn't turn down the blackberries at the store, either, so the only logical solution was to make key lime blackberry scones, right? A little about these: my first attempt at incorporating the key lime juice was to combine it with the sugar before blending it in. As this didn't result in a strong key lime flavor (barely any at all), I decided to top them with a key lime sugar glaze. That did the trick.

Blackberry Key Lime Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1tbsp key lime juice (you may want to add more, see my note above)
1/2 tsp salt (I used 3/4 tsp)
5 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" cubes and chilled
1/2 to 3/4 cup blackberries (I had to cut some of mine in half they were so big, hence the purple stains!)
1 cup heavy cream

1/4 to 1/3 cup key lime juice
3-4 tbsp powdered sugar

1. Position your rack in the middle of the oven and set to 425 degrees.
2. Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. With a fork, mash together 1 tbsp key lime juice and sugar until well incorporated. Whisk the lime juice/sugar mixture into the flour mixture. Make sure that you really mix this in, as it's a bit clumpy and won't blend in as easily as dry sugar.
3. With a pastry blender or your fingers, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently stir in your blackberries. Transfer to large bowl, and mix in the heavy cream with a spatula. Mix until it just comes together (now the dough will be very tacky/sticky).
4. Transfer dough to a dry surface and knead for 5-10 seconds. Press the dough into an 8 or 9" round pie plate, then cut the dough into 8-equally sized wedges. Use a sharp angular spatula to transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake until scone tops are light brown, about 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10-15 minutes.
6. While the scones are baking, whisk together 1/4 to 1/3 cup key lime juice and the confectioner's sugar until it reaches a thin icing consistency (you may have to add more of either one or the other to get just the right texture and taste). Drizzle onto the slightly-cooled but still warm scones (to simplify your cleanup, just set the wire racks on a large dinner plate to catch all of the icing run off).

Enjoy!

OH! I forgot to mention that I'll be going to Chicago this weekend for a wedding/girl's vacation! I. Can't. Wait. With work and work and more work lately, this is a much-deserved break. All that to say - fellow foodies, what restaurants should we check out? How about any neat fabric/craft shops? Vintage stores? I think our goal for the entire weekend is to eat, relax, shop, and eat some more. Any suggestions, just leave it in the comments!