Naughty Rhubarb Scones

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A&M say: WHO: Midge is a journalist, mostly on the travel beat (feel free to envy her).
WHAT: A cream scone that needs no jam or butter.
HOW: Slice rhubarb, toss into a quick-leavened dough, pat, slice, bake.
WHY WE LOVE IT: As long as there's rhubarb to be had, this is our go-to weekend brunch and teatime snack.

Midge says: My mom, who churned out many a tasty scone in her day, wasn't so hot on the idea of rhubarb in scones, "too tart, honey." Boy was she ever wrong. Rhubarb's tang is the perfect foil for the super rich scone (I subbed heavy cream for the milk and upped the salt in my mom's recipe, hence the naughty). You almost don't need jam, but if you went that route, strawberry would be a natural, and clotted cream for the full-on naughty experience. - Midge

Serves 12-16 scones

3 stalks rhubarb
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
2/3--3/4 cups heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425.
Slice rhubarb stalks 1/4 " thick. Toss with 3 tablespoons of the sugar.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl or bowl of food processor.
Cut butter into flour mixture by hand (or whiz with food processor) until butter is the size of small peas.
Blend in 1/4 cup of the sugar.
Blend in sliced rhubarb. (If using the food processor, just pulse -- you want the slices left mostly intact.)
Blend in cream until a soft dough forms. (note: you may need to add more than 2/3 cup depending on the weather,etc.)
Transfer dough to floured surface and divide in half. To make triangular scones, flatten into 6-inch disks and cut each circle into 6-8 scones. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.
Arrange on ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 20 minutes or until reddish-brown on top.

This recipe is a Wildcard Contest Winner!
This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Rhubarb

Comments (49) Questions (1)

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7 months ago Parrotmom

A friend at work brought me some rhubarb today and I remembered this recipe - absolutely delicious! Made them after work and ate them for dinner, warm from the oven with butter and a glass of milk. I used the food processor for everything but adding the cream and it worked out perfectely.

8 months ago Miachef

These are delicious! I liked the tartness, with just a hint of sweetness. For people who like things a bit sweeter, I would recommend macerating the rhubarb a bit longer...maybe at least an hour. I also used regular sugar instead of vanilla sugar, and it worked out fine. I mixed the dry ingredients and the butter in a food processor, but then added the rhubarb and cream while mixing by hand; that way, I had nice chunks of rhubarb. Can't wait to make these again...might try this recipe using other types of fruit as well!

8 months ago em-i-lis
Emily is a trusted source on General Cooking.

These are terrific, Midge. My three year old and I took down half a batch one recent morning. I have found that they're even better the day after being made, retoasted. They also freeze beautifully!

8 months ago Midge

Thank you em-i-lis! I'm about to make a double batch for just that reason..

8 months ago eternalgradstudent

These are delish! The tart and sweet are perfectly balanced. Thanks for a great recipe!

8 months ago Midge

Thanks egs!

8 months ago Katie

I made these scones this morning and single-handedly ate the entire batch throughout the course of the day. They were so good (but oh, so naughty), I couldn't control myself. Great recipe; I enjoyed it immensely.

8 months ago Midge

Ha, thanks Katie. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's done that!

8 months ago Midge

How on earth did I miss this!? Thanks so much for the Wildcard nod and for all your wonderful comments. What a lovely surprise!

8 months ago chocbird09

They're so good! The rhubarb became almost creamy (though I think I'll chop more finely if mixing by hand like today or add more of it next time), the dough isn't overpoweringly sweet, and is so fluffy and moist. All the scones I had baked before (7 recipes? 8?) were dry and tough, so I'm really happy with those. What surprised me — and convinced to make them today, since I ran out of parchment when baked a rhubarb cake recently — was the ungreased baking sheet. Only one tip got stuck (and I kind of ate that scone straight from the pan, but shh!).

I added a few drops of vanilla extract to the cream instead of the vanilla sugar, and used a bit more than 2/3c of the cream. Also, I baked them a few minutes longer.

Definitely goes into my favorites. Thank you for such a great recipe!

9 months ago Alex R.

These came out really well, thanks!

My notes: I did not use a food processor at all and I didn't have heavy cream so I used a combination of sour cream and evaporated milk (and a splash of vanilla extract instead of vanilla sugar). It was a little awkward to mix the dough by hand after adding the wet ingredients because the rhubarb slices got in the way (I used 5 small/medium-sized stalks), and I was worried that I was overmixing it. Somehow it all worked out though, the baked scones had a good texture and I'm glad I kept the rhubarb pieces in tact.

9 months ago BonneH

Instead of clotted cream, we used non-fat Greek yogurt along with raspberry preserves. Yum!

9 months ago Ghost House Kitchen

I bake a lot and have a sort of obsession for biscuits and scones. This might be one of the best I've made! Of course I am a bit biased as I love rhubarb. I went out to get English clotted cream to fancy up even more! Delicious.

9 months ago BonneH

I made these this morning and they were a big hit! I used white whole wheat flour, fat-free half & half and rhubarb I just picked from my garden. One question, though, I found that when I pulsed the cream into the flour-rhubarb mixture I ended up with 1/4" pieces of rhubarb. It worked fine, but I wondered how you kept the pieces larger as suggested? This will become an addition to my repertoire!

9 months ago iwantamonkey

I was excited about this recipe (an still am!) but i have some notes. I used the food processor for all steps, but would maybe hand mix in the cream next time so the rhubarb doesn't get as pulverized. I also might up the rhubarb to 4 stalks depending on size. How much should I be aiming for volume wise? I used 2/3 c cream + a hair more and the dough was a sticky mess, even after unstuck it back in the freezer for a bit. I used frozen butter and would definitely chill the dough longer during mixing process next time. My scones did not rise during baking and came put pretty flat, especially the longer they sat at room temp. Froze 6, hopefully those will rise while baking. Rhubarb flavor is pretty subtle in these, this my question re: how much rhubarb volume wise and comment re: not mixing them in the food processor. Can't wait to try again, though! These are definitely a keeper.

9 months ago ccincalif

I grew up in Scotland, eating rhubarb raw, (I actually just did a Rhubarb Yogurt post on my blog about a week ago, and a scone recipe before that, but it never even entered my mind to put them in scones! MUST TRY!! Congrats! Christina