Huckleberry Scones

My name is Stephanie and I have a problem. I buy things in season in bulk, then freeze them…and then never use them. And now my freezer is FULL! Between hatch green chiles, rhubarb, huckleberries, zucchini, homemade pesto and brown bananas I have no room left. None! I have to do something.

We are also currently house hunting, and thinking about packing things up and moving (including all of these leftovers in the freezer…) is totally stressing me out. Let operation “eat all of the frozen things I’ve saved since last year” commence!

Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I grew up with huckleberries. I’m pretty sure we had a bush in our backyard. I didn’t know they were regional until I moved down south and my friends said “huckle-what??”. I even found out my mother-in-law just had her first huckleberries this year! This prompted me to do some research and I learned a few fun huckleberry facts:

1. There are several varieties of huckleberries, including some that grow on the East coast and in Texas
2. The mountain huckleberries most tend to think of, however, are native to the northwestern US and Canada
3. The huckleberry is Idaho’s state fruit
4. Huckleberries are still picked by hand, which leads to their high prices at fruit stands
5. Huckleberries have not been domesticated, meaning the only way to get ahold of them is to hike up into the mountains and pick them yourselves (assuming you know where they are growing). This again leading to their high prices 
6. If you want more fun facts, I found this article really interesting! https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/will-we-ever-tame-the-wild-huckleberry

So now that you see how difficult it can be to get your hands on huckleberries, you’ll understand how I accidentally spent $50 buying a gallon of them. In my defense…it was cheaper to buy them in bulk and I guess I didn’t realize how much a gallon of huckleberries would really be. Hint: it’s a lot.

My absolute favorite way to eat huckleberries is in a milkshake and I am still trying to perfect huckleberry ice cream to make that a reality, but I needed to get creative to start using these little guys. It is easy to throw a handful into pancake batter, but that doesn’t make a dent when you have a gallon of the tiny purple berries. What could I make for breakfast that uses huckleberries, that isn’t pancakes…hmmm…scones!

If you are like me, the word “scone” might conjure up images of dry, hard triangles sitting leftover on a coffee shop counter. I must have had more bad scones than good in my life, which is so unfortunate because a good scone is SO GOOD. Not to mention easy. They are a quick bread, which means no yeast and no waiting for dough to rise. I also love that scones are a more rustic pastry. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t all exactly the same shape, that is part of their charm!

I thawed my frozen huckleberries and their juices is what dyed the dough a bit purple in places, which I kind of like. However, using fresh or still frozen berries would keep things a little neater. On this topic…huckleberry juice will stain! So be careful! 

Summer is almost over and as usual, I can’t wait for fall. But if you can’t quite say goodbye to summer yet, try making these scones. Huckleberries are quintessential summer fruit around here and you’ll be amazed how easy these really are. 

Enjoy!
~Stephanie

Huckleberry Scones (adapted from Good Eats)

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 egg
• 1 cup huckleberries, fresh or frozen

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
3. Using hands, cut the butter and shortening into dry ingredients.
4. In separate small bowl, whisk cream with egg then add to dry ingredients.
5. Gently stir in huckleberries.
6. Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour. Place dough onto floured surface and roll into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 8-10 equal sized triangles (cut like a pizza). Optional: sprinkle with coarse sugar.
7. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown.