Blueberry Biscuits with Lemon Glaze

These blueberry biscuits with lemon glaze are a great way to change up your go-to biscuit recipe and make for a great weekend breakfast! 

OVERVIEW

• Skill Level: Beginner
• Techniques Used: Cutting Fat into Flour, Biscuit Mixing Method

These sweet biscuits are a variation on my go-to classic butter biscuit recipe. They are slightly sweeter with fresh blueberries, hints of lemon and cinnamon, and topped with a luscious lemony glaze.

Mix up your weekend routine with these delicious biscuits and I bet you’ll have a new recipe in your rotation!

Why we love this recipe

• Blueberry muffins with a sweet glaze are a great way to mix up your everyday biscuit recipe!
• Blueberry and lemon flavors go together perfectly.
• Homemade biscuits come together very quickly and can be baked up in no time!

INGREDIENT FUNCTIONS & SUBSTITUTIONS

Butter: Technically you can make this recipe with any type of fat: butter, shortening, or lard. The reason I like to do an all butter biscuit is mostly for the delicious flavor! It also helps the biscuit to rise more than other fats because of the higher water content in the butter.

Flour: Flour is the main structure for these biscuits. All-purpose is recommended but you can also make biscuits using self-rising flour.

This recipe can be made gluten-free by substituting the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour. I suggest using a 1 to 1 gluten free flour blend.

Baking Powder: Baking powder does most of the leavening in the biscuit. It gives the biscuit the rise and some fluffiness.

Baking Soda: You might be wondering why baking soda is needed if this recipe already contains baking powder. While baking powder does the heavy lifting, the baking soda balances out the acidic ingredients.

Buttermilk: The buttermilk in this recipe is what gives moisture and holds everything together. Because buttermilk is cultured, it has an acidic quality to it. I personally love the tang that buttermilk brings to biscuits. If you do not have any on hand, you can easily make a buttermilk substitute!

Put 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice in a liquid measuring cup and add enough milk to the measuring cup until it measures 1 cup. Stir and let stand for 5 minutes before adding it to your dough.

You can also use a non-dairy milk substitute but it may affect the flavor of the biscuits.

Blueberries, Lemon Zest, and Cinnamon: These ingredients are solely used for flavor! Cinnamon and lemon goes hand in hand with fresh blueberry flavor. Any of these ingredients can be substituted with similar items like fresh blackberries instead of blueberries or ground nutmeg instead of cinnamon.

Variation Ideas

Blackberry Biscuits with Lemon Glaze: Swap the blueberries for blackberries in the recipe. 

Raspberry Biscuits with Toasted Almonds: Swap the blueberries for raspberries and omit the lemon zest in the biscuit recipe. Drizzle the warm biscuits with powdered sugar glaze and sprinkle toasted almond slices all over the tops.

Cinnamon Biscuits with Maple Glaze: Omit the blueberries, lemon juice and lemon zest in the biscuit recipe. Increase the cinnamon in the biscuits to 1 teaspoon. Omit the lemon zest in the glaze recipe and replace the lemon juice with maple syrup.

How to make Blueberry Biscuits with Lemon glaze

These biscuits utilize the Biscuit Mixing Method. The purpose of the method is to reduce gluten development which keeps the biscuits light and tender while also working to create layers in the dough to create flakiness. 

STEP 1: COMBINE DRY INGREDIENTS

In a large bowl, whisk together your flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and lemon zest.

STEP 2: CUT IN THE BUTTER

Add the cold diced butter to the mixing bowl and cut it into the flour mixture.

I like to use a pastry cutter to cut the fat through. You could also use a fork or even your hands but you want to make sure the fat stays very cold. As soon as the mixture resembles coarse meal you are ready to add the liquid.

STEP 3: MIX IN THE BUTTERMILK

Pour all of the buttermilk into the bowl at once and gently stir together. I like to use a wooden spoon for this but you could use a rubber spatula if you like. Stir just until the mixture is all one mass but not until smooth. You want it to be lumpy and you don’t want to stir very much.

STEP 4: SHAPE THE DOUGH

Flour a clean work surface and your hands. Gently gather all of the dough and place it on the floured surface. Now, using your hands, pat the dough out to about a 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick disc. You may need to dust a bit of flour on top of the dough. Gently, sprinkle the cold blueberries over the top of the dough and press it into the dough with your fingers.

Fold the dough in half and then turn it 90 degrees. Pat out and fold again for a total of 6 times. This process is creating layers that will create flaky biscuits.

STEP 5: CUT OUT THE BISCUITS

Press the dough out to about 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick and use a biscuit cutter to cut out your biscuits. When cutting out, dip your cutter in flour, press straight down, and pull it back up without twisting it. Gently pat the scraps together to cut out the rest of your biscuits. 

STEP 6: BAKE

I like to place my biscuits in a buttered cast iron pan very close together to bake. I believe this helps the biscuits to climb onto each other and rise up taller.

Once baked and slightly cooled, drizzle lemon glaze over the tops.

FAQ

What makes biscuits rise higher?

The key to getting tall fluffy biscuits is by using very cold butter and a high temperature oven. Cold butter ensures that the butter doesn’t melt too quickly and produce greasy flat biscuits. A hot oven helps the biscuits to rise as quickly as quickly as possible.

Should biscuit dough be kneaded?

No! Kneading biscuit dough will make chewy, dense biscuits instead of fluffy and flaky. This is why it’s important not to over-mix the dough.

MORE RECIPES FROM BAKER BETTIE!

If you loved this delicious recipe, you might like to try these other biscuit recipes!

• Classic Butter Biscuits
• Easy Drop Biscuits
• Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze