These blueberry biscuits are wonderful danish-like treats that are not overly sweet but enough to satisfy your sweet tooth.
What You'll Need:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup butter at room temperature
1-¼ cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar - see instructions)
1 cup blueberries frozen (removed from freezer right before adding)
Not Too Sweet!
I'm not much for sugary sweets, so I compare these delicious sweet blueberry biscuits to scones. They are a cross between savory traditional biscuits and sweet rolls.
The blueberries and lemony cinnamon glaze take the taste of these special breakfast treats over the top!
Like a combination between blueberry muffins, cinnamon rolls, and your favorite Southern biscuits (like mine!) - what's not to love?!
The lemon cinnamon glaze is somewhat thin, so you will probably want to spoon it on instead of pouring.
This recipe makes a large amount of glaze (about a half cup), perhaps more than you'll need, but I think it's better to plan for more for those who like more.
I like to drizzle just a bit of the glaze after letting the biscuits sit for 5 minutes or so after cooking.
Then have the rest of the glaze available for adding more to each individual biscuit serving, according to each person's liking.
In my family, I'm the one who likes sweet things less, but my boys and husband are very sweet loving so this arrangement is perfect for us!
How to Make Blueberry Biscuits
First, you will preheat your oven to 400 F.
If not using buttermilk, pour regular milk into measuring cup and add apple cider vinegar (approximately 1 Tablespoon) and let sit until ready to add to mixture.
Add softened butter to a large bowl cut into small pieces. Add flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and combine with hands until fairly well incorporated (there will be pea-sized pieces of butter).
Then you will add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and mix with spoon until incorporated.
Take blueberries from freezer and measure out 1 cup full. Add to flour mixture and mix gently with spoon or hands just until blueberries are scattered about.
Dump flour mixture onto floured countertop space. Cover with a bit of flour on all sides, but don't over flour.
(Note that you want it easy to handle but you don't want to dry it up with too much flour.)
Roll out gently with rolling pin to about 1 inch thick, taking care not to mash the blueberries.
With a 3-inch round biscuit cutter (or I use a cup or glass), cut out the biscuits, trying not to split the blueberries in the process.
Lightly oil a cast iron skillet.
Next, you will place each biscuit in the prepared cast iron skillet, scrunching up and making room so that 10 biscuits will fit as you add more.
Place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Let sit for 5 minutes after removing from the oven.
Add small spoonfuls of glaze to the top of the biscuits (about 5-6). Serve and add more glaze to individual portions as desired.
Other great breakfast recipes you may love include my Broccoli Bacon Quiche and my Satisfying Southern Flaky Biscuits.
Don't miss the FAQs below (and ask your own questions in the comments if you have them)!
Recipe
Blueberry Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ cup butter , room temperature
- 1-¼ cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar - see instructions)
- 1 cup blueberries frozen, removed from freezer right before adding
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoon heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (or zest from one large lemon)
- ¼ cup lemon juice (or juice from one large lemon)
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon , ground
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- If not using buttermilk, pour 1 cup regular milk (preferrably whole, full-fat milk) into measuring cup and add apple cider vinegar (approximately 1 Tablespoon) and let sit until ready to add to mixture.
- Add softened butter to a large bowl cut into small pieces. Add flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and combine with hands until fairly well incorporated (there will be pea-sized pieces of butter).
- Add buttermilk to flour mixture and mix with spoon until incorporated.
- Take blueberries from freezer and measure out 1 cup full. Add to flour mixture and mix gently with spoon or hands just until blueberries are scattered about.
- Dump flour mixture onto floured countertop space. Cover with a bit of flour on all sides, but don't over flour. (You want it easy to handle but you don't want to dry it up with too much flour.)
- Roll out gently with rolling pin to about 1 inch thick, taking care not to mash the blueberries.
- With a 3-inch round biscuit cutter (or I use a cup or glass), cut out the biscuits, trying not to split the blueberries in the process.
- Lightly oil a cast iron skillet.
- Place each biscuit in the prepared cast iron skillet, scrunching up and making room so that 10 biscuits will fit as you add more.
- Place in the oven. Cook for 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- While cooking, prepare the glaze.
- Add all glaze ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and blend with a small whisk until smooth.
- When biscuits are done, let sit for 5 minutes after removing from the oven.
- Add small spoonfuls of glaze to the top of the biscuits (about 5-6). Serve and add more glaze to individual portions.
Nutrition
FAQs
Why do you call these "biscuits?" They look like scones to me.
In the United States, we call these "biscuits," but in other parts of the world they may be considered "scones."
They are lightly sweet due to the blueberries and glaze, and the texture is light and fluffy inside with a slight crust on the outside.
Do the blueberries need to be frozen?
Yes, I highly advise that your blueberries be frozen up to the minute you add them to rolled out dough. Otherwise, they will fall apart and just leave a dark blue mess of dough. They may still turn out fine, but their appearance won't be what you expect.
Do I really need to use buttermilk? or can I just use regular milk?
You will get better "lift" of the biscuits if you use buttermilk (or the equivalent substitute by adding apple cider vinegar to regular milk).
You can certainly try using regular milk if you don't have buttermilk or apple cider vinegar, but your results may not be as good.
Don't Forget to Pin For Later!
Kristin C
Do the leftovers need to be refrigerated or just stored in a container on the counter?
Sally
Kristin - I usually leave mine on the counter and cover with plastic wrap. Should be fine for a few days. After day 2 or 3, I would refrigerate or freeze the leftovers.
Erin
Can you use fresh blueberries?
Sally
Absolutely - thanks for your question, Erin.
Phillis
If I don’t have an iron skillet how would the baking pan, oven temperature and cooking time be different?
Sally
Thanks for your question, Phillis! I have interchanged my baking from the iron skillet to a regular 9 x 9 glass baking dish with no obvious difference. I think you should be fine using another type of baking dish. Glass pans do tend to get things browner on the bottom, so watch out for that if using glass. Let me know how yours turns out!
Tash
So I don’t know what I did wrong but I followed everything exactly and managed to only get 7 biscuits and that’s after I flattened it to less than 1 inch thick. They were about 1/2 inch thick and 3 inches wide but I only got 7. And they have space. Maybe my pan is bigger? I’m not sure of the size of my cast iron frying pan
Sally
I'm not sure, Tash. My pan is about 10 inches across.
Kara B
Hi there! Is there a way to make the icing but omit the lemon juice? My family doesn’t like anything with lemon flavor but I would love to make this! Thanks.
Sally
Kara - I think you could make it without the lemon juice. Give it a try and let me know! <3
Diana Anderson
Question, the nutrition count is that for one biscuit or the entire recipe.
Sally
Diana - Thanks for your question! The nutrition is for one serving, which would be one-fourth of the entire recipe, as there are 4 servings.
Jana
I think the recipe has a typo? I followed the recipe exactly as written, using 2 Tbsp of baking powder and every single biscuit came out tasting overwhelmingly of baking powder. Every biscuit was it was SO bitter and metallic tasting. I was pretty disappointed because they looked and smelled incredible, but it ended up being a waste of ingredients. 😭 I’d love to know if the recipe is meant to have 2 Tbsp of baking powder or if it was a typing mistake.
Sally
Jana - I'm so sorry ... it was a typo - will fix it immediately!
Mrs. B
Jana, if you reread the recipe above, you will see the recipe only calls for 1 TBLS. of Baking Powder. NOT 2. 😊
Sally
I changed it after she commented 😀
Krissy Allori
I love these. I hadn't ever had them before but I will be making them again for sure.
Sally
Thanks Krissy ... glad to hear it!
Shannon
Oh these look SO GOOD! I can always use more blueberry breakfast recipes, and I do love the combination of blueberries and cinnamon! 🙂
Sally
Thanks Shannon! Let me know how they turn out for you!
Jas @ All that's Jas
Blueberries and lemons are meant to be together! I love that these are not too sweet. Thanks for sharing!
Sally
Thanks and you're welcome, Jas! I do love the flavor combo in these too!
cyndy
These are so delicious - I love the combo of blueberries and lemon! So easy to make too.
Sally
Thanks Cyndy! I agree on all your points ;-)!
Jere Cassidy
I love sweet biscuits, especially with blueberries. The glaze with the lemon flavor sounds perfect for a topping.
Sally
Thanks Jere! Hope you and your family love them like we do!