Blood orange curd and buttermilk scones are a perfect addition to any tea or breakfast party.
My friends and I had a tea party today! Not to be confused with anything political, this was just a good old-fashioned girl gathering with tea, coffee, finger sandwiches and dessert. I brought blood orange curd and buttermilk scones. I also made these cucumber tea sandwiches, which were a hit.
Blood orange curd is no different than lemon curd, if you’ve ever had it. You can make curd with any citrus fruit. It’s a rich, tangy custard that goes well in tarts or spread thick on fresh scones. If you’re feeling especially decadent it’s also heavenly by itself. Blood oranges are typically available in winter months, and sometimes you can find the juice bottled at the grocery store near regular orange juice. The recipe yields 5 cups, which is clearly a lot of curd and more than you’ll need to serve with the scones. You can certainly cut the recipe in half, but I think it makes a great gift! Buy some decorative canning jars and add cute labels. I gave everyone at the party a small jar of blood orange curd. Homemade gifts are always a special touch.
With regards to the scones, I only made a few changes to the original recipe. Most notably, I cut down on the sprinkled sugar since I knew I’d be serving them with sweet curd. If you’re making these scones as a stand-alone recipe, I recommend increasing the sugar to 4 tablespoons.
Blood Orange Curd
Ingredients
- 5 large eggs
- 6 large egg yolks
- 13 ounces (1 3/4 cup) sugar
- 1 1/2 ounces cornstarch
- 1 3/4 cups blood orange juice, plus more as needed
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 7 1/2 ounces butter, room temperature
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, whisk eggs, egg yolks and sugar together until smooth. Whisk the corn starch together with a bit of the blood orange juice to create a slurry.
- Whisk the blood orange juice, the lemon juice and the slurry into the egg mixture.
- Continue to whisk over medium heat until thick, 10-15 minutes. It should be the consistency of pudding. Make sure the whisk hits the bottom of the pot to keep the bottom from burning. This is less likely to happen if you use a heavy bottom saucepan.
- Over low heat, slowly whisk in pieces of the butter.
- Move the curd to a bowl and allow to chill in the refrigerator. It will continue to thicken as it cools.
- Once cool, whisk in the additional 1/4 cup of blood orange juice if desired for flavor or to thin out the curd.
- Store extra curd in the refrigerator with plastic wrap pushed directly against the curd to prevent a skin from forming.
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
Buttermilk Scones
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
- 1 ounce (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted, for brushing
- 2 tablespoons sugar, for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the cold butter pieces and, using your fingers, a pastry blender or a bench scraper, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. It's fine to leave a few larger pearls of butter in the mix; they'll add to the scones' flakiness.
- Add the buttermilk and zest to the bowl and use a fork to mix the ingredients until they are just combined. The dough will look soft and rough.
- Gather the dough into a ball and place it on a lightly floured surface. Kneed it for a dozen turns. Cut the dough in half.
- Roll out one piece of the dough into a circle that's around 1/2 an inch thick and 7 inches wide. Brush generously with butter and sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar on top. Cut the circle into 6 triangles and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat with the second half of the dough.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until both the tops and bottoms are golden. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Please read my full post for additional recipe notes, tips, and serving suggestions!
Recipe Troubleshooting
For immediate help troubleshooting a recipe, please email me using the form on my contact page. I’ll try to respond to urgent questions as quickly as possible! For all general questions, please leave a comment here :)
thecompletecookbook says
I love tea parties and they wouldn’t be complete without scones and the blood orange curd sounds heavenly.
:-) Mandy
Sawsan says
That is a brilliant idea. I have a few blood oranges to use up, I might make this today
carolina heartstrings says
You have the most amazing recipes. I can just breath in the fragrance now! So glad we found you.
thekitchenbitch says
YUM! I haven’t made curd yet, so this is definitely going on my list since I picked up some blood oranges yesterday. Thanks!
Seattle Foodshed says
Love the scone recipe! This looks great.
Judy says
Afternoon delight! This looks wonderful, I love having tea with friends, fills my friendship cup every time. :)
sweetsimplestuff says
I love tea parties … friendship and food just go together! I am always willing to try a new scone recipe and the curd sounds wonderful!
amyjmcintosh says
Heavenly!
Carolyn Chan says
I would never have thought to make curd out of anything other than lemon. What a delicious tea party that must have been.
Gina Marie says
These look beautiful! I’ve added your site to my blogroll. :)
TeenyLittleSuperChef says
Wow these sound dangerous. Dangerously awesome, I mean! I recently discovered blood oranges (crazy it took me almost 30 years) and now I have a new love affair. This curd sounds so yummy, although how could it not given the ingredients involved. And the scones sound even more delightful. Thanks for the great recipe. I shall be making these very very soon. Time for the stretchy pants!
Kristi says
I love scones, I really need to be more adventurous and try new recipes besides the same old chocolate chip scones I always make! I am bookmarking this, thanks :)
filingawaycupcakes says
Absolutely beautiful! I am in love with your pictures and style:]
goodlookingbartender says
Never even thought to make curd with anything other than lemon or lime but now that i read this it makes perfect sense.. I will definitely be trying this!
Great post.
Jen says
I have been meaning to have a tea party! The last time I tried to make curd it didn’t thicken properly, but I may try again with this recipe. Thanks!