diff --git a/bin/jekyll b/bin/jekyll
index f5d82931..a32e8112 100755
--- a/bin/jekyll
+++ b/bin/jekyll
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ command :new do |c|
   c.description = 'Creates a new Jekyll site scaffold in PATH'
 
   c.option '--force', 'Force creation even if PATH already exists'
+  c.option '--blank', 'Creates scaffolding but with empty files'
 
   c.action do |args, options|
     Jekyll::Commands::New.process(args, options.__hash__)
diff --git a/lib/jekyll/commands/new.rb b/lib/jekyll/commands/new.rb
index c1aa3eef..7a2cefcc 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/commands/new.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/commands/new.rb
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@ module Jekyll
         File.open(File.expand_path(self.initialized_post_name, new_blog_path), "w") do |f|
           f.write(self.scaffold_post_content(site_template))
         end
+
+        if options[:blank]
+          files_to_clear =  Dir.glob("#{new_blog_path}/**/*.*")
+          files_to_clear.each {|file| File.truncate("#{file}", 0)}
+        end
+
         puts "New jekyll site installed in #{new_blog_path}."
       end