These better-than-the-bakery blueberry scones are bursting with juicy blueberries. They’re buttery and moist with crisp crumbly edges and soft flaky centers. Crunchy coarse sugar and creamy vanilla icing are the perfect finishing touches!
Scones. You either love them or hate them. I used to fall in the latter category, passing on them in favor of muffins or quick breads. Scones can taste pretty dry, comparable to lackluster triangles of cardboard. No thanks.
But my opinion on scones took a total 180 a few years ago when I attended a cooking event in the Panera Bread test kitchen. Turns out that I’ve been eating all the wrong scones because when done right, these sweet treats sit tiptoe into a world of pastry perfection.
Since then, I mastered chocolate chip scones, ham & cheese scones, cinnamon scones, lavender scones, and strawberry lemon scones. I use the same master scone recipe for each flavor, a formula promising the BEST scone texture. By the way, I wrote an entire post devoted to my favorite base scones recipe. Today we’re making blueberry scones, which is definitely my favorite scone flavor.
There’s no denying these are the best blueberry scones on the planet. Strong statement, right? Trust me.
These Blueberry Scones Have:
- Sweet crumbly edges
- Soft, moist centers
- Crunchy golden brown exterior
- Buttery rich flavor
- An overflow of blueberries
- Mega vanilla icing drizzles
Let’s make them!
Blueberry Scone Ingredients
Nothing but basic ingredients coming together to produce something extraordinary. 🙂
- Flour: 2 cups of all-purpose flour is my standard amount, but set extra aside for the work surface and your hands.
- Sugar: I stick with around 1/2 cup of sugar for this scone dough. Feel free to slightly decrease, but keep in mind that the scone flavor and texture will slightly change.
- Baking Powder: Adds lift.
- Salt, Cinnamon, & Vanilla Extract: Add flavor.
- Cold Butter: Besides flour, cold butter is the main ingredient in blueberry scones. It adds flavor, flakiness, crisp edges, and rise. More on butter below!
- Heavy Cream: For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream. Buttermilk works too! For a nondairy option, try using full-fat canned coconut milk. Avoid thinner liquids such as milk or almond milk– you’ll be headed down a one way street to dry, bland, and flat scones.
- Egg: Adds flavor, lift, and structure.
- Blueberries: Use fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen, do not thaw.
Before baking, brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. These extras add a bakery-style crunch and beautiful golden sheen. Highly recommended!
Frozen Grated Butter
Frozen grated butter is key to blueberry scone success.
Like with pie crust, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients. The cold butter coats the flour. When the butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam and pockets of air. These pockets add a flaky center, while keeping the edges crumbly, crunchy, and crisp. Refrigerated butter might melt in the dough as you work with it, but frozen butter will hold out until the oven. And the finer the pieces of cold butter, the less the scones spread and the quicker the butter mixes into the dry ingredients. Remember, you don’t want to over-work scone dough.
I recommend grating the frozen butter with a box grater.
How to Make Blueberry Scones
Blueberry scones are a quick and easy breakfast pastry recipe. Since there’s no yeast, they go from the mixing bowl to the oven relatively quickly. First, mix the dry ingredients together. You need flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Second, cut cold butter into the dry ingredients. You can use a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your hands. A food processor works too, but it often overworks the scone dough. To avoid overly dense scones, work the dough as little as possible.
Next, whisk the wet ingredients together. You need heavy cream, 1 egg, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the blueberries, then gently mix together. Form the dough into a disc on the counter, then cut into 8 wedges.
One of my tricks! To obtain a flaky center and a crumbly exterior, scone dough must remain cold. Cold dough won’t over-spread either. Therefore, I highly recommend you chill the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes prior to baking. You can even refrigerate overnight for a quick breakfast in the morning.
After that, bake the scones until golden brown.
Video Tutorial: Blueberry Scones
The scones are fantastic warm out of the oven, but taste even better with a drizzle of vanilla icing on top. The icing is totally optional, but you should never pass up the chance to accessorize! It seeps down into the cracks and crevices, adding even more sweet flavor. A dusting of confectioners’ sugar is tasty too!
More Essential Breakfast Recipes
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My Favorite Blueberry Scones
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 large scones
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These better-than-the-bakery blueberry scones are bursting with juicy blueberries. They’re buttery and moist with crisp crumbly edges and soft flaky centers. Read through the recipe before beginning. You can skip the chilling for 15 minutes prior to baking, but I highly recommend it to prevent the scones from over-spreading.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick; 115g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream (plus 2 Tbsp for brushing)
- 1 large egg
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup (180g) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
- for topping: coarse sugar and vanilla icing
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. See video above for a closer look at the texture. Place in the refrigerator or freezer as you mix the wet ingredients together.
- Whisk 1/2 cup heavy cream, the egg, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the flour mixture, add the blueberries, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
- Pour onto the counter and, with floured hands, work dough into a ball as best you can. Dough will be sticky. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour. If it seems too dry, add 1-2 more Tablespoons heavy cream. Press into an 8-inch disc and, with a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges.
- Brush scones with remaining heavy cream and for extra crunch, sprinkle with coarse sugar. (You can do this before or after refrigerating in the next step.)
- Place scones on a plate or lined baking sheet (if your fridge has space!) and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. After refrigerating, arrange scones 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet(s).
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes before topping with vanilla icing.
- Leftover iced or un-iced scones keep well at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Special Tools: Glass Mixing Bowls, Box Grater, Pastry Cutter, Baking Sheet, Silpat Baking Mat, Pastry Brush
- Freeze Before Baking: Freeze scone dough wedges on a plate or baking sheet for 1 hour. Once relatively frozen, you can layer them in a freezer-friendly bag or container. Bake from frozen, adding a few minutes to the bake time. Or thaw overnight, then bake as directed.
- Freeze After Baking: Freeze the baked and cooled scones before topping with icing. I usually freeze in a freezer-friendly bag or container. To thaw, leave out on the counter for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Warm in the microwave for 30 seconds or on a baking sheet in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 10 minutes.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare scones through step 4. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Continue with the recipe the following day.
- Over-spreading: Start with very cold scone dough. Expect some spread, but if the scones are over-spreading as they bake, remove from the oven and press back into its triangle shape (or whatever shape) using a rubber spatula.
Keywords: scones, blueberry scones
I made these this afternoon and they were phenomenal! So juicy and moist. Can’t wait to try the cinnamon recipe.
★★★★★
I love this recipe!!! I make it often, however, a couple of things I do differently. I substitute the flour for a gluten free 1:1 GF flour. ( Bob’s Red Mill GF Flour) It makes beautiful gluten free scones. I also grate in some lemon peel to give it an added complimentary flavor to the blueberries. Other than that, this recipe has not failed me on the countless times I have made it.
They also freeze very well!!
It is my only go to for scones!
★★★★★
I made these for my book club tomorrow. This is my fourth or fifth time making them. They are wonderful.
Hi
I don’t have heavy cream but could I sub in 1/2 and 1/2 with a little sour cream mixed in? For thickening?
Hi Leah, half-and-half works in a pinch but the scones may spread a bit more.
Love this recipe. I’ve made scones many times in the part and they always seem dry. This recipe came out beautifully.
★★★★★
After reviewing many recipes for the scones I decided to try yours. They came out tender big and beautiful. I did make some changes: half the sugar, no vanilla, half the cinnamon. Also, baked them for only 20 min and they were perfectly done, not dry. And I mixed fresh lemon juice with powdered sugar for the drizzle. Yum!
★★★★★
Can I use coconut flour Instead of all-purpose flour? Or another gluten free flour?
Hi Becky, We haven’t tested this recipe with gluten-free flour so we’re uncertain of the results. If you give anything a try, we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
Hello
Just made the blueberry scones,and they have come out of the oven cracked and falling into pieces, I watched the video so not sure what happened, they were moist and cold when I put them in, I shall just serve up as a pudding with cream but would like to try again
Cheers Dru
Hi Dru, A couple tips: avoid over-working the dough or over-working the frozen butter into the dry ingredients. The more flour coated pieces of butter in the shaped scones, the flakier the texture. Brush the scones with heavy cream before baking, which helps develop that crisp exterior. You can also try raising the oven temperature in the beginning of the bake time, then reducing it down. A hot burst of air could help crisp up the edges.
I made thaws today. It was my first attempt at making scones. I followed the recipe exactly and kept everything very cold. When I turned the dough onto the floured mat it seemed very dry. I was able to work it into a nice round slab by carefully pushing it together. I did not add any extra cream , I just kept working it until it stayed together. I cut the dough into the eight pies and cooled them as directed and baked them. THEY TURNED OUT AMAZING! I will use this recipe again for sure. Thank you!
What are the measurements for the glaze?
Hi Mary, here is our vanilla icing recipe!
I tried these tonight…the dough was way too dry…even after adding cream…the video made it look far easier to pat together than it actually was…Im a seasoned baker but this was a mess…
Hi Sheri! This scone dough shouldn’t be dry – How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
This dough was insanely dry! Hopefully it’ll turn out . I make scones regularly and thought I’d try a new recipe. I would recommend upping the heavy cream!
★★★
I followed the recipe exactly. While they turned out beautifully and tasted ok I felt the addition of the cinnamon was unnecessary. All I could taste was cinnamon. I was unable to taste the blueberries. I may try the recipe again and omit the cinnamon.
★★★
I have tried two of your recipes few days ago and I’m pleased of the results. Today, my husband requested a blueberry scones and decided to come back to your website. Again, another keeper recipe…thank you very much for sharing . It makes us so much easier especially a family like mine who only eat momma’s cooking/baking.
When refrigerating overnight the instructions say cover. Should this be in air tight container or with cling wrap? Is there a recommending method for covering overnight in the fridge?
Hi Gina! Covering best you can with cling wrap will work just fine. Enjoy!
I followed the recipe exactly and they spread a lot. I even put them in the refrigerator for 2 hrs before baked them. What could have happened?
Hi Antonia, Make sure all of your ingredients are very cold. You can even place your bowl of flour in the refrigerator. 15 minutes is the minimum we recommend chilling the dough but you can chill it longer – up to overnight. Expect some spread, but if the scones are over-spreading as they bake, remove from the oven and press back into its triangle shape (or whatever shape) using a rubber spatula. You can also try adding 2-3 extra Tbsp of flour to the dough as well.
I’ve used your recipes before, so when my kids said they wanted blueberry scones… I naturally came back to your site! I never leave reviews, but this recipe was so great that I wanted to say thank you for sharing it. It was perfect!
★★★★★
I have followed this recipe to the tee a few times now paying special attention to the butter temperature and refrigerating before baking. Still running all over the pan.
★
Made this recipe 3 times already and man they look like the scones from Panera and Cobbs but better. Thank you so much. I don’t bake a lot but these made me look like a good baker. Love, love the recipe. Just wondering how much calories is one scones. Can’t stop eating them.
These were perfection!
★★★★★
Can you make this a day before and keep dough in refrigerator then cook next day
In the notes you give overnight instructions. I was planning on making in the evening and baking in the morning. Here, you are saying you don’t recommend it???
Hi Jan! Our mistake – you can follow the make-ahead instructions in the recipe notes 🙂 Enjoy!
I LOVE blueberry scones and am often on the hunt for the best ones. So far a bakery in Toronto wins but lately I haven’t gotten up there so I decided to suck it up and bake them myself (I hate baking). This recipe is very easy and straightforward, the scones are truly delicious . *If* I drum up the enthusiasm to bake again I would use slightly less vanilla, I felt like the taste came through a little strong with 1 1/2 teaspoons. Otherwise, they were awesome and satisfied my craving, thank you!
So good good first time baking almost anything let alone my favorite pastry. I can’t believe I made these my self, thank you so much for the recipe
I was skeptical that I could do this as I am not a great baker – but the recipe was PERFECT. The blueberry scones were light, flaky and absolutely delicious. I could have eaten all . Thank you.
Forgot to say that I used coconut milk in place of the heavy cream. Yummy!
★★★★★
I’ve used this recipe to make both raspberry and blackberry drop scones (mentioned in your basic scones recipe.) I made them small for a tea and they turned out fabulous. Thank you for this great recipe and all the helpful tips about keeping things cold.
★★★★★
Hello! Can I replace heavy cream with Greek yogurt?
Hi Joanna, we don’t recommend using yogurt. Heavy cream or buttermilk would be best (and half-and-half or whole milk will work in a pinch).
Made these per the recipe and they turned out perfect!!! Didn’t use the vanilla icing but did do the heavy cream glaze with sugar — so tastey!! Better than most bakeries. Highly recommend.
★★★★★
I have tried making this recipe 3 times, following it exactly. Each time I wound up with at least 1/3 of the flour completely dry. I began adding cream a Tbsp at a time bu by the time I got to 1 cup of cream the butter had thawed and the berries were nearly thawed. I’m certain the dough would be overworked also and there was still unincorporated flour.
I sifted the flour then spooned it into the measuring cup. I know it was measured correctly and it was a new bag of King Arthur A/P flour.
What could I be doing wrong? Any suggestions?
Hi Mike, you may not be cutting the butter into the mixture enough. Are you using a pastry cutter or food processor? Try doing this step for a little longer to break down the butter more– just so it’s a little more combined with the flour. Does that make sense?
Did you mix the wet ingredients together then drizzle it all, over the flour mixture & berries? Then you gently mix and only then add 1 T cream or 2nd if needed. Dough won’t form into a ball yet. You turn it out onto counter & gently press together, kneading a few times. Watch the video it see what it will look like. That is helpful. Try again.
Can I substitute heavy cream with buttermilk?
Sure can, Karyn!
Oh my gosh! I’ve never attempted scones but I was craving them and had some beautiful blueberries I needed to use. They came out spot on perfect with your recipe! Even my husband who rarely notices anything commented on how perfect they were. They were delicious with a cup of tea on this rainy Vermont fall day. Looks like a week of wonderful scones in this house!
Hi Susie, We are so glad that you and your husband enjoyed these!
This was my first time making scones. I chose your recipe because of the number of scones it would make. They were delicious. My son and his family loved them.
★★★★★