This is my favorite scones recipe with buttermilk, juicy raspberries, flavorful almond extract, toasty almonds, and raspberry icing. These raspberry almond buttermilk scones are crumbly, yet moist and perfect for brunch, tea parties, bridal showers, Mother’s Day, and so much more! For best results, follow all my scone success tips.
All Scones Begin with my Base Recipe
I’ve been on a scone mission for the past couple of years. While “delicious” all depends on your tastebuds, I can honestly say that I have one REALLY GOOD base scones recipe. With virtually any add-in (chocolate chip scones, blueberry scones, pumpkin scones, and even ham & cheese scones), we can all make a new variety every weekend. It’s the kind of versatile and satisfying coffee treat that makes us jump out of bed each morning.
I usually make the scone dough with heavy cream, but decided to use tangy buttermilk to pair with the raspberries and almonds. It’s what I use for my lavender scones, too! The centers are even more tender and the flavor is even more buttery. They’re bright-flavored and rich on the inside while the exterior is golden brown and crisp—delicately crumbling as you take that first berry bite.
Scones are one of those treats that if you do it right, they’ll have a permanent (and frequent) spot in your breakfast rotation. But if you mess up along the way, you’ll end up with sad rock cakes instead of tender sweet goodness. It’s all hard to swallow, literally. But let me help!
Scone Success Tips
- The secret to making delicate scones is handling the dough as little as possible. That’s why I prefer to make scones by hand, not in the food processor.
- Over-handling the dough will cause the delicate raspberries to break, making your dough much too wet. Always handle with care.
- The way to get that crumbly, crisp texture on the edges is to use very, very cold butter. In fact, use frozen.
- To ensure the scones don’t spread out too much in the oven and so they keep that crumbly-edge texture, refrigerate the scone dough for 15 minutes before baking.
- You can even refrigerate your dry ingredients for 15 minutes before mixing with the wet ingredients.
- Cold scone dough = successful scone dough.
- Shaggy looking scone dough = successful scone dough.
- A brush of buttermilk makes your scones shimmery and even more crusty on top.
- High oven temp ensures that irresistibly golden brown crust.
- Pink raspberry glaze > boring white glaze.
Video Tutorial
If you’re interested, I have a 5 minute video demonstrating the scone recipe. I’m making blueberry scones in this video, but the base recipe and process is the same.
Frozen Grated Butter
Frozen grated butter is key to scone success. As with pie crust, work cold butter into the dry ingredients. The cold butter coats the flour, creating tons of flour coated butter crumbs. When these crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam. This steam creates all the delicious flacks inside while the exterior is 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. I recommend grating the frozen butter with a box grater.
Fresh Raspberry Icing
Let’s talk about this pastel pink icing! Make the raspberry icing with raspberries, heavy cream (or any milk), and confectioners’ sugar. All you do is mash the raspberries with a little sugar—to help release the juices—then strain away any lumps. Use a fine mesh sieve. Then just whisk the crushed raspberries into the confectioners’ sugar and milk. Takes about 5 minutes, tops.
Delicious on their own, but these scones are even better with the fresh raspberry icing. Embrace the pink seeping into all the cracks and crevices. 🙂 Vanilla icing is also a wonderful alternative.
More Favorite Berry Recipes
- Raspberry Streusel Bars
- Raspberry Almond Crumb Cake
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Raspberry Danish Twist Bread
- Mixed Berry Galette
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Brown Butter Berry Tea Cakes
Raspberry Almond Buttermilk Scones
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 scones
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These flaky, sweet, and tender raspberry almond buttermilk scones are a must for breakfast. 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. Feel free to replace the raspberry icing with vanilla icing.
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
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup (120ml) buttermilk, plus 2 Tablespoons (30ml) for brushing
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 package (6 ounces; 170g; 1 and 1/4 cups) raspberries
- 1/3 cup (37g) sliced almonds
Fresh Raspberry Icing
- 1/2 package (3 ounces; 85g; or about 1/2 cup) raspberries
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 cups (180g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) heavy cream or milk
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, 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 buttermilk, egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the flour mixture, add the raspberries, 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. Press into an 8-inch disc and, with a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges.
- Brush scones with remaining buttermilk and top with sliced almonds. (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 as you prepare the icing.
- Make the icing: Toss the raspberries and granulated sugar together. Vigorously stir to break up the raspberries. Allow to sit for 5 minutes as the raspberries let out their juices. Strain the raspberries through a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl. Use a spoon to press them through, extracting all the juices. You’ll have about 3 Tablespoons of juice. Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar and milk. Add a little more confectioners’ sugar to thicken or more milk to thin, if desired. Drizzle over warm scones.
- Leftover iced or un-iced scones keep well at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls, Box Grater, Pastry Cutter, Baking Sheet, Silpat Baking Mat, Pastry Brush, Fine Mesh Sieve
- 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. When ready to serve, top with icing.
- 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.
- Raspberries: It can be difficult to avoid smashing the raspberries as you work with the dough. That’s OK! Handle the dough with care and always use floured hands and a floured work surface.
- Buttermilk: You can substitute heavy cream for buttermilk if desired. Acidic buttermilk isn’t needed in order for the scones to rise since we’re using baking powder. However if you’d like the tangy flavor you can make your own sour milk substitute. Add 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1/2 cup. Whisk together, then let sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe. For the extra 2 Tablespoons needed for brushing on top of the scones, you can use regular milk or heavy cream. Whole milk is best for the DIY sour milk substitute, though lower fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. (The scones will spread more if using lower fat or nondairy milks.)
Keywords: raspberry almond scones, raspberry scones, scones
What if i froze fresh raspberries? Might not be so moist?
Hi Andra, frozen berries will work in a pinch. Do not thaw. The frozen berries may release more juice into the batter and leave it a bit pink, but they’ll still be delicious!
Can frozen raspberries be used for the scones
Hi Ingrid, frozen will work in a pinch. Do not thaw. The frozen berries may release more juice into the batter and leave it a bit pink, but they’ll be delicious nonetheless!
This recipe is delicious. My husband made them yesterday for a party. He is not a baker (this is probably the 3rd thing hes ever baked). He found the recipe challenging but the results are worth it. They are moist and nuanced. Thank you for sharing it
★★★★★
Any reason you don’t use pastry flour?
Hi Randy, we find that these scones and all our scone recipes come out beautifully with all-purpose flour, which is more readily available. Let us know if you give them a try!
This did not work for me at all. I used fresh cream instead of buttermilk, otherwise followed recipe to a T. Very wet. I chilled prior to baking. They did not rise well. No way you could cut them to butter them.. Back to the drawing board for the best scone recipe it seems.
I usually love Sally’s recipes. This one, though, was stressful and gross. Ended up wasting half of the dough because it was so sticky. I would recommend ONLY doing this with frozen raspberries, or you will regret it. Additionally, chill the cut scones for 1+ hours. After 15 min, ours still spread out and ran into each other and created one big scone. Tastes good, but disappointed in this recipe.
★★★
Hi I decided to double the recipe on these scones every has turned out fine except for the frosting I assume it’s bc of the juice from the extra raspberries what I can I do to make it turn out right?
Hi Lyla, is the glaze too runny? You can always add more confectioners’ sugar (1 Tbs at a time) until the glaze reaches your desired consistency.
Can you use the food processor to grate the butter? Have to make 4 x batch and grating by hand is a pain.
Hi Linda, you can use your food processor to grate the butter.
I had to much flour or not enough liquid even I thought I followed the recipe exactly. I spoon leveled the flour. Any ideas of what I did wrong? I didn’t know what to do to,correct,it,at that point. I tried to incorporate during forming the ball stage but that didn’t work that well. Perplexed.
★★★★
Scone dough is shaggy and a bit drier than, say, cookie dough, but if you find it too difficult to bring the ingredients together, you could add an extra splash of buttermilk for added moisture. Be sure not to add too much, though, as it could cause the scones to overspread. Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
Followed recipe to the t, Turned out like a weird biscuit muffin with a slight taste of raspberry. What a waste. Threw them out. Ive made scones before and nothing like this. But hey maybe its like Covid, you either get it or you dont♀️
★
OH MY! I only had a little bit of sliced almonds, used some slivered which I chopped up a bit more and added to the flour mix. Also used a half cup of whole wheat flour. My raspberries are from my garden and very ripe so my dough was super wet! I worked it barely enough to get it together and it was a bit of a challenge moving them to the parchment I baked on…REGARDLESS, they were delicious. Out of the oven and almost gone already!! Next time, I’ll freeze the raspberries so they don’t mush up as much and add more almond extract. Wonderful recipe. I go to your site first whenever I look for something, you NEVER fail. Your tips are gold, thank you!
★★★★★
I LOVE THIS RECIPE!!!!!! My scones turned out beautiful. I would totally recommend this recipe. My batter turned out to be the perfect consistency. I did freeze the scones for 30 min to keep from spreading while baking, and it worked! These are the best scones I have ever made! I would advise to cool the scones completely before glazing to keep the icing from melting into the scone. But otherwise, I very much enjoyed making these!!!!!:)
★★★★★
I absolutely LOVE Sally’s scone recipes – have made the cranberry orange one countless times now – however, the texture inside this scone is definitely not classic scone crumble like her other recipes – I’m thinking bc of the buttermilk?? I froze my raspberries so I had zero spreading others talked about. Just don’t like the muffin-like texture inside, although they look absolutely delicious from the outside
★★★
Delicious! I followed the recipe exactly (other than cutting sugar to 1/3 cup and only using 2/3 of the raspberry package) and yes, the dough was very wet. I did not do anything to rectify it- didn’t freeze raspberries (ended up mushing them pretty badly), didn’t add more flour, only refrigerated for 20 min. However, they still came out perfect and did not spread much at all (an inch of distance between some was enough).
That said, because the raspberries added so much moisture, the scones are very soft inside and not exactly crumbley/crisp like in the bakeries. I baked for 23 min, so perhaps could add an extra 2 – they could also dry/harden later, as I ate one 10 min after it came out of the oven. 😉 I love the raspberries in it, but I also love the professional bakery texture, so might try it with less mushy fruit next time.
★★★★
Disappointed with this recipe. Sally’s recipes are always great and fool proof until this one. The raspberry added so much moisture that the dough was like sticky oatmeal porridge. I added several quarter cups of flour and at some point I just stopped. I couldn’t cut so I just spooned them to the tray to bake. They came out looking purplish and not pretty but it still tasted good. I think this recipe needs less raspberry for sure.
★
For all those who like a “cleaner” dough with raspberries – I freeze the berries the night before and then mix into the dough. They don’t break or spread their juice that way and since we’re chilling before baking anyway it doesn’t hurt the texture or yummy results.
★★★★★
Thank you so much for this recipe! I love your books and blog and I really enjoyed making these scones for Valentines Day!
★★★★★
Sally, could we mix some toasted almonds into the batter to make it more almond-y or would that change the texture of the scones too much?
Hi Jennifer, you can definitely try it! We would start with 1/4 cup and see how it goes, or reduce the amount of raspberries to add more. Would love to hear how it goes for you.
I toasted the 1/3 cup almonds and added them to the dough. Skipped the raspberries entirely. Sprinkled a few untoasted almonds on top after brushing with buttermilk. Superb.
★★★★★
I love your master recipe for scones and make your lemon blueberry scones often. Now I want to make raspberry white chocolate scones. Can I alter your raspberry almond buttermilk recipe to make raspberry white chocolate scones? Please advise. Thank you. Jo
Hi Jo, you could adapt these by replacing the almonds with white chocolate chips, and feel free to omit the almond extract if you’d like. Hope you enjoy them!