Using my perfected master scone recipe, build your own scones with a variety of add-ins like chocolate chips, berries, or cheese and herbs. These better-than-the-bakery treats are flaky, flavorful, and moist with crisp crumbly edges. There’s a lot of helpful information and step-by-step photos, but feel free to jump right to the recipe!
Scones are sweet or savory, perfect with coffee and tea, welcome at baby showers, bridal showers, brunch, snack time, bake sales, Mother’s Day, and wherever muffins or coffee are appropriate. (All the time!)
But depending on the recipe and technique, scones can be dry and sandpaper-y with flavor comparable to cardboard. They can also over-spread and taste pretty boring. However, boring isn’t in our scone vocabulary!! My basic scone recipe promises uniquely crisp and buttery scones with crumbly corners and a soft, flaky interior.
I have several scone recipes that begin with the same basic formula. Let’s review the fundamentals so you can learn how to make the best scones. Sit back because there’s a lot to cover in this post!
What are Scones?
Depending where you live, the term “scone” differs. English scones are more similar to American biscuits and they’re often topped with butter, jam, or clotted cream. American scones are different, but different isn’t necessarily a bad thing! Today’s scones are sweeter, heavier, and aren’t usually topped with butter because there’s so much butter IN them. Sweetness aside, there’s still room for vanilla icing or a dusting of confectioners’ sugar on top. By the way, here’s my favorite recipe for traditional scones.
Scones are leavened with baking powder, so making them is generally quick. Blueberry scones are my favorite variety, but that quickly switches to pumpkin scones in the fall months! (Here are all my scone recipes.)
No matter which flavor you choose, these scones are:
- Moist & soft inside
- Crumbly on the edges
- Buttery & flaky
- Not sandpapery 🙂
Video Tutorial: Scones
Let’s start with a video tutorial.
Only 7 Ingredients in this Basic Scone Recipe
You only need 7-9 ingredients for my master scone recipe.
- 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. Reduce to about 2 Tablespoons for savory flavors. Brown sugar works too. However, if using brown sugar, whisk it into the wet ingredients to get out all the lumps. For example, see my caramel apple scones.
- Baking Powder: Adds lift.
- Salt: Adds flavor.
- Butter: Besides flour, butter is the main ingredient in scones. It’s responsible for flakiness, flavor, crisp edges, and rise.
- Heavy Cream or Buttermilk: For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream or buttermilk. I usually use heavy cream, but if you want a slightly tangy flavor, use buttermilk. Thinner liquids change the flavor and appearance. You’ll be headed down a one way street to dry, bland, and flat scones.
- Egg: Adds flavor, lift, and structure.
- Optional: Vanilla extract adds necessary flavor to sweet scones, but skip it if you’re making savory scones. Depending on the flavor, cinnamon is another go-to ingredient.
And don’t forget about the add-ins! Scroll down to see all my favorite scone flavors.
How to Make Scones from Scratch
So now that you understand which ingredients are best, let’s MAKE SCONES!
- Mix the dry ingredients together. Use a big mixing bowl because you want lots of room for the mixing process.
- Cut in the grated frozen butter. You can use a pastry cutter or 2 forks, like we do with pie crust, 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. Messy and crumbly is a good thing!
- Whisk the wet ingredients together.
- Mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients. Mix together, then pour out onto the counter.
- Form into a disc and cut into wedges. Wedges are easiest, but you can make 10-12 drop scones like I do with my banana scones.
- Brush with heavy cream or buttermilk. For a golden brown, extra crisp and crumbly exterior, brush with liquid before baking. And for extra crunch, a sprinkle of coarse sugar is always ideal!
- Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Keep scone dough as cold as possible. To avoid over-spreading, I recommend chilling the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes in the refrigerator before baking. In fact, you can even refrigerate overnight for a quick breakfast in the morning!
- Bake until golden brown. Scones bake in a relatively hot oven for only 20-25 minutes.
Cold Ingredients & Frozen Grated Butter
Keeping scone dough as cold as possible prevents over-spreading. When scones over-spread in the oven, they lose the flaky, moist, and deliciously crumbly texture. In other words, they’re ruined. But the easiest way to avoid disaster is to use cold ingredients like cold heavy cream, egg, and butter.
But frozen grated butter is the real key to success.
Like with pie crust, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients to create crumbs. The butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, releasing steam and creating air pockets. These pockets create a flaky center while keeping the edges crumbly 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.
3 Tricks for Perfect Scones
If you take away anything from this post, let these be it!
- Heavy Cream or Buttermilk: Avoid thinner milks which yield a flatter, less flavorful scone. Canned coconut milk makes a wonderful nondairy option!
- Frozen Grated Butter: See above!
- Refrigerate Before Baking: Remember, cold dough is a successful dough. To avoid over-spreading, I recommend chilling the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.
How to prevent flat scones: See #2 and #3. 🙂
How to Freeze Scones
I used to be totally against freezing scone dough. You see, the baking powder is initially activated once wet and if you hold off on baking, the scones won’t rise as much in the oven. However, the decrease in rise is so slight that it doesn’t make a noticeable difference. In fact, you can even shape this scone dough into wedges and refrigerate overnight before baking.
- 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 in the recipe below. Or thaw overnight, then bake as directed.
- Freeze After Baking: Freeze the baked and cooled scones before topping with icing or confectioners’ sugar. 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.
15+ Scone Flavors
- Blueberry Scones and Chocolate Chip Scones (both pictured)
- Cranberry Orange and Pumpkin Scones
- Banana Scones and Lavender Scones
- Lemon Blueberry Scones and Sprinkle Scones
- Caramel Apple and Cinnamon Chip Scones
- Triple Chocolate Scones – they taste like brownies!
- Strawberry Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
- Ham & Cheese Scones
- Mixed Berry (pictured): Follow recipe below and add fresh or frozen mixed berries. Raspberries and blackberries burst easily, so don’t go overboard on those.
- Cherry Chocolate Chip: Follow recipe below and add 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 3/4 cup chopped fresh or frozen cherries.
- Raspberry Almond: Follow the recipe below and add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract with the vanilla. After shaping the scones, gently press frozen raspberries into each, using about 1 cup total. (Avoid mixing them into the dough, as they can bleed.) Top the shaped scones with sliced almonds before baking (1/3 cup / 37g total almonds). After baking, drizzle with the raspberry icing from these mini vanilla pound cakes.
- Fresh Herb: Reduce sugar to 2 Tablespoons, leave out vanilla extract, and add 2 minced garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, 1/2 cup chopped herbs such as rosemary, parsley, and basil. Additionally, feel free to add 1 cup shredded cheese to the dough and top with sea salt before or after baking!
Using the master recipe below as a starting point, toss in your favorite add-ins like white chocolate chips, toasted pecans, sweetened or unsweetened coconut, dried cranberries, peanut butter chips, etc. If it’s a particularly wet add-in like chopped peaches, blot them with a paper towel before adding to the dough. Top with lemon curd, raspberry sauce, or any of the suggested toppings below. Above all, have fun finding your favorite flavor!
Look At All Of Your Scones!
Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
PrintHow to Make Perfect Scones
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 large or 16 small scones
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Use this basic scone dough for any sweet scone variety. See blog post for a couple savory scone options. Feel free to increase the vanilla extract and/or add other flavor extracts such as lemon extract or coconut extract. 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 (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup (1 stick; 115g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream or buttermilk (plus 2 Tbsp for brushing)
- 1 large egg
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1–1.5 cups add-ins such as chocolate chips, berries, nuts, fruit, etc
- optional: coarse sugar for topping
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder 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 add-ins, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
- To make triangle scones: 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. For smaller scones, press dough into two 5-inch discs and cut each into 8 wedges. To make 10-12 drop scones: Keep mixing dough in the bowl until it comes together. Drop scones, about 1/4 cup of dough each, 3 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. To make mini (petite) scones, see recipe note.
- 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(s). If making mini or drop scones, use 2 baking sheets. After refrigerating, arrange scones 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet(s).
- Bake for 18-26 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Larger scones take closer to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Feel free to top with any of the toppings listed in the recipe Note below.
- Leftover scones keep well at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- 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 in the recipe below. Or thaw overnight, then bake as directed.
- Freeze After Baking: Freeze the baked and cooled scones before topping with icing or confectioners’ sugar. 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.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Box Grater | Pastry Cutter | Whisk | Rubber Spatula | Bench Scraper | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush
- Scone Flavors: See blog post above. If adding fruit, use fresh or frozen. If frozen, do not thaw. Peel fruits such as apples, peaches, or pears before chopping. If desired, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with the flour. I usually add cinnamon when making chocolate chip scones.
- 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.
- Mini/Petite Scones: To make smaller scones, press dough into two 5-inch discs and cut each into 8 equal wedges. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Optional Toppings: Vanilla icing, salted caramel, lemon icing from this iced lemon pound cake, maple icing from these banana scones, brown butter icing from these pistachio cookies, lemon curd, orange icing from these hot cross buns, raspberry icing from these mini pound cakes, dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
I have been making scones for years, always using the same recipe (and a food processor). I tried your recipe (using buttermilk and mixed frozen berries) and I don’t think I will be going back. The grated frozen butter (brilliant!) and mixing by hand resulted in a wonderful light texture that I had not achieved before. I made a half batch and reduced the sugar slightly (scant 1/4 cup) but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Great flavor, great texture and a great success at home. One question – any recommendations when using a convection oven (countertop, in my case) regarding temperature and/or time modifications?
Thank you, Sally for the inspiration to keep baking and for all the great recipes and tips.
Hi Shelly! So glad you are enjoying these scones. I’m unsure of the best temp and time using a countertop convection oven, but you may want to reduce the temperature by 25 degrees F. The bake time may be the same or slightly shorter.
Thanks, Sally! I can’t wait to try new flavors. By the way, can I use the grated frozen butter technique for other things such as pie dough?
Hi Shelly, For pie crust it’s best to use cubed butter. You want larger chunks in your pie!
I made with some dried cranberries that were a gift….delish!!! Thanks for sharing this great recipe.
Hi Sally,
Is there another way to cut the scones into their shape when the dough is finished. I don’t have a dough scraper like you and I would really like the perfect cut.
Hi Taina, I don’t recommend it. The scones need to be individually shaped prior to baking. You can always use a sharp knife!
I barely succeed in baking but this recipe is amazing! Crust on the outside, crumbly but moist goodness on the inside, best scones i’ve made so far! Baked slightly longer than recipe up to around 30mins (probably oven dependent). Used quarter cup brown sugar instead and followed Sally’s advice to only add it into the wet dough.
First time making scones so I followed your recipe exactly (used frozen mixed berries and heavy cream) and they came out amazing! So much better than the scones at the coffee shops we usually buy. Thank you for the delicious and easy recipe!
HI! Can these be made without add ins? Looking for plain scones to serve with toppings (clotted cream, jam, butter)
Sure can!
Yay for scones!! Great simple recipe thanks for the tips!!
Hi, Sally! I make the chocolate chip scones and they were a bit hit. Now, I’m trying some savory ones that are in the oven right now. My questions is about the frozen butter. I understand the need for it. However, my arthritic fingers take a beating, when using the box grater. Is there another option for grating the butter that won’t affect the outcome?
Hi Rosemary, A lot of food processors come with a grating blade if you happen to have one available to you.
Do you have any English scone recipes? Tried and tested?
YUm. Made mine with ham, cheddar, and chives. I also used 20% whole wheat flour. They are absolutely delicious! Thanks Sally.
Excellent! This is the recipe I’ve been looking for all along. Thank you!
I used half & half instead of cream, because it’s what I had on hand, and the result didn’t seem to suffer. The best scones I have ever made!
In answer to another commenter’s question, I make sure my baking rack is in the top 1/3 of the oven when making scones (a suggestion found in another scone recipe). This may prevent the bottoms from burning.
Just tried these for the first time, and the bottoms got way too done. They baked for less than 16 minutes. What could I have done wrong?
Hi Betsy, I recommend lowering your oven temperature to help ensure the scones bake more evenly. It could also be the heavy cream brushed on top that is burning. Feel free to go a little lighter on that addition before baking.
First time making scones but not first time eating, and I loved it. Thank you for this recipe
Hi Tiffany, the scones will have a slight coconut flavor. I recommend full fat canned coconut milk (unsweetened).
We want to do rhubarb scones. Any suggestions on sugar? Or amount of rhubarb?
Hi Julie, you can make the scones as written and use sliced rhubarb as the add-in. I wouldn’t add more sugar unless you’d like an extra sweet scone.
Made scones for the first time using this recipe and they came out great. I did half the batch with blueberry lemon filling and the other half chocolate chip. Not dry at all. Not too sweet. Easy to follow recipe. I’m glad this is the recipe I tested out 🙂
Easy to follow instructions (and hints).
Great flavor and texture!
Hi Sally,
Let’s say I want to make 2 flavours in 1 batch. Can this recipe be halved?
You can halve this recipe. For the egg, I recommend cracking an egg, whisking the white and yolk together, then measure the volume and use half of that mixture.
I am interest in making feta and spinach scones. Do I use fresh or frozen spinach, how much spinach and how much feta. What would you suggest for a topping to brush on them? I am fairly new to make scones. Thank you
Hi Diana, I haven’t tried a feta and spinach variety but I would cut down on the sugar, use a couple handfuls of fresh and chopped spinach, and about 1/2 cup of feta cheese. Topping with your favorite herbs or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper would be tasty. Let me know how they turn out!
I made these scones with raspberries for Mother’s Day and my mom loved it! As a novice baker this recipe was extremely easy to follow! Like all your recipes, I really appreciate your detailed steps and explanation of your tips. Thanks Sally!
This recipe is literally the best scone I have ever had. I tried it with cinnamon and chopped walnuts as add-ins, and fabulous! Thank you! I will never buy scones out again! And so easy. I am on a diet, or I would have eaten all eight of them today. Lol if your on the fence about it, get off and try it, you too will be amazed.
Best scones I’ve ever made, made em for my mom on mothers day and the whole family agrees! I adjusted it in the following ways: made two batches, doubled salt (was using unsalted butter), reduced sugar to around 2 tbsp per batch, and cut vanilla for savory batch. My mix-ins were fresh rosemary, fresh parmesan, and minced garlic for the savory, and for the sweet orange zest (of one orange), some cranberries, and a bit of almond extract, all drizzled with lime glaze. Before baking I coated all with an egg wash (one egg + some milk).
The texture was perfect, it was soft and crumbly throughout with the bottom being slightly crispy and browned and the top keeping a good crunch. Thanks so much, I’ll definitely make again with all kinds of flavors!
Yes they can! It’s very easy to double, just make sure that you have enough baking sheets!
Hey Sally, great recipe!! But the bottoms on some of them were slightly burnt or very brown. I baked it for 23 – 25 minutes at 400 C. They were lightly golden brown on top. Should I reduce the temp next time or cook time?
Hi Karyn, so glad you tried these! If you try them again, I recommend lowering the oven temperature by 25 degrees F. (I assume you meant F, not C!)
I’m enjoying a still-warm scone, recently out of the oven. Yum! I made them ginger-lime by adding 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger, 2 tbsp chopped candied ginger, and about 1 tsp lime zest. I do think that next time it could take more zest, as the lime isn’t coming through. Still, I’m so happy with them! I’ve only once before tried to make scones (King Arthur’s blueberry scone recipe), and I *much* prefer how these turned out! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you.
Hi! I’m planning on making these scones tomorrow but I didn’t know how long I should freeze the butter. Do you want it to be rock hard frozen or just very cold? Like should I leave it overnight or just a few hours? Thanks for any advice!
Simply very cold is plenty. If your butter has been refrigerated, stick it in the freezer for about 15-20 minutes before beginning.
Thank you Sally! This was my first time making scones and the recipe is PERFECT! My family asks for this all the time now. Made it twice the first week. And twice again the following. Going to prepare different varieties for Mother’s Day. What a hit!!
This recipe is amazing! I added some cinnamon to the batter and had a maple icing and some homemade strawberry syrup for dipping. My little siblings loved it!
So delicious! I’ve tried three of your recipes so far and it’s 3/3. The scones turned out perfectly buttery and flaky on the inside and crumbly on the outside. For the mix-in I used fresh strawberries that were diced and popped into the freezer for two hours. I’ll be making a savory version with bacon, cheddar and scallions tomorrow.
Is it possible make the dough, prepare into triangles and refrigerate for baking the next day. Will they dry out?
Absolutely! See recipe notes for overnight instructions.
Hi Sally! I want to make these scones for my mom for mothers day! However, we do not have buttermilk or heavy cream in the house. Is there anything I can use as a substitute? Half and half?
Hi Bella, If you don’t have any buttermilk, you can make a DIY soured milk. For every 1 cup of buttermilk, add 1 or 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Fill with enough regular milk to yield 1 cup. Whisk together, then let sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe. Whole milk is best, but you can use any fat or nondairy milk. The lower the fat, the less “rich” the baked good will taste.