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 scone recipe.
- 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
- Raspberry Almond Buttermilk 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 Savory 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.
- 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. 🙂
How 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 (spoon & 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
- 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 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.
- 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, maple icing, brown butter icing, lemon curd, orange icing, raspberry icing, dusting of confectioners’ sugar.
Keywords: scones
Perfect base recipe with countless possibilities ! Thank you
★★★★★
I made the blueberry scones. I had to add probably an additional 3 tablespoons of cream to get them to come together! I don’t know why they were so dry and crumbly on first mix. Anyway it finally got sticky and I managed to get a disk and cut them up. After the refrigerator time I baked them and they came out quite nice, though they did spread a good bit … more than yours. I’m wondering, if you regularly make scones why not use a scone pan? They come with the triangular shape just like your scones are. Would that not eliminate the whole spread problem? Anyway the scones are very light and cake-like inside with a delightful flavor. I will make them again.
★★★★★
I have made these so many times! They are so delicious. I’ve made lemon flavored, blueberry (using a homemade blueberry compote), orange flavored, and almond flavored. I enjoy making a batch of 16, which allows me to share with my office colleagues. After chilling them overnight, I let them sit at room temp for about 15-20 mins so they can spread a bit to avoid them being too small. This is definitely a foolproof recipe which never fails. I do find the lemon to be quite sticky, but I overcome it by adding a little less milk or add a little flour at a time. Thanks such a customizable recipe!
★★★★★
Made the recipe a few times already. Amazing! Only question is, what’s the secret to making it not stick while forming the scones? I put ample flour under the dough and it still stuck to the counter. what is the triangle secret?
Hi Andy, so glad you’re enjoying these scones! This is certainly a very sticky dough. If you decide to try these again and your dough is too sticky to work with, try coating your hands with flour and do the best you can to shape them. Since we are chilling the dough before we bake them you can try forming your circle the best you can, refrigerate it and then re-shaping if needed before cutting. The colder the dough the less sticky / wet it should be. Hope this is helpful!
I hadn’t planned on making these and had no heavy cream or buttermilk, so I made them with half and half and they came out fabulous! I even got the Paul Hollywood handshake from my daughter 😉
Not having the heavy cream probably made them a bit flatter, but they sere so good. I served them with jam from Scotland, Cornish clotted cream from the UK and whipped butter. Outstanding!
Am I able to use whipping cream instead of heavy cream? Are they essentially the same thing?
Hi Ankita, Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream contain 36% milk fat and whipping cream (without “heavy” in the title!) is a little lighter with 30% milk fat. Whipping cream will work here in a pinch.
These turned out great! I added almonds and some almond flavoring. Definitely making this again. Thanks
★★★★★
This is the best scone recipe! Lemon blueberry in the oven now. For the holidays, I made a batch of chocolate chip, a batch of cinnamon brown sugar (using King Arthur cinnamon bits ), and a batch of triple ginger (powdered ginger, chopped candied ginger, and a couple tablespoons of grated fresh ginger),
★★★★★
WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE TO USE YOGURT FOR THE LIQUID? I AM HOUSEBOUND AND THAT’S ALL I HAVE ON HAND. Sure can’t afford to waste all that butter, it doesn’t work. The recipe sounds wonderful and I can’t wait to try it!
Thank. you.
Hi Carol! You really need the richness of heavy cream for the best scone texture. We don’t recommend substituting yogurt.
This was my first attempt at making scones. Your recipe is perfect. My family loved them. Said they were better than the bakery. Thanks for the great recipe and tips.
★★★★★
Just made these. They turned out delicious!! I used gluten free Fioreglut flour. I had to add extra heavy cream to accommodate but followed the method exactly. So tender and delicious. Will definitely make again!! Thanks for sharing.
★★★★★
Welllll….I decided try to perfect my Christmas scones and use this recipe. Especially the grated butter and keeping everything cold. And they spread like never before!!!’ I wonder why?
Hi Kat, Did you use heavy cream (thinner liquids can change your results)? 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. I hope that helps if you try these again!
The scones in your recipe look amazing, and taste delicious. I will always use this one.
★★★★★
I found this recipe and looked for no other. I’ve made them maybe a dozen times so far (every Monday for the week’s morning breakfast). I weigh the flour and sugar (250g/100g) and use the exact measurements for the other things in the recipe, but my dough is super super super sticky and never shapeable like in these pics. All I can hope for is to get it mixed together and turned onto a pizza pan (+parchment) or into a brownie pan.
★★★★★
Don’t be afraid to add more flour; right in the directions it says to add more at the shaping stage.
★★★★★
Love this recipe! Have a question… I was going to put some fresh raspberries and white chocolate in the recipe and was wondering, do you think I should freeze the raspberries a little first so they don’t burst as easily when mixing, or will that cause problems?
Thank you!
Daniel
★★★★★
Hi Daniel, no need to freeze the raspberries first (that actually may make the dough a bit more messy!). Just use a very careful hand when incorporating the raspberries. The combination with white chocolate sounds delicious!
I loved you technique of grating frozen butter! Tremendous time saver and perfect texture every time. Could you please suggest how to adjust the recipe using either or a combination of almond or coconut flour?
★★★★★
hey i’m sure this recipe is great and ive tried lots of your previous recipes and they’ve worked so well. i tried making scones for the first time and i followed all the instructions carefully and somehow they came out totally burnt at the bottom and slightly burnt on top with a bitter aftertaste? i think im gonna have to chuck all of them. i’m quite shocked as i’ve never tanked a recipe before, do you have any idea how this might have happened?
Sounds like they were over-baked. Your oven could run hot, or they were baked for too long. An easy fix for next time!
Can you adapt the recipe for a gingerbread scone?
Hi Jocelyn, we’ve never tested it! You could try adding spices and molasses, and reducing the liquid and sugar, but it would definitely take some testing to get right. Let us know if you give it a try or find a recipe you love! Here’s our favorite gingerbread muffins recipe if you’re interested.
Have not tried it yet but am looking forward to it. Will let you know the results
Lovely recipe but can I swap heavy cream for whole milk? Do I need to add something else because of the substitution?
Hi Jonelle, For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream, or for a slightly tangy flavor you can use buttermilk. Thinner liquids will change the flavor and appearance of the scones.
I prepped these last night and baked them this morning for a Friendsgiving Brunch. Wow! Just wow! First, everyone was excited as they saw the scones go in the oven. Then they smelled them. Mmmm! The faces when they took those first bites, worth every bit of butter grating. Everyone loved them! I made a chocolate chip/cinnamon batch and a blueberry/rasberry batch. They were such a hit! Friends were squirreling away scones in pockets and purses for later. I used buttermilk and used the grated frozen butter suggestions. I really think it makes the difference. I will have to make these again tomorrow…ok, maybe tonight. 🙂
★★★★★
I have not made this yet. My hands are very weak, grating frozen butter might not be an option wouldn’t a food processor work?
Actually, couldn’t I make the scone dough in the food processor?
Please let me know as soon as possible because baking day for Christmas treats is Friday, the day after tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Becky, A lot of food processors come with a grating blade, if you happen to have one available to you you can use it for the butter. If you do use it to mix the ingredients together, be careful as food processors can be quick to overwork the dough.
I am making several batches so needed to use the food processor. Just pulse it enough to combine everything; just until it comes together. Then use your hands to form into shape. Mine turned out great.
Hi Sally!
I read in comments that it is possible to leave the egg out and replace with a couple more TBs of heavy cream… but would you be able to say how much? 2?
I’m new to baking without eggs, but have a couple of vegetarian friends whom I’d like to make this recipe for…
Thanks so much!
Hi Glenda! 3-4 Tablespoons (45-60ml) would be plenty.
Do you think I could substitute half & half for the cream? Thanks!
Hi vmcr, yes, you can use half-and-half instead of heavy cream in this scone recipe.
I use half and half and they come out delicious! I’m going to try heavy cream this time though. I want to see if they are better.
★★★★★
Hi! I’ve made the raspberry almonds scones and the pecan ones. They were amazing! I follow the recipe to the tee and they come out perfect every time. My husband, kids, sisters and coworkers loved them!!!
I would like to make lemon poppyseed without the strawberries. Would you add lemon juice? How much and how will that change the rest of the recipe?
★★★★★
Hi Lisy! You can simply leave the strawberries out of our lemon poppyseed scones – enjoy!
Thank you!!! Happy thanksgiving!
★★★★★
Can you replace butter for lard?
Hi Sandy, we haven’t tested lard in our scones recipe, but we do recommend sticking with butter for best flavor.
Can you freeze the scones for a week before baking them?
Hi Liz, absolutely. See the blog post section titled “How to Freeze Scones” for more details!
Made the petite scones and 18 minutes @ 400° is far too long, burnt on bottom
★★★
This recipe is absolutely foolproof! I made the blueberry lemon variation a few days, and we were delighted with them. I do have a couple of questions. While I understand the hesitancy to cut in the butter and dry ingredients using a food processor, I wonder if it might make sense to grate the frozen butter using a grating blade on a food processor. That would eliminate getting the butter warm from your hand. Secondly, I followed your directions and refrigerated the cut/cream coated/sugar sprinkled dough overnight before baking the next morning. But I wonder not it might make more sense to refrigerate the dough in the disk shape overnight and then cut and otherwise finish it in the morning before baking. It would certainly take up less room in the fridge that way.
In any case, the scones were delicious, and the house smelled like heaven during and after baking!
★★★★★
Hi Susan, We’re so glad these were a hit for you! A lot of food processors come with a grating blade, if you happen to have one available to you you can use it for the butter. You can cut your dough into wedges and then place them in the refrigerator. Brushing scones with remaining heavy cream and sugar can be done before or after refrigerating, it won’t make a noticeable difference either way!
I can’t wait to try the scones. Do you have any suggestions on trying almond scones with almond paste?
Hi Nancy! We use almond extract in our raspberry almond scones and haven’t tested adding almond paste. Let us know what you try!
I USED TOASTED CHOPPED ALMONDS, AND ALMOND FLAVORING. VANILLA DOWN TO 3/4 teaspoon & 3/4 Vanilla.
WAS WONDERFUL!!! 1/2 the batch was drizzled with almond icing & 1/2 with sparkling sugar!
This is it!!! This recipe does not disappoint. I didn’t have buttermilk so I soured whole milk. I made a maple glazed walnut and a blueberry. The beauty of this recipe is that I can make a big batch, freeze it and have scones at a whim! Only con is grating that frozen butter. It’s a necessary messy evil so ga ahead and make a big batch! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!
I made these plain the first time, without fillers other than the vanilla for flavor. And it was so very yummy! I also placed the tray of unbaked scones into the freezer while the oven reached baking temperature. I think that helped a bit as my kitchen was SUPER hot that day and the butter started melting.
SOOOOO delicious! The first batch disappeared as if they never existed!
Thank you for the yummy recipe!
Absolutely delicious. My go to recipe now.
★★★★★
Best receipe They are easy and tasty
★★★★★
Jut made your blueberry scones recipe. They are delicious! I used buttermilk, not cream- they are crisp on top and delicious inside. The hint of cinnamon is perfect. Yes, my hand got a workout on the box grater, and the dough is a bit sticky- as it should be! Can’t wait to make more!
Thank you for this easy and delicious recipe.
★★★★★
I made cranberry orange scones and took them to work 30, go workers agree they are amazing
★★★★★