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.
Keywords: scones
This Master Scone Recipe is my Go To!
It’s easy and tastes amazing! I add mini chocolate chips and dust it after with Cinnamon Sugar.
★★★★★
I made these…easy and excellent. Will never buy them again
I love this recipe, I’ve ever made it with gluten free flour! Definitely a favorite recipe from Sally!
★★★★★
I love this recipe so much, I’ve even made it with gluten free flour! Definitely a favorite recipe from Sally!
★★★★★
Hi. I’m using buttermilk by mixing buttermilk powder with water to a consistency of heavy cream. The flavor is very nice. Question, since you recommend either heavy cream or buttermilk, I’m guessing but I wanted to ask, is any adjustment needed in baking powder or baking soda?
Hi Kathleen, you can use the powdered buttermilk with no other changes to the recipe. There are no changes to the baking powder amount if using heavy cream or buttercream. Hope you enjoy the scones!
This recipe is DELICIOUS!! And it was easy to make. I did choose to grate the butter with the cheese grater, and put the scones in the oven before baking. They are tasty and flaky. Will make them again and again. I just saved it in my bookmarks!
★★★★★
I’ve wanted to make scones for long time but was always intimidated by it. Wow! Your recipe was so easy to follow and everyone loved them! We just did the master recipe with chocolate chips. I’ve already added this recipe to our family cookbook!
★★★★★
I use organic ingredients and this recipe is simple and delicious.I’ve made Blueberry and Raspberry and next I’m making savory diced ham and cheddar scones to serve with soup.
I have a favorite scone recipe, that I was fortunate enough to get from a Scottish inn keeper. The big difference between it and this recipe is the use of an egg. Traditional, Scottish/Irish scones do not use eggs. That said, these were very very good and are the recipe I will make when I have company because I find most Americans do not like traditional Scottish scones which tend to be a little bit denser and less cake like then American scones. My husband actually likes these better than the traditional ones. Definitely a keeper.
★★★★★
I love the herb flavored suggestion. Scones came out perfect.
Can I substitute the flour with almond flour for a keto version?
★★★★★
Hi Elle, so glad you love this recipe! Unfortunately we don’t recommend it. Almond flour has very different baking properties than all purpose flour and can’t absorb the wet ingredients in the same way. For best taste and texture (and so you don’t waste your time trying to adapt this recipe since it may not work properly), it may be more useful to find a scone recipe that is specifically formulated to use almond flour.
Great recipe and my standard “go to” for scones, but here are a couple of hints for better results:
1) Mix together all of the dry ingredients and (in a separate bowl) the wet ingredients BEFORE grating the butter. This will help ensure that the butter stays very cold as you make your dough.
2) When grating the butter, grate it directly into the flour mixture, giving the butter and flour a quick toss every once in a while as you grate. By coating the grated butter bits with flour, this will keep the butter from re-forming into one big lump.
Oh my goodness! i’ve made scones from other recipes but this by far the best scone that I have ever tasted. Although, my scones didn’t come out looking pretty, they are scrumptious! I used some frozen blueberries from my freezer, so they look a little messy but Wow! They were so good that I decided to make chocolate chip scones. They are baking as I write this but I can’t wait to taste them as well. I forgot to put the cinnamon in the blueberry scones but they are so good that I don’t even miss the cinnamon and I love cinnamon! I can’t wait to try other flavors! Thanks Sally, you are correct in saying that these are far better than any store bought or bakery scone! I just need to sum this up with one word…Yummy!
★★★★★
Thank you for all the detailed instructions. ?, can I use Frozen fruit? How would I adjust the ingredients? Thank you in advance.
Hi Marilyn! You can use frozen fruit here without any changes. Do not thaw before using them.
Outstanding! Not usually a baker. Tried this recipe and added a dash of cinnamon as mentioned in video. They came out perfect. Better flavor than any I’ve eaten before. Thank you for posting this very easy to follow recipe for this novice.
★★★★★
Scones turned out delicious! The batter did spread, so next time I will cut them smaller. Will definitely be recipe I use each time I make them!
★★★★★
This is my go to scone recipe. Tried it several times and always with great results. Love it!
★★★★★
First try making scones – delish !!
Was a little scared when they stuck to the counter , but they ride and browned and were perfect ! Frosted with xxx sugar/butter/almond and added cream to thin a bit ! Yummy!
★★★★★
My husband loved! I tweaked it by adding 1 c of baking flour instead of flour. I loved using a grater for butter! I have arthritis and that helped to truly blend with flour. I should have used 2 trays since I ended up with sheet! I made with self rising flour,Not good. Thanks a million! Usha
★★★★★
Can I use a cookie cutter to make round scones (for a birthday brunch). If so how might this affect cooking time?
Hi Patti, you certainly can, though we’re unsure of the baking time. Bake until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top.
The best scones ever! I made blueberry, raspberry and plain scones for a bridal shower. They turned out better than perfect! Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Loved this recipe! For the mini scones, how thick should I make the 5-inch discs?
★★★★★
Hi Stephanie! Just however thick the dough would be if pressed into that size! Probably around 1.5 inches.
I’ve tried this recipe twice and both times the scones have spread and not risen very much. The second attempt I doubled the baking powder and added 1/2 tsp of baking since I’m using buttermilk. I used frozen grated butter, pre chilled the scones before baking. It’s a new oven so I’ll get a thermometer to test it. They still taste lovely.
Hi Claire, we’re happy to help troubleshoot! Very cold dough is important, so extending the chill time should help. 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. Hope this helps for the next batch!
loved this recipe. I made sour cherry and chocolate chip scones.
can you use marshmallows in them (for a twist)or would that not work at all?
Hi Christine, we haven’t tested it, so we’re unsure of the exact results. It should work to add a small amount to the dough. Let us know if you try it!
Can peanut butter be added to this recipe?
Hi Sue, We haven’t tested a recipe for peanut butter scones and it would take some additional recipe testing for us to give you a confident answer. Let us know if you try anything!
I used a convection oven, 400 degrees, for 18 minutes and they turned out WAY too dark. Help!
Hi Jan! We always recommend conventional settings for baking (not convection/fan). The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection/fan settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
Hi Sally! Quick question. I see that a lot of scone recipes don’t have eggs in them. What would be the difference in texture?
Hi Jaina! Eggs add flavor, lift, and structure to this recipe.
Traditional Scottish/irish/English scones do not use egg. I’m sure somewhere back in the decades it was because eggs were too precious to use. I have a recipe that does not use eggs that I got off of a Scottish Inn keeper when I visited. I love them but I find that most Americans find them a little bit more dense than they want. They are used to the fluffy scones like Starbucks. That said, make whichever one is your preference.
I make this recipe all the time and my family loves it. I am a teacher and try to make stuff ahead of time so the mornings are easier. How long will the dough last in the freezer before it will need to be cooked and how long will the scones last in the freezer after they are cooked? Thank you for all of your help.
★★★★★
Hi Samantha, scones (baked or unbaked) will last for about 3 months in the freezer.
Can I use sour cream instead?
Hi Janet! For best results we recommend using either heavy cream or buttermilk. You could substitute some of the heavy cream/buttermilk for Greek yogurt or sour cream, but we don’t recommend substituting out ALL the liquid. Some Greek yogurt/sour cream + regular milk would be OK, too. We haven’t tested exact measurements, though. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
This is the overall best scone recipe out there!!! Crispy on the outside soft and flaky inside. My new go-to recipe for scones!
★★★★★
The best scones I’ve ever had. I made them with dried cranberries, mini chips with chopped pecans. I did dried cherries and pecans too. The texture is perfect and delicious.
★★★★★
I never liked scones, until I took one of my homecare patients to a luncheon at one of the local churches. These scones were so delicious, and now I’m a fan!
So of course I came to the Sally’s Baking Addiction site for the best recipe