These strawberry scones are bursting with juicy strawberries and fresh lemon flavor. They’re buttery and moist with crisp crumbly edges, poppy seeds, and soft flaky centers. Crunchy coarse sugar and lemon icing are the perfect finishing touches!
Do you like scones? Until recently, I was never a fan. I went 30 years passing them off in favor of muffins, quick breads, and other more exciting pastries. Truth is, scones can taste pretty lackluster and boring. Why waste your calories?!?!
But my opinion took a total 180 when I attended a cooking event in the Panera Bread test kitchen. We made deliciously moist yet crisp scones filled with juicy strawberries. The flavor, texture, and total process were all totally on point. If you’re not a fan of scones, you may just be eating the wrong ones! When done right, scones are pure pastry perfection.
These strawberry lemon poppy seed scones will turn you into a scone enthusiast. Promise.
Since my scone breakthrough, I have mastered chocolate chip scones, cinnamon scones, and blueberry scones. I use the same master scone recipe for each flavor, a careful formula promising the BEST flavor and texture. By the way, I wrote an entire post devoted to my favorite basic recipe for scones. Today we’re making a strawberry lemon variety!
Everything to Love About These Scones:
- Sweet crumbly edges
- Crunchy golden brown exterior
- Soft, moist, lemon-y centers
- Juicy strawberries
- Lots of lemon icing
Ingredients in Strawberry Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
Start your grocery list!
- 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.
- Poppy Seeds: For fun. Duh. You can use them in lemon poppy seed bread and glazed orange poppy seed bars, too.
- Salt, Lemon Zest, & Vanilla Extract: Add flavor.
- Cold Butter: Besides flour, cold butter is the main ingredient in these strawberry scones. It adds flavor, flakiness, crisp edges, and rise.
- Heavy Cream: For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream. 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. What a difference 1 ingredient makes!
- Egg: Adds flavor, lift, and structure.
- Strawberries: Use chopped fresh or frozen strawberries. If using frozen, do not thaw.
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, which creates tons of flour coated butter crumbs. When the butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam which creates all the delicious flakiness we love. The exterior becomes crumbly, crunchy, and crisp.
Why FROZEN butter? 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 Strawberry Lemon Poppy Seed Scones
These strawberry lemon poppy seed scones are surprisingly quick and easy. First, mix the dry ingredients together. You need flour, sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds, lemon zest, and salt. 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. These are my go-to wet ingredients in scones. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the strawberries, then gently mix together. Form the dough into a disc on the counter, then cut into 8 wedges. Before baking, brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. These extras add a bakery-style crunch and beautiful golden sheen. Delicious!!
One of my tricks: To obtain a flaky center and a crumbly exterior, keep scone dough as cold as possible. I highly recommend chilling 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
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 exactly the same.
Enjoy the scones warm right out of the oven, but to elevate them even more—drizzle with lemon icing. (One should never turn down an excuse for icing!!) You need fresh lemon juice, a splash of heavy cream, and confectioners’ sugar. The lemon icing seeps down into the cracks and crevices and will eventually “set” on the scones, so stacking and storing is a breeze. This bright lemon glaze would be a fantastic alternative to the vanilla icing we use on strawberry bread.
Serve these as part of your Mother’s Day recipes, or any day where a special homemade breakfast treat is craved. I’m confident you’ll be a scone enthusiast after this one!
More Scone Recipes
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Strawberry Lemon Poppy Seed 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 strawberry scones are bursting with juicy strawberries, delicious lemon zing, and poppy seeds. 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 (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest (about 1 lemon)
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) 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 (170g) fresh or frozen chopped strawberries (do not thaw)
- for topping: coarse sugar
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) heavy cream or milk
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, poppy seeds, 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 strawberries, 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 as you prepare the icing.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together. 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 | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Bench Scraper | Pastry Brush | Zester | Citrus Juicer
- 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 lemon 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.
Keywords: scones, strawberry scones
I was thinking about adding some rhubarb to the strawberries, do you think it would go well with the lemon poppy seed or should I leave those flavors out?
Absolutely! You can substitute half of the strawberries for sliced rhubarb. No need to pre-cook it or anything.
Hi Sally, can I use salted butter in these? And can I use brown sugar or raw cane sugar instead of white sugar?
Hi Sherri-Ann, you can use salted butter in this recipe with no changes to the recipe. Brown sugar would be the best substitution.
Hi! I’m hoping to make these scones today but I don’t have heavy cream. I did a little research and it says that milk and butter are a substitute for heavy cream. Is it true?
★★★★★
Hi Ana, I haven’t made homemade heavy cream before but you can certainly try it using the method you found and use it in this recipe. Make sure it’s cold.
Hi Sally, made these wonderful scones. However, my mixture was very moist from the strawberries which made it harder to make into a dough. It wasn’t coming together after putting maybe a cup more of flour to make it less sticky but it wasn’t working. I tried to take some strawberries out and then make it into a dough but i gave up and just had to put it on the try sticky.
Do you have any ideas as to how it can be less liquid and sticky.
Hi Evie, this is a sticky dough regardless and the strawberries make it stickier. Floured hands, surface, and tools help! Reducing the cream to 1/3 cup will drastically help if you try them again though.
Hi Sally. Would it change the taste much to leave out the poppyseeds? I forgot them at the store tonight.
Thanks,
Lisa
Nope, you can leave them out without making an other changes.
My neighbors brought over your blueberry scones with toasted walnuts-sugar free. To. Die. For! Because of Covid-19, we are staying close to home, which means no Starbucks. These are better! I asked for the recipe and now that I have it, lemon poppy seed is in the oven-my first batch. I plan to surprise them with a mid morning snack. My husband is also working from home, and can’t wait for them to come out of the oven! Sounds win-win to me!!! Thank you!! PS-I used my food processor to grate the butter. Worked very well, and I did a second cube that is just waiting in the freezer for my next batch!!!
★★★★★
Could I substitute half and half for the heavy cream or would homemade buttermilk (adding vinegar to milk/half and half) work better? Or do I need real heavy cream, I had some a day ago I just used it up 🙁
★★★★★
Hi Josie! It’s best to use heavy cream. Anything lower in fat will cause the scones to over-spread a bit. (And the scones won’t taste as rich.) Keeping that in mind, you can definitely make the swap.
I have never made scones and these turned out really yummy! Thank you for the very easy recipe. My kids finished half of it right when it came out of the oven.
★★★★★
will definitely be making these again. so so good.
★★★★★
This recipe is amazing! Quick, easy and most of all, delicious! If you are looking for a scone recipe, this one is definitely the one!!!!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
Love your scone recipes! Any recommendations on making them gluten free?
Hi Allie, thanks! I have little experience baking gluten free recipes. I have personally never tested the scones using gluten free flour, but let me know if you try it.
These came out epic! I used coconut cream instead of heavy cream… Just wow. How would you recommend storing these so they last for breakfast for 5-6 days. If you cover them, they tend to get mushy… Would rather not freeze, but that could be an option I suppose. Awesome recipe.
I’m thrilled you enjoyed them so much, Beth! The longest they will stay fresh at room temperature is 2 days but you can keep them in the refrigerator for 5 days. You can warm them up in the microwave before eating and they should still be great!
Hi Sally! Just wondering how can I store the leftover icing?
Thanks!
Hi Claire! Cover tightly and keep in the refrigerator.
This is my go-to scone recipe, my absolute fav! Even makes bakery fresh scones taste boring and blah. I couldn’t, figure out why they didn’t rise for me today and turn out how they usually do.. As I was driving to drop them off for my hubby and his coworkers I realized I forgot the baking powder and salt! They still taste okay, but definitely don’t recommend forgetting the baking powder. Guess I need to make another batch.
★★★★★
Hi Sally! What are your thoughts on using buttermilk in place of cream? I have some on hand, and I noticed you mentioned it in another recipe.
Hi Elaine! You can definitely swap in buttermilk for the heavy cream. I do that often with scone recipes!
Made these for May’s Baking challenge this week! I did not have poppy seed, but the combination of strawberry and lemon is perfect anyway! Thank you for the recipe, will definitely try it again, as well as other flavors.
★★★★
Best scone recipe! Thank you for this. I have been changing the fruit and flavors and using this recipe as my base for all my scones.
Made these scones today, they turned out great! Left the poppy seeds out because I didn’t have any. Didn’t have lemons either so I left it out of the scone batter. Used half a lime and little more heavy cream for the icing. The scones turned out delicious, thank you for all the helpful tips and great recipes!
Hi Sally! I have some ripe strawberries in my fridge that I want to use up, and I stumbled across this recipe! Looks delicious, I’ve been a fan of yours for a while now! I know substituting milk for cream might make the batter a little too wet but can I still substitute with a scant 1/2 cup? Thanks!
Hi Christina! The scones won’t be nearly as tender, but you can give it a try.
Hi, your scones look delicious! I make scones too and wonder what you think about putting all the ingredients in a food processor?
By hand is so much better for the scone dough.
Can’t wait to try making these but I have a question first. Since I usually make a recipe exactly according to the original directions, I wondered if you preferred using frozen strawberries, such as in the blueberry scone recipe, instead of fresh. I know frozen berries become mushy when defrosted so would the fresh ones be a little firmer?
I always prefer fresh strawberries in scones– makes the dough easier to work with!
I compared this recipe to the blueberry scone recipe and (except for the poppyseed/lemon/strawberry of course) noticed that it differed in the amount of sugar for the dry ingredients.
I’m just curious as to why this is since I wanted to make a batch of both the blueberry scones and these scones (minus the poppy and lemon).
Could i just double this recipe and divide the mixture accordingly before adding the fruit?
Tammy, I use less sugar here because strawberries are sweeter than blueberries. You can double this recipe, yes!
Can this recipe be doubled or tripled or will it be more difficult to mix the dough without overmixing? Looks amazing, can’t wait to try it.
Kim, when making a big batch of scones– I usually make 2 or 3 batches instead of doubling or tripling the recipe.
I made these this past weekend for Easter breakfast and they are AMAZING! I’m now dying to make tons of other flavor combos with this recipe. I’m in love with the grating butter method. I even stuck mine back in the freezer for a few minutes after it was grated to make sure it was still super cold when added to the dry ingredients. With the butter pieces being so small already you hardly have to do any work with your pastry blender! I’m thinking this method would be perfect for pie crust! Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Hi Sally!
So this is my first scone recipe I’ve made, so I don’t have much comparison to go off of. But I was just curious as to what type of texture scone I should be looking for with these. I feel like mine turned out almost more muffin-like in texture. I did use use half and half (instead of heavy cream) and my butter was grated more cold, not completely frozen. I tried not to overwork the batter, but I know that gets tricky… I guess I am used to more crumbly, dense scones, than soft and thick, if that makes sense? Let me know if I am still on the right track, or if I have other adjustments to make.
Thanks much!
Ashley, you may need to bake the scones a little longer to get a more crumbly, dense texture. An easy fix… just keep in the oven longer. Also, after around 20 minutes of bake time, you can carefully separate the scones using a knife. Then, return to the oven to continue to bake until done. This will help the edges crisp up too.
Hi Sally,
I LOVE this scone recipe! I have been making them almost every weekend. They are so moist and bursting with flavor. My only question is, do you separate the scones after you cut them before you bake them in the pan? My FAVORITE scone recipe ever!!! Thanks for the gorgeous recipe!
Would these still bake up well and taste good without the lemon in the scones or glaze? My dad is allergic to lemon.
You may definitely leave out the lemon.
No kidding about the most moist scones ever… made these today and they tasted more like cake than scones. I really enjoyed this recipe, and although it’s definitely not light on calories, I’ll be making them again. I found that I could have added more than 1 cup of strawberries and still been fine. I would also like to try substituting (despite the warning) milk instead of heavy cream since milk is more commonly on hand.
So I’m an avid baker and have done a ton of your recipes with great success. Made these scones today (I’m a scone baking virgin) and my batter was not wet at ALL. I double checked over everything to see if I missed a wet ingredient, which I didn’t so I really don’t understand how it was so dry. I actually had to add some extra cream to it to even be able to form it into a ball…..what did I do wrong? Perhaps you can figure it out! None the less I still tossed them in the oven and made the glaze and they came out fairly yummy haha, my fiancee still enjoyed them!
I’m surprised. With only 2 cups of flour and all the egg, cream, butter – I’m unsure how the dough is dry. I would be sure to weigh your flour next time to be sure, or slightly reduce. Happy they were enjoyed!
Just curious…if I don’t have poppy seeds, how important are those to the recipe?
You may leave them out.