This is my go-to scone recipe bursting with fresh blueberries and zingy lemon zest, and topped with a sweet lemon icing. These glazed lemon blueberry scones are soft and tender in the middle, with crisp-crumbly edges, and simply perfect for brunch, tea parties, bridal showers, or really any time at all!
I originally published this recipe in 2015 and have since added new photos and success tips. These have become such a fan favorite that I included the recipe in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
When you think of breakfast treats, do scones come to mind first? In a bakery-case lineup of cinnamon rolls, donuts, muffins, croissants and other pastries, the humble scone doesn’t always get the prime spot or the most attention… but it absolutely should. With the right recipe, scones easily compete with muffins, pastries, and—yes!—even cinnamon rolls.
This lemon blueberry scone recipe in particular has received so much love over the years from readers who have tried it, that I wanted to shine the spotlight on it once again. Here are just a few of the many glowing reviews readers have shared after making these scones:
One reader, Andrea, commented: “Literally the best scone recipe! Grating the frozen butter is a game changer. Everyone comments on how wonderful these scones are… ★★★★★”
Another reader, Susan, commented: “I’m so glad I found this recipe! Absolutely delicious scones. Exactly what I was looking for, as I wasn’t satisfied with other scone recipes I’ve tried. This will be my forever scone recipe! I loved the tip about freezing and grating the butter. What a good idea! ★★★★★”
And one more reader, Claudia, commented: “Easy to make and came out perfectly! This was my first time making scones and these came out so good! Easy-to-follow directions and can be made ahead or frozen! ★★★★★”
If you can’t get enough of my lemon blueberry muffins, you’ll definitely love these scones, as well!
These Lemon Blueberry Scones Are:
- Soft & tender in the center, with crumbly edges
- Packed with juicy blueberries and fresh lemon zest
- Topped with coarse sugar and lemon icing for a sweet finish
All of my scone recipes begin with the same base recipe for scones. A few ingredients change based on flavor, but the process remains the same. This careful formula brings us chocolate chip scones, blueberry scones, pumpkin scones, apple cinnamon scones, and more. It promises the BEST flavor and texture.
Why the Ingredients Promise the Best Results:
- Flour: 2 cups of all-purpose flour is my standard amount, but have some extra on the side for the work surface and your hands.
- Sugar: Scones aren’t meant to be super sweet, so we’re using just enough granulated sugar to lightly sweeten and balance out the tart lemon flavor. You can top them with coarse sugar and icing if you want a sweeter scone, or leave them plain on top to keep these lightly sweet.
- Baking Powder: Adds lift.
- Salt & Vanilla Extract: Add flavor.
- Lemon Zest: You need a full Tablespoon of lemon zest, which is about 2 lemons. Zest the lemons for the scone dough, then juice them to make the lemon icing.
- Cold Butter: Besides flour, cold butter is the main ingredient in scones. It adds flavor, flakiness, crisp edges, and rise. More on butter below!
- Heavy Cream: For the best-tasting pastries, use a thick liquid such as heavy cream. Buttermilk works too! For a nondairy option, try using full-fat canned coconut milk. Avoid thinner liquids such as regular milk or almond milk—you’ll be headed down a one-way street to flat, dry scones.
- Egg: Binds ingredients together.
- Blueberries: For best results, use fresh blueberries. If using frozen, do not thaw.
In Photos: Making Lemon Blueberry Scones
You’ll start with the dry ingredients. Whisk those together with the lemon zest, then cut cold butter into the dry ingredient mixture. You can use a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your hands. A food processor works too, but it often overworks the scone dough. We want to avoid that.
Success Tip: Use Frozen Grated Butter
Frozen grated butter is key to scone success. As with pie crust, work cold butter into the dry ingredients to create tons of flour-coated butter crumbs. When these crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam, which creates all the scone flakiness we love. The exterior becomes crumbly, crunchy, and crisp.
Refrigerated butter might melt in the dough as you work with it, but frozen butter will hold out until the oven. And the finer the pieces of cold butter, the less the scones spread and the quicker the butter mixes into the dry ingredients. I recommend grating the frozen butter with a box grater. Use the side with the larger holes.
After cutting the frozen, grated butter in with a pastry cutter, you’ll have a bowl of tiny flour-coated crumbles:
Place the bowl of dry ingredients in the freezer while you get your wet ingredients together. We want to keep things as cold as possible when it comes to making scones.
Now, whisk the wet ingredients together, then pour into the dry ingredients. Add the blueberries, then gently mix together:
Form the dough into a disc, then cut into 8 wedges.
Before baking, brush the scones with heavy cream mixed with water, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. This is one of my little scone tricks. These extras add a bakery-style sparkly crunch and beautiful golden sheen. 🙂
I know I sound like a broken record, but to obtain the desired flaky center and a crumbly exterior, you really have to keep the scone dough as cold as possible. I highly recommend chilling the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes before baking. You can even refrigerate overnight and then bake in the morning, for a quick and easy breakfast treat!
After they’ve chilled, bake the scones until just turning golden brown on top.
Video Tutorial
If you’re interested, I have a 5-minute video demonstrating the scone recipe. I’m making regular blueberry scones in this video, but the process is the same.
2-Ingredient Lemon Glaze
Lemon juice and confectioners’ sugar produce a sweet & tangy lemon icing. The icing seeps into the tops of the scones making these sunshine-y treats almost more than you can handle. They’re so good!!! Vanilla icing or lemon curd would be equally fabulous topping choices, too.
How lovely would a plate of these flavorful scones look on your table of Easter Brunch recipes, or for a special afternoon tea?
More Lemon Recipes
- Lemon Blueberry Cake & Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes
- Lemony Blueberry Galette
- Lemon Bars
- Lemon Blueberry Babka
- Homemade Lemon Cupcakes
- Lemon Meringue Pie
- Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 large scones
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is my go-to scone recipe bursting with fresh blueberries and zingy lemon zest, and topped with a sweet lemon icing. These glazed lemon blueberry scones are soft and tender in the middle, with crisp-crumbly edges, and simply perfect for brunch, tea parties, bridal showers, or really any time at all! Read through the recipe before beginning; it’s imperative to keep the scone dough as cold as possible. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- 6 Tablespoons (75g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon zest
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon (135g/ml) heavy cream, cold and divided
- 1 large egg, cold
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup (140g) fresh blueberries
- 1 Tablespoon (15g/ml) water
- optional for topping: coarse sugar
Lemon Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 3 Tablespoons (45g/ml) fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, and salt. Using the large holes of a box grater, shred the frozen butter. Add the butter to the flour mixture and use a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers to blend until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. Place the bowl in the freezer before you continue.
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together 1/2 cup (120g/ml) of the heavy cream, the egg, and vanilla extract. Remove the flour mixture from the freezer. Drizzle the cream mixture over the flour mixture and add the blueberries. Gently mix together with a spatula or wooden spoon until everything appears moistened and the ingredients are just combined.
- Lightly flour a work surface. Pour the crumbly mixture onto the surface and, with floured hands, work the dough into a ball as best you can. The dough should be sticky and shaggy. If it’s too sticky, sprinkle a little more flour on top. Press the dough into an 8-inch disc, about 1 inch thick. Use a sharp knife or a bench scraper to cut the disc into 8 wedges.
- In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1 Tablespoon cream with the water, then brush it on the scones. For extra sweetness and a little crunch, sprinkle the tops with coarse sugar. (You can do this before or after refrigerating in the next step.) Place the scones on a plate or a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes or up to 24 hours. (If refrigerating for more than an hour, lightly cover the scones.)
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Arrange the chilled scones 2–3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 22–25 minutes or until lightly browned on top and golden around the edges. Cool the scones on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before icing.
- Make the lemon icing: In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle the icing over the scones.
- Store leftover scones covered tightly at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Box Grater | Pastry Cutter | Citrus Juicer | Citrus Zester | Bench Scraper | Brush | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper
- Sugar: These scones are sweet, but feel free to increase to 1/2 cup (100g) of granulated sugar for sweeter scones.
- Blueberries: For best results, use fresh blueberries. If you must use frozen, do not thaw.
- Freeze Before Baking: Freeze scone dough wedges on a plate or baking sheet for 1 hour. Once relatively frozen, they won’t stick together, and you can layer them in a freezer-friendly bag or container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding a few minutes to the bake time. Or thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then bake as directed.
- Freeze After Baking: Freeze the baked and cooled scones before topping with icing for up to 3 months. 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 step 5 the next 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made these for the first time on Mothers Day. Absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe exactly, using frozen wild blueberries. I didn’t drizzle all of the icing over the scones; probably used a little more than half of it. I shared the scones with a couple of my neighbours, and everyone was impressed. These scones are so light, not heavy and dense. Thank you for this recipe. You are the best! I think I will be making a few more batches…
This was my first time making scones and they turned out amazing! I’ve already made this recipe twice this weekend. My wife loved them and can’t stop eating them. I made a batch for us and made a second batch for my wife’s family. They all loved them!
I’ve tried quite a few scones recipes and this is by far my favorite! They only needed 20 minutes for me, but otherwise the recipe was spot on
OMG, delicious! Made a second batch for delivery to the neighbors on week 7 of this quarantine. Described by neighbors as the best, lightest scones they have Ever had! I have to agree. Used the grating blade on my food processor to grate a frozen stick of butter in about 2 seconds. Used tip from another reviewer to dust bowl of the food processor first with flour, which means the butter falls right out with no sticking. Fabulous recipe.
Perfect! My first time making a scone! Everyone loved it. Thank you!! One trick I will share, I learned if you freeze the stick of butter, you can use a veggie peeler to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Very easy!
For anyone struggling to find heavy cream in quarantine, I am happy to report that I made a fairly creative substitution with excellent results. (All credit goes to Sally, because without a good framework I’d have been doomed!) **Instead of 1/2c heavy cream, I used 1/4c Greek yogurt (2% if you wanna get technical), 2T water, and 2T melted butter.** (I would have used 1/4c yogurt and 1/4c milk but we don’t have milk either! Like I said, more creative than I usually get with my baked goods.) The scones came out moist, not too dense, and totally delicious. I also subbed lime for lemon (due to availability but it also gave a nice twist on your typical flavors), and I cut the icing down to a 1/3 batch size (that was plenty of sugar for us, but if you can handle the full batch without totally sugar crashing post-brunch, more power to ya). I used frozen blueberries which produced a beautiful marbled look when the scones were cut, but that Instagrammable vibe disappeared as they baked. Probably my fault as I completely skipped that 15-minute fridge sesh at the end, but what can I say? We were hungry! ;D Even though they spread a bit, we are tearing through some A+ scone-blob deliciousness over here. Thank you Sally!
That is good to know—thanks. We always have a full fat Greek yogurt on-hand “Greek Gods” which is very similar to pudding (it’s delicious) and I bet with a little added milk it would work great here. I ended up using Trader Joe’s Organic Coconut milk. I love many, many things from Trader Joe’s but this coconut milk is just awful.! It was clumpy, and no matter what I did (power wisk, fork) I could not get the coconut milk to be more blended. The end result did not seem to be affected (scones were yummy!)but I will use my regular canned coconut milk in the future OR I’ll try the yogurt route. Happy Quarantine!
Followed the recipe exactly (except no coarse sugar so I used regular), and they are REALLY good. It’s a big recipe so I wish I had frozen half before I baked, just to see what the difference is. But I did glaze, and that just makes them over the top delicious!
I LOVE your blueberry lemon scone recipe! My scones were light in texture with a crunchy bottom. I added about one tablespoon juice from the lemon to the liquid mixture along with the vanilla flavoring. Also, I glazed some of them. My husband said he could eat these scones all day. Thank you for this delicious recipe!!!
These are so good! And easy to make. Great flavor and texture.
Just made these, and they were soooo good! I don’t know if they will make it to breakfast tomorrow!
Made these Saturday and they are really great! Had no powdered sugar on hand, so didn’t do the glaze, but they were ok without. They did spread a bit, and I cooked them a bit too long – more brown than they should have been, but that’s probably because my oven temperature is a bit wonky.
I’ve made several of your recipes and they have all been great!! Thanks!
www.youcanalwayscomehome.com
I just made the lemon blueberry scones and they came out PERFECT. I mean, best scone in my life perfect. Delicious crispy, flaky exterior and that dense (in the best way) fluffy interior.
I was so worried too! I didn’t have heavy cream, so I melted 2 tbsp of butter into a little less than 1/2 cup of almond milk and it WORKED!
Could you use buttermilk instead of heavy cream?
Yes! A 1:1 substitution.
Made this last night/this morning. These were excellent. I used a microfine rotary grater and it worked very well with the frozen butter. Also added a couple of drops of lemon extract to the dough (advice from my mother on baking cakes and cookies years ago).
Made these yesterday and they are FABULOUS!!! This will be my go to recipe from now on. I’ve made several of your recipes and have never been disappointed.
Hmm… I also struggled with my blueberries breaking and making the batter more moist and entirely blue. Any tips? Super novice baker here!
Just use a light and gently hand when stirring together. Or you can dot each individual scone with the blueberries instead of mixing them straight in. Fresh is best–frozen usually leaks their color!
Just discovered your baking site, and tried this Lemon Blueberry scone recipe. I have to agree with you that scones you buy at the coffee shops are pretty much baked sawdust. Your scone recipe is remarkable, it’s like a completely different and wonderful baked item. I’ve passed this on to family and friends; thank you so much for sharing it on your website!
I have made a few other scone recipes and didn’t love any of them. I found this and made this morning and we LOVE it! I had some blueberries and strawberries that needed used and thought “scones!” These are not dry and have good flavor. Next time I will freeze the cut scones. They did spread but tasted amazing anyway!
I have made this awesome recipe 3-4 times in the last month. It is delicious. I use the zest from two lemons because I like the lemony flavor. This is a new favorite in our house. Thanks for the recipe.
Will freeze dried blueberries work?!?
Hi Carol, I haven’t tested this recipe with freeze dried blueberries. They would likely work but you might miss out on the juicy pops of flavor from using fresh or frozen berries.
I decided to get my stress baking on while being required to stay at home like the rest of the country. Wow! I didn’t know grating frozen butter would be so invigorating!
This recipe turned out amazing. This was my first time – ever – making scones from scratch. It was a great experience – the scones were so flavorful and the frozen blueberries definitely made a huge difference.
My wife had demanded I make these again. So this may turn into my weekend chore from now on. I’m not complaining.
Holy Smokes! I really wasn’t expecting these to turn out good because I’m a pretty incredible failure in the kitchen. I followed your directions to a T–extra attention paid to keeping everything COLD, and I didn’t have one problem. I’ve never made scones before and haven’t baked in years, but jeez, I’ll never buy a scone from the bakery again! Thanks for sharing your secrets and being so incredibly thorough. I’m ready to eat all of these right now. They are beautiful and by far the best. Thanks Sally!
Sooooo good! I was never a big fan of scones, but this recipe changed my mind.
Everything I have baked that has been a Sally’s recipe always turn out! I am so grateful for her abilities to help us create yummy goodies. This scone recipe is one of our favorites! We have decided to make a family tradition to make these scones every General Conference weekend.
First of all. I really, really don’t like scones. Dry, mealy things. I tried this recipe for my sweet hubby. Changer recipe! These are absolutely the best ever. Dave said he’d never, ever had any scones this delicious! He gets them whenever we are close to any bakery.
So moist, just wonderful. I came back and found the lavender/ lemon recipe. In the freezer now. What a wonderful job you did in the ingredients. I’m going to look for some savory ones now. Thank you, dear Sally!!!
These turned out amazing Sally! I really love making your recipes, they are easy and all turn out AMAZING!
I’ve made the scones so many times and they are always so well loved. This morning I was feeling like something savory, so I omitted the sugar and vanilla, and added in some spices, green onions, and cheddar cheese. Amazing! Love how you can doctor this recipe up based on what you’ve got lying around.
Can I make these with buttermilk instead of heavy cream or would that mess with the flavor of the lemon and blueberry??
Sure can! Same amount.
I am a lazy baker and I particularly don’t like rolling dough, so I made this recipe as dropped scones. I also substituted coconut milk instead of heavy cream and coconut instead of blueberries. After mixing the wet and dry ingredients together, the consistency of the dough was a bit too crumbly for dropped scones, so I added in some lemon juice and extra coconut milk. I set the timer to 22 minutes and with 4 minutes left I thought they had browned enough, so I dropped the temperature down to 350 degrees. The scones were delicious! Thanks for a great recipe and for the tips about grating the frozen butter and chilling the dough. It made the texture of the scones airy and flaky.
Moooaaannnn…. These scones are SO AMAZING! They are tender and moist! I didn’t even put on the lemon glaze and the flavor is still excellent. And they come together pretty quickly. The most work-intensive part is grating the butter, but I’m getting better at that. I may use the food processor just to grate the frozen butter (not to mix the dough–no overmixing!) next time. Because I’m going to make the buttermilk lavender scones on Monday or Tuesday when my lavender arrives! Swoooon! I also made a batch of chocolate chip using Sally’s recipe and threw in some dried cherries and they’re also really good. I made up the dough separately for each batch, and then cut and froze the scones. Each night, I pull a scone out of the freezer and have a delicious tea time before bed. Thanks, Sally!