These better-than-the-bakery blueberry scones are bursting with juicy blueberries. They’re buttery and moist with crisp, crumbly edges and soft, flaky centers. Crunchy coarse sugar and creamy vanilla icing are the perfect finishing touches!
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos and a video tutorial.
Scones. You either love them or hate them. I used to fall in the latter category, passing on them in favor of muffins or quick breads. Scones can taste pretty dry, comparable to lackluster triangles of cardboard. No, thanks.
But my opinion on scones took a total 180 a few years ago when I attended a cooking event in the Panera Bread test kitchen. Turns out that I’ve been eating all the wrong scones because when done right, these sweet treats tiptoe into a world of pastry perfection.
Since then, I mastered chocolate chip scones, apple cinnamon scones, ham & cheese scones, cinnamon scones, lavender scones, and strawberry lemon scones. I use the same master scone recipe for each flavor, a formula promising the BEST scone texture. By the way, I wrote an entire post devoted to my favorite base scones recipe. Today we’re making blueberry scones, which is definitely my favorite scone flavor.
There’s no denying these are the best blueberry scones on the planet. Strong statement, right? Trust me.
One reader, Rich, commented: “Sally, I would like to say thank you! These pastries were awesome. I was expecting a dry and pale flavor that I usually get from scones. These blueberry scones absolutely melted in our mouths. I can’t say enough about the recipe. One word for these—AWESOME! I am going to try more of your recipes, and I’m sure I won’t be disappointed. ★★★★★“
These Blueberry Scones Have:
- Crisp, crumbly edges
- Soft, moist centers
- Crunchy golden brown exterior
- Buttery rich flavor
- An overflow of blueberries
- Mega vanilla icing drizzles
Let’s make them!
Blueberry Scone Ingredients
Nothing but basic ingredients coming together to produce something extraordinary. 🙂
- 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.
- Salt, Cinnamon, & Vanilla Extract: Add flavor.
- Cold Butter: Besides flour, cold butter is the main ingredient in blueberry 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 milk or almond milk—you’ll be headed down a one-way street to dry, bland, and flat scones.
- Egg: Adds flavor, lift, and structure.
- Blueberries: For best results, use fresh blueberries. If you must use frozen, do not thaw.
Before baking, brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. These extras add a bakery-style crunch and beautiful golden sheen. Highly recommended!
Frozen Grated Butter
Frozen grated butter is key to blueberry scone success.
Like with pie crust, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients. The cold butter coats the flour. When the butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam and pockets of air. These pockets add a flaky center, while keeping the edges 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. Remember, you don’t want to over-work scone dough.
I recommend grating the frozen butter with a box grater.
How to Make Blueberry Scones
Blueberry scones are a quick and easy breakfast pastry recipe. Since there’s no yeast, they go from the mixing bowl to the oven relatively quickly. First, mix the dry ingredients together. You need flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. 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. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the blueberries, then gently mix together. Form the dough into a disc on the counter, then cut into 8 wedges.
One of my tricks: To obtain a flaky center and a crumbly exterior, scone dough must remain cold. Cold dough won’t over-spread, either. Therefore, I highly recommend you chill 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.
The scones are fantastic warm out of the oven, but taste even better with a drizzle of vanilla icing on top. The icing is totally optional, but you should never pass up the chance to accessorize! It seeps down into the cracks and crevices, adding even more sweet flavor. A dusting of confectioners’ sugar or pat of homemade honey butter is tasty, too!
More Essential Breakfast Recipes
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My Favorite 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
These better-than-the-bakery blueberry scones are bursting with juicy blueberries. 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
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 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 (140g) fresh blueberries
- for topping: coarse sugar and vanilla icing
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, 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, 2 forks, or your fingers until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. See video 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 blueberries, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
- Pour onto the counter and, with floured hands, work the 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.
- 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 before topping with vanilla icing.
- Leftover iced or un-iced scones keep well at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 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. Or thaw in the refrigerator 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.
- 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 | Silicone Spatula | Bench Scraper | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush
- Blueberries: For best results, use fresh blueberries. If you must use frozen, do not thaw.
- 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 use a spatula to press back into shape, then return to the oven to finish baking.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Hi – My family and I love this recipe! Hoping for a tip when working with frozen blueberries because they make my dough purple….is there a way to incorporate the frozen berries, not over work the dough (causing the color change) and still have the dough stay together (Ive tried not mixing as much but the dough is too crumbly to form into the disc)….? As I mentioned, they still taste delicious – just looking for a little help in the color release department! LOL Thank you!
Hi Mel! I’m so happy you and your family love the recipe! Frozen blueberries can definitely cause the dough to turn purple since they bleed a bit when thawing or mixing. One trick I use is to gently press the frozen blueberries into the shaped scones right before baking instead of mixing them fully into the dough. This helps reduce color bleed and keeps the dough from getting too wet. Also, tossing the berries in a bit of flour before folding them in and mixing lightly can help. If the dough feels crumbly, a tablespoon or two of cold milk or cream can bring it together without overworking. Hope that helps!
Brought them to a friends party! She was having a lil coffee shop stop at her place so I made these, and I had people asking me for the recipe afterwards! They’re the only scones I’ve had that aren’t dry and dense.
My go to scone recipe! The blueberries burst in your mouth! I made 3 batches back to back and froze them. Baked them the morning of. They’re so good that I always eat 2 (and a half). 🙂
I love love this recipe so much! I make it exactly as is. One question, if I were to run out to white sugar could I just brown sugar in a pinch? Thanks!!
Hi Olga, we’re so glad you love these! You can certainly swap the granulated sugar with brown sugar here. The flavor will be a little bit deeper, thanks to the molasses in the brown sugar.
I’ve probably reviewed these scones before, but what the heck, here goes: these are fabulous! My grands love when I make these for a sleepover breakfast. Blueberry is typically the favorite, but they’ll happily scarf down raspberry, blackberry, peach, etc. Excellent recipe, and savory flavors are also terrific.
I have been making scones for years. I tried this recipe today and it is now my favorite. Thy are delicious.
This is absolutely the best scone recipe I’ve ever used. I have company visiting and I made these for them; everyone raved about how delicious and moist these are. I followed your recipe exactly except I did not put the glaze over the top, the coarse sugar sprinkle is more than enough sweetness.
I made these exactly as written. They turned out heavenly! They practically melt in your mouth and are perfectly moist. Will definitely use this recipe in the future!
I’m addicted to your scones.
I think I messed up and put in too much cinnamon because that is all I taste. I’m not a big cinnamon fan but always try the recipe exactly the way it’s written the first time. I bought store brand blueberries so maybe that’s a contributing factor that they just don’t have as strong of a blueberry taste. Trying the blueberry with lemon today.
1tsp cinnamon is a lot of cinnamon flavour in a simple recipe as this (no brown sugar or other spices interacting with the cinnamon). I agree 1/2tsp is the subtlety you’re looking for!
I made these years ago and revisited the recipe since I have 5lbs of blueberries in the fridge:) This will be my third time making them in the past 3 days. We have used up our heavy cream, so is it possible to sub evaporated milk for the heavy cream as well for the vanilla icing? I saw previously, buttermilk works also.
Hi Raquel! You really need heavy cream or buttermilk for our scones recipes. So glad you’re loving them!
This recipe is AMAZING!
I am a terrible baker and very impatient. Didn’t have unsalted butter or heavy cream but did have an elusive window of time to bake so I tried this anyway with salted butter and buttermilk, then skipped the added salt. Didn’t have time to chill or use frozen butter so they spread a little and I over baked them. Also no time for the glaze and forgot the sugar and cream on top! Was expecting them to be hard, but they were incredible. So soft and pillowy on the inside, absolutely delicious. Even with my bad edits this recipe held up, will become a staple in my house – thank you!
This recipe did not turn out for me at all. I used weights to measure, and the dough was so wet I had to add probably another 100 g of flour just so that it would come together. I double checked all my measurements and they were accurate. I think perhaps it was using frozen blueberries that was the problem so I would only use fresh in the future.
Hi Sally!
Absolutely love the recipe when I have used it before. I would like to bake these, but smaller in size (so maybe 12 or 16 small scones instead of 8 large). Have you had any experience on how much this changes the baking time?
I am doing a test-bake, but would love any insight you might have.
Hi Martina, you can follow the baking time and directions from these mini rainbow scones as a guide. Hope this helps!
I’ve used this recipe before and it comes out perfect every time! If I substitute frozen blueberries for another frozen fruit (cherries), should they still be kept frozen or should I thaw and drain water?
Hi Bri, we’re so glad you enjoyed the scones! If using another frozen fruit, you’ll still want to keep the fruit frozen without thawing first.
These scones turned out to be blueberry biscuits- all because I forgot the sugar!! They still tasted delish! They were soft and fluffy as I ate them
with peach butter! Yum! Next time I won’t forget the sugar!
Hi there! Love your recipes! Can I substitute Splenda for the sugar to make these sugar free?
Thank you!
Hi Rena, We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. 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 recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar alternatives. Thank you!
These truly are the best scones I’ve ever had. I baked them for 25 minutes. They had a perfect crunch and they were moist and light. Quick and easy to prepare, although the dough is a little challenging to work with. A bench scraper was a huge help. Can’t wait to branch out to other varieties.
These scones are delicious and very easy to bake, even my 5 year old granddaughter was able to help. Next time, I will cut them in half again, otherwise, these are a very generous portion!
Oops! Part of my question got deleted! I’ll try again!
Hello Sally. These blueberry scones are so delicious, especially after cooling a bit out of the oven! I love the crispier outside and the lighter inside, just as you described! After cooling on a rack, I stored them in 2 sealed containers, one on the countertop, and one in the fridge, to last a few days longer.
The taste was still delicious, however the texture was not the same! They lost their crispy crumbliness. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to store them for a few days and maintain the textures? I want to continue to make these on repeat!!
Thank you!
And Happy Easter to all!
Hi Cathee, that can be normal, but if you leave your bag/container open just a crack, that will help promote air flow and prevent too much moisture from softening the scones. You can also pop them in the toaster for a minute to reheat and crisp them up a bit!
Hello Sally. These blueberry scones are so delicious, especially after cooling a bit out of the oven! I love the crispier outside and the lighter inside, just as you described! However, after cooling on a rack, I stored them in 2 sealed containers, one on the countertop, and one in the fridge, to last a few days longer. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to store them for a few days and maintain the textures? Thank you! And Happy Easter to all!
Hi Cathee, that can be normal, but if you leave your bag/container open just a crack, that will help promote air flow and prevent too much moisture from softening the scones. You can also pop them in the toaster for a minute to reheat and crisp them up a bit. Glad they were a hit!
Hi there, I have made this recipe so many times and they are amazing!! I am wondering if date or maple sugar will work with this recipe? We are taking refined sugars out of our diets so I am wondering if anyone has tried the other sugars?
Hi Darcy! We’d love to help but we are not trained in baking with sugar substitutes. 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 recipe that is specifically formulated for sugar alternatives. Thank you!
These are AMAZING! I made the lemon curd recipe (also amazing) because I had a dozen egg yolks from the angel food cake recipe (delish!) and so I was searching for something to eat with the lemon curd. I only had a little bit of all purpose flour left so I ended up doing half all purpose and half whole wheat flour. I didn’t expect them to turn out as good as they did because of this but holy moly they have been gobbled up so quickly. I am definitely going to be making these again…and soon!
These look awesome! I can’t wait to make these!
I tried your blueberry scones recipe, but they came out dry. How can I make them more moist?
They had a great taste, though!
Hi Don, be careful not to over-bake or over-measure the flour. Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
I have made your blueberry scones a hundred times. It is one of the best things I have baked. So glad I discovered your page!
I will NEVER use this recipe again. I followed every instruction and kept butter in the freezer (grated), flour and everything in the fridge until immediately before using them and the thing turned into a purple gooey blob. Wasted 2 hours of my precious Sunday evening, how frustrating. I have never failed so badly with a new recipe before.
This is exactly what happened for me. Bleh, blob, cranky.
Did you perhaps use frozen blueberries that had thawed?
Mine too. Tasteless. Followed directions exactly, spooning in the flour, grating frozen butter, fresh blueberries, etc.
I give this recipe a 10 I’ve made it at least ten times maybe more I always use fresh blueberries and make sure they are not sour! I love to sub buttermilk for cream it’s a more cake like texture instead of cinnamon I like to use lemon zest in my dough!
Is it possible to use sour cream instead of heavy cream
Thankyou
Hi Sandra, you really need heavy cream here, or buttermilk can work as well. Sour cream is too thick.
Do you have nutritional information on these? Like calories.
Hi Deanna, we don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
They are amazing so delicious !