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
These taste amazing. I made them twice today because the first time I only refrigerated for 15 minutes and they spread everywhere. So, we had blueberry scone cake for brunch (of which there is none left so I guess it was good!). I wouldn’t be defeated so I tried again this afternoon only I increased the refrigeration time to 45 minutes. I have a warm Florida kitchen. They look and taste fantastic now.
Made these for Mother’s Day brunch this morning and they stole the show! I made them with GF baking flour instead of all-purpose flour. They were sweet, moist and fluffy. I’ll be making these again and again.
I used your recipe for the first time I ever made scones. They were so easy and turned out so fabulous that I decided to make them for our big Christmas get together. I made them Christmas Eve so they would be an easy delicious breakfast in the morning and they were a big hit with everyone. Young and old alike. I made the blueberry and also made raspberry white chocolate chip. They were all gone by 8 am! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe
These scones tasted great but didn’t hold together well so kind of fell apart when I took them off the pan. Think I should have added a little more cream like some did because the batter wasn’t very wet and had hard time mixing in blueberries. Also – the combination of silicon mat and super sharp knife was a really bad idea. I cut all the way thru my silicon mat in a couple of places. Next time I’ll use parchment! There will be a next time though.
Made these for brunch this morning. My husband says “make these again! They’re the best!”
How do you think this would taste with cranberries instead of blueberries? I have made it with blueberries before and it was amazing!
Delicious! Here is my cranberry scones recipe. https://route-span.live/glazed-cranberry-orange-scones/%3C/p%3E
They turned out beautifully!! Thanks again!
I would love to make these GF with almond or coconut flour – do you think they would rise the same way?
Hi Andrea, I haven’t tested these with almond or coconut flours. Let me know if you do!
Hi Cheryl! That definitely works, but I find they don’t rise quite as tall since the baking powder is initially activated once wet. Still pretty great though!
Wonderful recipe, I added a little orange zest and made an orange glaze which made the blueberry flavor pop. Thanks for all of your recipes.
I love to bake blueberry scones, and I will definitely try your recipe. I hope you offered one to the delivery man. I offer UPS drivers a baked goody on the days they deliver packages, and they are always so grateful. Have a good day. 🙂
I made the blueberry scones yesterday.
I had to add extra liquid to get them to even come together. I added the frozen blueberries, it was crumbly even then. I had to bake them almost 50 mins. to get them to rise. They were good when finally completed.
They are good! Sweeter than I expected. I had a problem mixing them. They seemed dry and I had trouble with some flour left behind in the bowl but once I added blueberries it got moist and sticky. In fact, the blueberries burst in places. And the dough was too sticky to separate well. After 20 minutes I put the knife between them again and spread them out and then bakes 5 more minutes. Also, the frozen butter warmed up real fast in my warm hand as I grated it.
These blueberry scones are so delicious! I’ve never made scones before and felt a little intimidated by them. I came across this recipe and love Sally’s recipes so I gave it a try. I followed the recipe to the letter and now I’ve made them 3 times and everyone always raves about them. They always turn out perfect. The only thing I do different is the glaze, I made a lemon glaze as per my preference. Thanks Sally, you’ve done it again!
Made these scones a week ago and my hubby and I enjoyed one each while they were fresh then I froze the rest just to try thawing in the frig overnight and then heat the scones as you suggested. They were delicious!!
Recipe is super easy & really good direction. Sally I follow & love all your recipes. My only prob is I think I used too much butter. I did a half a cup whole of butter & was confused if it’s a 1/2 c before or after grating. When I pulled it out at 20 mins it was super oily & not done, I put them in for another 30 mons & it seems ok , dark (not burnt), on the bottom. Nice recovery. Just going to do the glaze & hope for the best either way they smell delist!
Fairly experienced baker here but first attempt at scones and these were amazing and the coworkers adored them! Used butter frozen over night (didn’t mean to freeze that long) and while I used the box grater, I think I’ll try the food processor next time.
They turned out perfectly and I didn’t make the glaze but just used the turbinado sugar on the tops.
Just made this recipe and it turned out great! Not too sugary, tender on the inside, crusty on the outside! I read many comments before making it and was worried the batter would be too liquidy… I slightly altered the recipe and they held their shape really well. I didn’t have cream so I used sour cream mixed with melted butter (to keep the fat content of cream). At first it seemed like the dough would be too dry but after mixing fully it had the perfect consistency!
Just made these this morning–they were great! Very moist and tender on the inside and a little crunchy on the outside–just about as good as the ones we enjoyed at our hotel at the beach, and people were lining up for those… One thing odd was the dough seemed way too dry after adding the liquid ingredients, so I added more cream until the dough was “a little wet” as described. Not sure what I did wrong there, but it still worked!
I substituted fresh cherries, changed the vanilla to almond, omitted the cinnamon. Incredible!
I just made this recipe for breakfast and the only change that I made was using light cream instead of heavy cream. These came out absolutely fantastic! They were moist, flavorful and rose up just the right amount in the oven. I honestly would use light cream every time as they weren’t heavy but still the right density. Thank you for the awesome recipe! I will definitely be checking out the other ones on your website!
Wow they turned out beautiful!! Thanks for a great recipe!!!