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. 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 🙂
One reader, Wendy, commented: “Oh my gosh, I was so intimidated at the thought of making scones. I thought it was so much more complicated. I’ve made these scones twice already—once blueberry and once ham and cheese. SO GOOD! Thank you for an uncomplicated, fool-proof recipe! ★★★★★“
One reader, Yelena, commented: “Absolutely delicious! Easy to make, simple ingredients, and just perfect. ★★★★★“
One reader, Venessa, commented: “It’s my go-to scone recipe. They turn out moist for a scone and so very yummy. Easy to make, which I always appreciate. Thank you! ★★★★★“
One reader, Donna, commented: “This was my first attempt at making scones. The result was amazing! These scones are super easy and delicious! The perfect consistency and nice and moist. I received so many compliments! ★★★★★“
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. 🙂
Print
How 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 (8 Tbsp; 113g) 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 | Silicone 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Not sure what went wrong, but I had to add an additional 2 cups of flour to get the dough even close to being able to work with. It was wet and sticky. I followed the recipe exactly so I’m not sure what went wrong.
Hi Elizabeth, I’m sorry you had trouble with this recipe! Often climate/humidity is to blame for needing to add extra flour, though an additional 2 cups sounds like a lot! Did you watch the video in the post to see what the dough should look like when it comes together?
I really lobe this recipe. My question is, I have leftover strawberry and blueberry reductions from a birthday cake. Is there a way to add this to the scone recipe? Not as a glaze, but in the actual scones? How would I do that?
Hi Nicole, we haven’t tested the scones that way, but I’d be concerned that it would add too much liquid and change the amount of dry ingredients you need.
Hello Sally!
I have what might seem like a silly question.
I’ve used this recipe twice, and they’re lovely scones. However, I find they’re a bit overly soft/flaky, I prefer a “hearty” scone,
(if that’s the correct term) one that’s not too soft more or less. I always brush with heavy cream, bake till golden brown and chill the scone dough in the fridge overnight and use frozen butter, and bake in hot preheated oven.
So can I somehow reduce the overly softness of these scones without losing moisture? Thank you!!
Hi Jamie, It could be that your batch was just slightly under baked, leading to a softer scone. For next time, you can try baking them a minute or two longer.
It may be that you are used to overworked scones. If you knead them a bit more, they will have a heavier or denser body to them.
But great scones in the UK tend to be light and fluffy.
I know exactly what you mean. I like a crisper, more crumbly scone texture. I’m going to try using a 1/4 cup heavy cream and over-working the dough next time I try this recipe. Hopefully that will stiffen the scones up a bit.
This has been my go to recipe for scones for over year now. Everyone loves them every time. They’ve become a family favorite
Can I refrigerate the shaped dough overnight instead of just the 30 minutes? I am cooking for 3 meals a day for 24 college students on a month long missions trip next summer. Since I have to have breakfast served to everyone fairly early, prepping the night before will be key for my sanity…and sleep.
Hi Amy, absolutely. You can chill the shaped scones overnight and bake them in the morning.
Made these with coconut cream and frozen blueberries. Froze the dough in wedges as the chef suggested and pulled them out to bake for my overnight guests. They were very light and fluffy but I was baking at almost 8000 ft altitude.
Made 2 batches today. Both times, I had to add cream because I still had dry flour. The first grater I used for the butter was too fine – the butter was melting in my hand as I grated. Second grater was better, but likely still too fine. Next time, I think I’d budget time to give it more of a chill before baking. Both batches spread. They tasted good, but they weren’t sharp triangles. Sent them to a bake sale anyway. Ran out of time to do something else. I had made a batch of blueberry a few weeks ago and had a better result.
My wife used your recipe yesterday to make fresh peach scones. Amazingly delicious outcome. Blueberry for today. Thanks so much for posting.
This recipe is my go to for perfect, delicious scones. The droolworthy glaze finishes it off perfectly. Never had anyone turn them down or not come for seconds!
Amazing! They were so delicious and easy to make. I will be using this recipe again for sure.
I love your recipes so much! I use this recipie as a base for my scones as a Cottage Baker and people come back every week for them! I had honestly never liked scones and had no desire to make them, but a friend requested some for her birthday. This is next level and not like any scone I had ever tried in the past! One of my customers commented that he couldn’t understand how I could make a scone dry and yet moist at the same time!
Hello.. I would like to know if I can break up Graham crackers in the scone recipe or should I crush them .. I’m trying to make a s’mores scone and I always make your recipe. Thank You for any advice.
Hi Marianette, we haven’t tested a s’mores scone, so I’m sorry we can’t be of help!
As a new bakernat first I was intimidated to make scones. However, this recipe made me feel like a pro!
Great scones! Delicious, and easy recipe.
Thank you for helping me open the door to the world of baking!
This scone recipe was delicious and easy to make. I was wondering what the nutritional value was per scone. I cut the scones in eighths.
Hi Elaine, 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
I made scones for the very first time ever. I used your recipe they were good but a little dry. I did see the post about internal temperature of 200 , iI will try that. My question is I want to make cinnamon and raisin scones. How much cinnamon would I use and would I still use a cup to a cup and a half of raisins ?
Hi Linda, we would add 1 tsp cinnamon and 1 – 1 1/2 cups raisins. Enjoy!
These are not scones. They are, at best, shortcake. I’ve been a baker for over 40 years and have traveled all over the UK and these, while tasty, are not even close to a real scone.
The Scottish scones that I usually bake, are plain and they are cut out into circles. I’ve only seen sultanas or raisins added in. We serve them with butter and homemade jam. They’re quite different from this recipe . I will be giving yours a go next weekend!
Has anyone used this recipe and baked them in a cast iron wedge pan to get that scone shape? Did it work? Any suggested adjustment to temperature or time? Appreciate any thoughts or suggestions!
Made them first time today it was perfect!! Thanks for the recipe.
I really thought I had messed up bad. Got all the way to cutting them up and realized I forgot the currents!! finished them up with sugar on top. Absolutely delicious!! Strawberry jam…yum!!
We haven’t tested it but let us know if you do!
This dough was insanely sticky even after adding extra flour. Really messy and with the extra flour the scones were blah. Followed recipe exactly. Won’t make these again.
Hi Cindy! Any chance you used frozen blueberries? If so, do not thaw before using them. This is a very sticky dough! If you decide to try these again and your dough is too sticky to work with, try coating your hands with flour and do the best you can to shape them. Since we are chilling the dough before we bake them you can try forming your circle the best you can, refrigerate it and then re-shaping if needed before cutting. The colder the dough the less sticky / wet it should be. Hope this is helpful!
Made these with mini chocolate chips as quick treat for overnight guests, easy and impressive. Very good master recipe to have on hand. I’ll definitely be making different permutations for future guests. Can’t wait to try other recipes on this site. Thank you for sharing!
Hi there! Thank you for this page! I love scones and am excited to try some of these recipes. I wanted to make just plain vanilla scones for a tea party to make sure there’s something bland enough to make everyone happy. Since the recipe lists 1–1.5 cups of add-ins, I was unsure if I could do no add-ins to make it a recipe for vanilla scones? I felt like 1.5 cups was a significant amount of volume to just forgo, so I wasn’t sure what you recommended. Thank you!
Hi Caroline! These scones are delicious plain – it may be nice to serve with fruit jam or lemon curd on the side. Hope they’re a hit!
I made these scones and the center are a grayish, brown crispy outsides. They don’t look cooked in the middle… help! I cooked at 400 for 25min
Hi Denise, do you have a food thermometer? Scones (like most quick breads and muffins) should have an internal temperature of just about 200°F (93°C) when done.
What’s the recipe texture of these scones? Are the Camry or hearty craggy scones?
Hi Karen, these scones are flaky and moist with crisp crumbly edges.
Hi
I am the only one that eats these, can if freeze them individually uncooked and then take them out one at a time to bake?
Would I defrost them before cooking
Yes, absolutely! See the blog post above for freezing instructions.
Hi, im baking the recipe from Mexico, i hope it taste as good as yours. I would like to bake so many more recipes from you site. Wish you all the bests
I love this recipe! I make these often, but always with heavy cream rather than buttermilk. I only have buttermilk today – does it affect the flavour at all if I use it rather than cream?
Hi Kathleen, you can make these with either heavy cream or buttermilk. It shouldn’t affect the flavor. Enjoy!
I love your scone recipes! I noticed that some of the recipes have brown sugar instead of granulated sugar and I was wondering how you know when to use which type of sugar? Thank you!
Hi Heather, we’re so glad to hear you’ve been enjoying our scone recipes! It depends on the recipe and the final taste we’re trying to achieve — brown sugar is a bit moister and has a deeper flavor thanks to the molasses it contains. They can often be interchanged if needed, but you can expect slightly different outcomes depending on which sugar you use. Hope this is helpful!
Your recipes are always my first go-to. I love making scones for sharing with friends. My question is I would like to make smaller scones for variety on my sharing trays, my only problem I can’t seem to nail the sweet-spot for time for baking, I’m either over or under and I do use an oven thermometer, is there an internal temp I could look for?
Hi Dianne, scones (like most quick breads and muffins) should have an internal temperature of just about 200°F (93°C) when done.
I would like to make the orange Cranberry scones except without the cranberries and ice the orange icing. Have you ever tried this and were they flavorful enough to be just orange scones?
Hi Vicki, we haven’t tested just an orange scone, but it sounds delicious. If you’d like, try increasing the orange zest a little bit. Start small, then feel free to adjust more/less for future batches to match your taste preferences. Let us know how it goes!