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
Who knew that these would be so easy to make? I would’ve never made scones before thinking it would be nearly impossible. I made chocolate chip scones with a mix of dark, white and milk chocolate chips.
Delicious, versatile recipe that made it easy to use ingredients I already had on hand rather than making another trip to the grocery store. My cinnamon/molasses/crystallized ginger scones turned out great! Thanks, Sally!
I made the Caramel Apple Cinnamon Scones. I’d really been putting off this month’s challenge – I didn’t know what to expect and grating the butter seemed like such a weird thing to do. If it weren’t for the challenge I probably would never have made them but I’m glad I did because these things are awesome!! I’ve only had British scones before this and I expected these to be a bit more cake-like. But the edges are so crispy, and the inside is so soft and buttery, they’re truly like nothing I’ve ever had before – in the best way possible! I see many more American scones in my future.
Thank you Sally, for once again pushing me to try something new!
This recipe is great! I make blueberry white chocolate chip scones and it is a hit with the family!
I made lemon blueberry scones and they were delicious!
This was the first time I tried a recipe that was part of the baking challenge (but definitely not my first time trying an SBA recipe!) I used blueberries and the only thing I realized was that they were frozen first, so they were a little soggy when I put them in (oops on my part…I just needed to dry them off/blot the excess moisture first). But even with that, these scones STILL turned out amazing! Also is it just me, or is there something oddly soothing about grating frozen butter? Lol. Thanks Sally 🙂
This recipe was super easy to follow and baked up beautifully! Will definitely make again
Love the ease of being able to customize this recipe. I went savory, with bacon, cheddar and chive. So delicious. Great recipe to have in your back pocket.
I’ve never made scones that weren’t English scones before so I was a bit nervous about something going wrong but this recipe is fool proof! I made Lemon and White Chocolate scones and they came out wonderful!
The first time i made this it was a hot mess. I didnt have enough heavy whipping cream and had to add after i put the blueberries in. They came out delicious even though they looked bad. I tried my hand at them again and i did it right this time. I added my liquid before i added my blueberries. I let them sit in the fridge and baked them this morning. They came out so drool worthy. Im going to have to try different flavors with these. They are definitely way better then the hard, dry scones I’ve always eaten. These are so good you have to stop yourself from eating them all.
I’m a huge fan of this recipe! I made them for a birthday/Mother’s Day tea for my mom and they were a huge hit with my mom, me, and my sisters! I split the dough and made a lemon blueberry and orange craisin scones. I will definitely be using the recipe again!
CAn I give this 10 stars? Theses are the best scones! I added a little maple extract and toasted pecans. Heavenly!
Soooo good. I made a chocolate cranberry scones. I had to use dried cranberries because that’s all I had on had. They were perfection. I only baked up a few and the rest are going in the oven. I also made a savory herb scone, but those came out with just a touch of sweetness, so next time I’ll adjust that. Both had amazing texture.
I have made Sally’s recipe of Raspberry Almond Buttermilk scones several times! This recipe is so tasty and I am sure if you try it your family will love them too!
My favorite challenge this year! So delicious!
This scone recipe is amazing! I love how you can customize the dough, and how easily it comes together. I made savory scones with chopped ham, rosemary, parmesan, topped with cracked pepper and sea salt. Then dried cherry, sliced almonds, and chocolate chip with cinnamon and ginger, topped with chocolate drizzle. Both were delicious!
We made blueberry for the baking challenge. They spread quite a bit, but were really delicious, and the texture was spot on. Will try again for sure with different add-ins.
I made these scones and added orange zest and chocolate chips and they turned out great! Not overly dry like other recipes I’ve tried.
I have to bring a breakfast item for my staff meeting this week so imagine how delighted I was to find this in my mailbox! I have some leftover lemon curd (your recipe – it’s the BEST I’ve ever made, thank you!) from my son’s graduation cake so I made the Lemon Blueberry scones. To die for! (I hope that there are enough left for tomorrow’s meeting!) I am of Scottish descent and make scones pretty often but your recipe is foolproof and delicious! Thanks again Sally!
I made this for the May baking challenge and chose to make your Raspberry Almond Buttermilk Scones and am so glad I did!! The only problem I had was that the scones didn’t hold their shape well even before I baked them and that was my fault. I should have added another Tbsp. or so of flour. All in all, the raspberry flavor and icing was amazing!! Thank you for the challenge Sally!!
I made chocolate chip and cranberry orange scones for this months challenge. The directions were very easy to follow and the scones came out great! I cut my 8” circle into 12 pieces because I needed more pieces for my gathering, the baking time was about 18 minutes or so.
I tried this one more time, and it finally worked. I have had a lot of trouble trying to “form” them and having them keep their shape. Today I succeeded. Only change I made was using an old trick, I used to use, when I was making a lot of pie crust. Instead of drizzling the buttermilk, I added about a tablespoon at a time to the dry. Tossing it, then adding another spoonful and so forth. Much easier to control, what was getting mixed and what wasn’t. At least in my case.
Everything, dry, butter and utensils were in the freezer for at least 2 hours. I grated the butter then put it back in the freezer for about an hour.
I’ve made savory (ham and cheese), fruit (cranberry/orange and blueberry) and today, chip – mini chocolate chip, PNB chip and mini white chocolate chip.
This was one of the best scone recipes I have made. They came out tender and not dry at all. I baked berry ones, but I now want to try a savory type. I think they would be a nice change from the usual breads, to have with soups or a brunch addition. Thanks, Sally, for another great recipe!
I loved how easy it was to customize the scone dough! I love to concoct all kinds of crazy flavors, so this was right up my alley. This was my first baking challenge – I look forward to many more to come, and baking many more of your recipes in between challenges!
Just made the sprinkle and the blueberry lemon scones tonight to take to work for a coworker’s birthday tomorrow. Turned out great. Now we just need to not eat them so that they actually make it into work tomorrow! 🙂
I made lemon poppy seed scones today using your recipe and they turned out amazing!
This recipe made delicious scones! I added lemon zest to the sugar, substituted lemon extract for 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, and topped them with a lemon glaze.
this recipe converted me to scone-ism. thanks sally!
This was a great recipe! I used blueberries with lemon zest and sprinkled some raw sugar on the top for a nice crunch. The scones are light and fluffy.
I love making scones for breakfast. It’s an easy thing for my kids to grab and take with to school. Our favorite is the pumpkin scones but we also love the caramel apple scones we just tried today. Delicious!
The last few months I’ve played with plenty of scone recipes trying to find *the ONE* and here it is!!! My kids described they as “a sugar cookie and a pancake together”. Accurate. They are SO good. I’m tossing out all the other recipes.
Thank you Sally!!
Wow amazing just amazing!!! Love them so much. Made chocolate chip the first time. Can’t wait to try more flavors!