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
Is the butter that you use salted or unsalted? Looking forward to trying this recipe! Loving the tips on how to fix what has gone wrong every other time I’ve tried to make scones!
Hi Victoria, we use unsalted butter here. Hope these scones are a success!
The recipe is good, but the timing seems way off. I made the large scones (one disc cut into 8), and they were a very deep brown on the bottom after just 18 minutes. If I had gone with 25 minutes as suggested they would definitely be burnt!
Hi Laura, I’m sorry to hear that! Is it possible your oven might be running a little hotter than it says it is? An oven thermometer is a helpful tool to have to check. Also, what sort of pan did you bake the scones on? We find that using a light (silver) baking sheet makes for lighter bottoms of scones and cookies, and a darker metal baking sheet makes for darker bottoms.
Thank you for sharing your recipe. I made this based on your measurements but i believe there is something wrong with flour measurement in your recipe. You put 2 cups(250gr) but 2 cups are not 250gr!
Hi Shabi, 2 cups of spooned and leveled flour is 250g. (125g per cup) Let me know if you try the scones.
I made these for New year’s Day Brunch and they came out perfect! It was my first time making scones and this recipe was well written, thorough and easy to follow. Sally’s Baking Addiction is my go to website for almost all my baking recipes and tips.
I make the chocolate chip scones at least once per month. I absolutely love them!! I set my oven to 375, instead of 400 degrees, and they come out perfect every time. I made the chocolate chip and the cranberry orange scones for a New Year’s brunch, and the cranberry scones were a big mess! The dough was just all crumbs. I added the 2 TBL of heavy cream and it helped a little, but it was impossible to get the dough to stay together in a disc shape for cutting. I’m wondering if the flour should be reduced? They were just so difficult to manage and I’d really love to try them again. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Kathleen! Our cranberry orange scones and this master scones recipe are the same, other than swapping buttermilk and heavy cream (either are fine!). If you’ve always had success with the recipe in the past, is it possible a measuring error was made? It happens to all of us occasionally! Otherwise, dry scones are caused by too much flour in the dough. Make sure to spoon and level when measuring (or use a kitchen scale).
For years I thought scones were dreadful dry things. I would occasionally try them from a new source because as a great reader of 19th century English language literature the characters were so often on about scones as a treat. I do not view people of a former age stupider and although ovens not being as refined meant baked goods were judged differently, I could not imagine it was THAT different. Then I had a properly done scone. That explained everything. Your recipe lives up to that expectation. I am sure Jane Austin would approve
Hello! Would frozen blueberries work?
Thanks and happy new year!
You bet! If frozen, do not thaw.
I have nothing to compare this recipe to as it was my first time making scones but they were delicious!! I forgot to put them in the fridge before baking but they still held their shape! I added blueberries to this batch and topped with vanilla icing. The whole family loved them! This will definitely be a favourite snack that I pack in the kids’ lunchbags! Thank you!!
This was easy and everyone loved them on Christmas morning. I did have to add the extra 2tbsps cream to the dough. But rarely is a baking recipe so delicious the first time.
I made the cranberry scones for Christmas morning. Everyone loved them! I used dried cranberries (because we had a very large bag of them!). For the icing, I added some orange zest and 1/4 tsp vanilla to give the icing a little more flavor. Absolutely amazing scones, and the video was very helpful!
What Temp setting is “relatively hot’ ? Kind of important, don’t ya think.
Hi LEL, you can find the written recipe in the gray recipe card above. See step 6: Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
I have used this recipe as a base for sweet scones and love it! Would you make changes to a savory scone? I was thinking of doing a caramelized onion/thyme/parm one but the sugar content I think would throw it out of whack. Could I just reduce the sugar but keep the rest the same?
Hi Nicole! We would work from our savory scones recipe – enjoy!
I love a lot of your recipes, but this one is too sweet. Next time I will try making these with half the sugar.
I’m wanting to make a ginger bread style scone or maybe a chocolate chip cherry. How would you suggest I adjust the recipe?
Hi Madison, We’ve never tested a gingerbread scone before. You could try adding spices and molasses, and reducing the liquid and sugar, but it would definitely take some testing to get right. Let us know if you give it a try or find a recipe you love! Here’s our favorite gingerbread muffins recipe if you’re interested.
I use the pumpkin scone recipe all the time! I want a classic scone recipe. Will this work as a basic scone recipe without add ins?
Yes, absolutely.
First, Sally’s is my main “go-to” site for all things baking!! I want to make gingerbread scones. I think I can figure out the spices, but not sure if I need to adjust the amount of liquid to accommodate the additional molasses. Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi Laura! We’ve never tested a gingerbread scone before. You could try adding spices and molasses, and reducing the liquid and sugar, but it would definitely take some testing to get right. Let us know if you give it a try or find a recipe you love! Here’s our favorite gingerbread muffins recipe if you’re interested.
This is the most delicious recipe! I love the texture of using semolina flour. I substituted 1 c of semolina for 1 c of the all purpose flour. I also add orange zest into the icing when making cranberry orange scones. My friend’s partner who dislikes scones said he loves these! So happy!! Thank you!
Great idea to sub. semolina flour for this recipe! Added protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals can’t hurt, either.
My family devoured these scones Thanksgiving morning! I will definitely be using this recipe again! Loved it!
have been using a different recipe which was very dry. Had not been expecting quite such a sticky dough but much easier to work with than the dry version (I weigh everything so the sticky was not down to too little flour). Loved the fact you could put in fridge overnight- made the cinammon apple recipe and served for breakfast. Delicious. I have your books and recipes usually work for me.
Fail!!!! It was not the recipe it was me. The mix didn’t seem to be coming together so I added more cream then put the mix it the before cutting them up and putting them on a baking sheet. When I pulled the mix out the blueberries had thawed and it was a ball of mush after I tried to form the dough. I threw it out but will try again. LOL
We hope you’ll give the recipe another try!
I’ve seen special pans for baking scones. Could these be made in one, and if so, is there one you would recommend? Thanks!
Hi Tia, I’m afraid we don’t have any experience with using a scone baking pan, so don’t have one to recommend. If you try one, let us know how it goes!
I’ve made this recipe using dried cranberries & fresh orange zest in a ceramic scone baking dish that I bought at World Market years ago and they bake perfectly after adding a few extra minutes of cook time in the oven.
This recipe still turned out fantastic, I used the food processor and didn’t grate the butter.
I love this recipe and so does everyone who Ive made them for. So far Ive made blueberry lemon, raspberry, and plum with date syrup. Today Im making two batches of pear almond vanilla, and a batch each of orange and purple sweet potato with warm spices and maple brown / sugar scones! Im excited to see how these turn out! I love sharing these thank you so much for this classic scone recipe!
This recipe has my heart, so so good and I love how customizable it is! Just curious is I can double or triple the recipe if making for a large crowd?
Hi Naya, glad you enjoy the scones! You can double this recipe to make 16 scones. Be extra careful not to handle the dough too much!
I make this recipe almost every weekend! My family loves it. We have some who are auto immune and on the protocol and some who are gluten-free, so I use a blended Paleo flour. It works great! I also use coconut sugar or maple sugar. I’m making it right now again.
Thank you for sharing your experience with a blended Paleo flour, coconut sugar, and maple sugar in this recipe! Good knowledge for future batches.
These were perfect! I made raisin ones and they were So good!
Best scone recipe and instructions ever. I use the basic recipe all the time with different additions. Always flaky and delicious. The grating of the butter and freezing before baking really makes a big difference. Better than any coffee shop.
Hi, I’ve tried this recipe everything was right except I feel the 2.5 tsp of baking powder is too much for 250 of flour. The scones tasted lightly bitter. Later, I baked with 1.5 tsp baking powder, it came out nice. Thank you!
Recipes look amazing
So easy. I didn’t have any heavy cream so i used milk and they turned out great. Accidentally doubled the butter and had to double the recipe! They turned out amazing and were great. they do stick to the paper, so lay some flour down on the paper. Not too sweet or bland. Incredible website and recipe