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
They were delicious and easy to make. I made white chocolate chips and cranberries.
Perfect scone recipe! My children and I have been following your recipes for awhile. Thanks so much!
I made these and they were AWESOME.
Great recipe and easy to follow. I used 1:1 gluten free flour b/c that’s what we had on hand and worked fine. Super straight forward and as good as any bakery bought scone we’ve had. THANK YOU:)
These were excellent! Easy to make, tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside. I used buttermilk because that was what I had on hand. I brushed the tops with more buttermilk and sprinkled turbinado sugar on it before baking. I had a half of a lemon in the fridge, so I added the zest to the dough, then squeezed the juice and mixed with a little milk and 1/2 cup or so of confectioners sugar to drizzle on top. 5 star recipe!!
Hi, Sally. Thanks for sharing this recipe, which we followed to make the basic scones with frosting for Easter brunch. They were great. Everyone enjoyed them and there were no leftovers. We really liked the fact that they were moist — not dry and crumbly. We look forward to trying out variations with fruit, nuts, and chocolate chips in the future.
My first time trying scones and it was a success! The cinnamon was the perfect add to blueberry scones and it left just the right taste. This will be my go-to 🙂
These were absolutely perfect!!! I didn’t have sugar so I used agave and it was still very tasty. Very easy to make.
Made the lemon/blueberry scones and they were the best I’ve ever made. Had just used up my half and half (and these days of social distancing, running to the grocery store just isn’t what it used to be) so used whole milk instead. They turned out great; perhaps a little less volume. I think grating the frozen butter is key.
Many thanks for providing this recipe! I had some old frozen blueberry in the freezer that had lots of ice in the bag. I took the ice out and added the semi-dried/lyophilized blueberry to the master recipe. It turned out to be the best scones I have ever made.
I made this recipe with frozen berries and vanilla icing. The texture was perfect and so delicious.
These were absolutely delicious! I used fresh blueberries, froze the butter, brushed with cream and topped with raw sugar. I’ve tried items recipes and they weren’t worthy of eating!! Thank you so much for sharing! The only issue I had was they didn’t make enough my clan!!
These are delicious! How would you recommend incorporating a spread like nutella im here?
Hi Aly! I haven’t tested this dough with a spread inside it, but let me know if you do! A little more flour would be helpful for a gooey spread like Nutella.
Everybody loved them…even my mother….will definitely be making them again! I think you said that we could freeze the dough to be used at a later time? Like keep for a “fresh baked” for a breakfast treat ?
Thank you
I’m so happy everyone enjoyed them, Lindy! Yes you can freeze the unbaked dough, see the section of the post above called “How to Freeze Scones” for instructions.
I made rosemary and cheddar scones and they were DELICIOUS!!! Definitely saving this recipe! I used 1% milk instead of heavy cream (forgot to pick up) and it turned out great!!!
I’ve made this recipe several times now and every time it has turned out fantastically. Prior to that, I was useless at baking, so thank you!!
I also had a lot of substitute ingredients on hand, so if someone wanted to swap ingredients out, using wheat flour works REALLY well- it’s very slightly denser but it adds a sort of hearty taste to the scones which is delicious- and flax eggs also do well with this recipe. I also did organic coconut sugar which is delicious with these, and I think that’s it. Either way, those add a heartier taste to the scones if anyone’s interested!
This is a really fantastic recipe so thank you!
I thought these were delicious. However, I didn’t get the nice crispness on the top that I was hoping for. I used buttermilk so brushed the top of the scones with that (as opposed to heavy cream) – could that have made the difference? Otherwise I think I followed the instructions to a tee.
Hi Sally, because I must have tried at least 50 scone recipes in the past- I’m a little cautious- so bear with me please. I am in search of a scone recipe that is out there somewhere that is not so baking powdery tasting. These scones I’ve had are dense and dark, chewy and moist , not in the least flaky! I even tried to bribe one place only to find that they use King Arthur flour which may or may not be the case as it was a kind of subversive conversation, actually behind a rack of apples. Can you advise me?
Hi Sherie! I’ve never had a scone like that before. Unfortunately these are pretty flaky. I wouldn’t consider them chewy, but they are on the denser side. Let me know if you try them!
Ok reporting back and in one word…..AMAZING!!!! I made the blueberry scones with fresh blueberries and all I’ll say is there goes my diet! I didn’t have a lemon but I did have an orange so I used orange zest instead of lemon and they came out great. I do have a question….I want to try the cranberry scones next but I couldn’t find and fresh or frozen cranberries at the store. Can I use
Dried cranberries instead?
Sure can! Use 1 heaping cup of dried cranberries or a little more if desired.
Hi Sally, I only have 1% milk on hand, can I make these scones with just milk instead of cream or will that not be enough fat?
Hi Becky! I recommend buttermilk or heavy cream. The scones may taste closer to muffins and won’t quite have the same texture with a lower fat milk.
First time making scones, just followed the instructions and tips. Did not have butter milk nor heavy cream; so I replace it with 1:1 of butter and milk. I add craisins, it turned out perfect. So delicious. Definitely will make again.
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. I’ve made it a lot of times and it’s very popular here in the house. I have raisins, sugates, prunes, apricots and walnuts in and it’s lovely.
I use to make scones all the time when my boys were young but since they are on their own now and I went back to work I just haven’t had the time. Now it seems we all have some extra time so I started searching for a new recipe (I misplaced my old one). I read all the wonderful reviews and decided to make a dash to the store for the ingredients I’m missing and make a batch tomorrow. If I can find blueberries I will try a batch of blueberry scones…I’ll let you know how they turn out.
I never thought I could bake such wonderful scones, this is a great recipe! thank you for sharing it with us!
Awesome recipe! I followed it exactly and the scones came out perfect! Thank you! Made for my daughters birthday breakfast with a pot of tea…..we pulled out the good linens and china and celebrated while in quarantine!
I’m gonna cut straight to the point – these are maybe the BEST scones I’ve had in my life. I just baked them and everyone is impressed. My family and i are going to start making them more regularly because we are in love. We did a blueberry filling but we also added some sliced almonds – amazing! I absolutely adore this recipe and now I’m going to try even more of the recipes on this website. Thank u!
What about peaches? Do you think they would add to much moisture to the batter?
Peaches work wonderfully. Chop them and blot them a little dry before using in the dough.
I have scones from all over but never made my own. With plenty of time on my hands, I figured I would try. This recipe gave me a wonderful scone. It was tender & not dry. They tasted amazing! I just found your page & am looking forward to trying more recipes! Thank you!
These taste amazing! I have been craving scones for the last couple of weeks and after looking at many different recipes, I chose this one!
All my fresh raspberries had molded so I used mixed frozen berries (I food processed them to make them a bit smaller). My only issue I had was the dough was very sticky. I added (what I thought was) a lot of flour but they did not shape well and look a little rough. Next time, I will be more generous with the flour.
Thank you, Sally! I always know I can trust your recipes. These turned out delicious! My only thing was that I only cooked mine 18 minutes, and they got a little burnt on the bottom. Did I do something wrong? Nonetheless we ate them all up. I also appreciate the video for amateur bakers like me!
Hi Caroline! I’m happy to help. Take a look at your cookie sheets/pans. Dark metal sheets typically over-bake bottoms and thin flimsy cookie sheets easily burn bottoms of pastries too. In the past few years, I’ve tested many brands and my favorite is easily USA Pan half sheet baking pan. Try using a silicone baking mat if you have one and feel free to lower the oven temperature & bake for a little longer. That should result in more even baking for your next batch.
So straightforward and easy! I would recommend slightly more butter as our batch came out a bit dry (but this might be due to losing a bit of butter during grating). Flavors were awesome! We tried blueberry lemon, basic recipe with vanilla icing, and savory. As others mentioned, frozen blueberries WILL melt and make the dough moist and hard to work with. But the flavor was still great!