The BEST Scone Recipe
Learn how to make delicious, soft, light, and tender scones with this easy tutorial. This scone recipe is perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dessert!
Scones are one of those recipes that some people tend to think are dry or bland. But the truth is that when made correctly, scones are actually super soft, light, and can melt in your mouth!
So today I’m bringing it back to the basics and showing you exactly how to make homemade scones. These scones come together in about 15 minutes and they only take about 20 minutes to bake in the oven.
This scone recipe is also a perfect base for creating different flavors, so I’ve included options for different flavor variations. I’ve even included a few different options for glazes so you can really make this recipe your own!
What You’ll Need For This Recipe
For this scone recipe, you’ll need just a few simple ingredients. Let’s break down each one:
- All-Purpose Flour: When it comes to measuring your flour, make sure to spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife. Too much flour can lead to a crumbly dough and scones that don’t taste as good. I talk about this more in my post on how to measure flour.
- Granulated Sugar: I typically stick with granulated sugar because I prefer the taste, but brown sugar will work too.
- Baking Powder & Salt: There is one tablespoon of baking powder in this recipe and I promise it’s not a mistake! In order to get a good rise, you need a decent amount of baking powder.
- Cold Unsalted Butter: Since the amount of salt in salted butter can vary quite a bit between different brands, I prefer to stick with unsalted butter. Also, cold butter is key to creating the perfect scones. As the cold butter melts in the oven, it creates steam pockets that help the scones rise and creates a lighter texture too.
- Heavy Whipping Cream: When it comes to soft scones that don’t dry out, heavy whipping cream is the best option. A little cream brushed on top of the scones before they go into the oven creates a beautiful slightly crisp and lightly browned exterior too.
- Egg & Vanilla Extract: The egg helps to create a lighter texture and the vanilla adds flavor.
How To Make This Scone Recipe
As I mentioned earlier, scones are INCREDIBLY easy to make and throw together. To start, you’ll whisk together your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Then, cube your cold butter into small pieces and use a pastry cutter or fork to cut it into the dry ingredients until you have small pea-sized crumbs.
Next, whisk together the heavy whipping cream, egg, and vanilla extract until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl and stir the mixture together until it just comes together.
Then, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, work it into a ball, flatten it into a disc 7 inches in diameter, and cut it into 8 equal-sized pieces.
Lastly, you’ll want to place the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and place the baking sheet in the freezer for 5-10 minutes so that the dough is thoroughly chilled.
Once it’s nice and cold, brush the tops of the scones with a little heavy whipping cream. If you don’t plan to add a glaze on top, you can sprinkle them with a little coarse sugar or granulated sugar. Then, place them in the oven and let them bake for about 20 minutes or until they’re lightly browned and golden on top.
Recipe Variations
As I mentioned earlier, this recipe is a great base for adding other flavors. Here are a few ways that you can change up this scone recipe. I suggest mixing in these ingredients right after you cut in the butter and before you mix in the wet ingredients.
- Blueberry: Add 1 cup of fresh blueberries
- Cranberry Orange: Add 2 teaspoons of orange zest and 2/3 cup of sweetened dried cranberries (or 1 cup of chopped fresh cranberries)
- Cinnamon Raisin: Add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon and 2/3 cup of raisins
- Lemon Poppy Seed: Add the zest of 1 medium lemon and 1/2 tablespoon of poppy seeds
You can also find my chocolate chip scone recipe here and my apple cinnamon scones here.
I’ve also included a vanilla glaze option, but you can easily change up the glaze too. Here are a few ways to do that:
- Orange Glaze: Omit the vanilla extract and use fresh orange juice instead of milk
- Lemon Glaze: Omit the vanilla extract and use fresh lemon juice instead of milk
- Cinnamon Glaze: Add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Baking Tips
- When measuring your flour, make sure to spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off with the back of a knife.
- Cold ingredients are best for this recipe! Make sure your dough is as cold as possible before you place the scones in the oven. I suggest placing the baking sheet with the scones in the freezer for 5-10 minutes before baking them.
- Brush the top of each scone with a little heavy whipping cream before placing them in the oven. This will create a slightly crispy exterior and help them brown too.
The BEST Scones Recipe
Ingredients
For the scones:
- 2 cups (250 grams) all-purpose flour spooned & leveled
- 1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold unsalted butter cubed into pieces
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream plus more for brushing the tops
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the vanilla glaze:
- 1 cup (120 grams) powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons (15-30 ml) milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
To make the scones:
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the cold cubed butter and use a pastry cutter or fork to cut it into the dry ingredients until you have small pea-sized crumbs.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the heavy whipping cream, egg, and vanilla extract until fully combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The mixture may be a little crumbly at this point, this is okay!
- Scoop the mixture out onto a lightly floured surface and work it together in a ball, then flatten into a 7-inch circle. Cut the dough into 8 equal-sized pieces and place them on the prepared baking sheet, making sure to leave a little room between each one.
- Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 5-10 minutes or until the scones are chilled.
- Brush the tops of each scone with a little heavy whipping cream. If you're not adding a glaze, you can top them with coarse sugar if desired.
- Bake at 400°F (204°C) for 18-22 minutes or until the tops of the scones are lightly browned and cooked through.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.
To make the vanilla glaze:
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until well combined. If the glaze is too thick add more milk to thin it out and if the glaze is too thin add more powdered sugar to thicken it.
- Top the scones with the glaze and allow to harden for 10-15 minutes, then serve, and enjoy.
Notes
- Blueberry: Add 1 cup (150 grams) of fresh blueberries
- Cranberry Orange: Add 2 teaspoons of fresh orange zest plus 2/3 cup (105 grams) of sweetened dried cranberries (or 1 cup of chopped fresh cranberries)
- Cinnamon Raisin: Add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon plus 2/3 cup (105 grams) of raisins
- Lemon Poppy Seed: Add the zest of 1 medium lemon plus 1/2 tablespoon of poppy seeds
- Orange Glaze: Omit the vanilla extract and use fresh orange juice in place of the milk
- Lemon Glaze: Omit the vanilla extract and use fresh lemon juice in place of the milk
- Cinnamon Glaze: Add 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
These were truly the best scones I’ve made!
I have only used this recipe because these truly are the best scones I have ever made and ate!! I have used so many variations and I just love making these for when I visit people and of course just for me 😉 thank you for teaching me how make the best scones ever!!!
Can I use a food processor and quickly pulse the cubed butter a few times?
Yes, that would be fine!
These turned out great. I used a small round cookie cutter . Made plain, lemon poppyseed and blueberry . Making for my daughter’s queens tea . Best recipe out there !
So incredible! Thank you!
Excellent recipe. East and delicious. I added 1 tbsp of orange zest. I want to add raspberry but wondering since raspberries are usually more watery than blueberries if I need to alter the recipe. Thanks.
It would be fine to add them to this recipe, but you have to be careful when you’re mixing them in because they can get crushed. It may be best to use frozen raspberries to prevent that from happening.
These were lovely! I used plain yogurt for the cream and they are very tasty & fluffy. This recipe goes into regular rotation! Thanks!!
I think a full tablespoon of baking powder is too much. After sifting it in the scones still had the bitter bicarb taste.
I added blueberries to the basic scone recipe and the result was absolutely amazing!
Thank you for this awesome recipe it worked perfectly!!
Do i defrost frozen cranberries before adding them?
Love your recipe!!
Thank you, Joan! You can just add them frozen, there’s no need to thaw them out.
I love this recipe(and so does my dad;) and it definitely deserves 5 stars! The first time I made them the dough was too dry but the second time around it worked like a charm!
First time I’ve made this recipe. It’s so easy and delicious. Two people said they were crumbly but not dry like some scones. Plan to make several different flavors for my daughter in law’s baby shower! Is it better to bake and freeze or just freeze the dough and then bake? Can they be baked frozen?
I’d recommend freezing the dough and then baking them, just so they’re fresh. The frozen dough will bake just fine, but you’ll need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time. If they start to brown too much on top before they’re done, just cover them with a piece of foil.
Hi!! I love this recipe I’ve made it a couple times and everyone loves them but I wanted to do an almond flavor so how would I go about adding almond paste??
I haven’t tested it, so it’s hard to say. You could probably reduce the heavy cream slightly and add some almond paste. Or you could add some almond extract and sliced almonds instead.
Can you make the dough ahead of time??
Yes, I’ve frozen it without any issues.
I used your scone recipe. They turned out great. Better than the other recipe I used. This scones smell buttery and taste delicious. Thank you so much.
I am KNOWN for my biscuits. I have never really liked any scone recipe I ever tried. The were too dry, no flavor, or something off. This recipe changed all that! They are tasty, the crumb is perfect. They were a real hit at my tea party. Thank you! I gently rolled and cut with small biscuit cutter. Made 19 and I really wanted 20. I think next time I will double recipe and roll a little thicker.
Great recipe! Thank you so much.
Do you have nutritional info on the plain original recipe scone? No add in ingredients? Thanks!
I’m not sure on the nutritional information, but you can plug everything into an online calculator (like My Fitness Pal) to get an estimate.
I made these today. They were super easy for my first scone.
Delicious! I wanted orange scones like the ones from Panera. These were better! Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
I added 1 tbsp of orange zest. Delicious. Not overpowering.
We agree!
After living in England for 5 years and enjoying a variety of scone styles we must say this is the absolute best we have found so far!
We will serve them in our Red Horse B&B in Albuquerque, New Mexico and be sure to credit your site!
Thank you!
O.M.G. I made these with the orange cranberry version fully expecting them to be okay. They were amazing. I’ve never made scones but I love them. I will never buy scones from a bakery again. Super easy and incredibly delicious. Best scones ever.
what if you don’t have heavy cream
You can use a scant 1/2 cup of milk or half and half.
I’ve used this recipe 20 times. Amazing scones, moist and chewy, not dry ever. I use a pastry blender to mix the dough (5 curved blades with a handle). Great tool.
I ran out of eggs…
Which ended up being a good thing.
Instead of buttermilk I added 1/2 tbsp of vinegar, 1 tbsp yoghurt and 1/2 tsp oil to the wet ingredients in place of the egg.
Came out perfectly.
I don’t normally reveiw recipes, but these were sooo good i felt I just had to come and leave a comment. I’ve never made scones before and these were super easy to make and tasted absolutely delicious!! I highly recommended this recipe 🙂
The best scone recipe. I blew my family away. I added the cinnamon and cinnamon sugar on top with the heavy whipping cream. Amazing!!!
I have been using this recipe for 4 years now. It’s one of my favorite recipes. I love to add fresh blueberries, semi sweet/white chocolate chips, and walnuts.
Your recipe says 2 cups of flour (250 grams). 250 grams is only 1 cup of flour.
Which is it?
1 cup of flour only weighs 125 grams, so 2 cups does equal 250 grams.
Can I use frozen fruit instead of fresh?
Yes, that would be fine!