The Best Homemade Scones

What’s your idea of the perfect scone? Frankly, I love them all and for such an innocent baked good, it’s a topic that’s heavily debated depending on which side of the pond you’re from.

The scones you find in America, in bakeries and coffee shops, are quite different than those you find in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Today’s focus is on rich, ultra-buttery, American-style scones. The perfect treat to pair with your morning cup of coffee!

A Buttery, Rich, and Sweet Scone Recipe

American scones are rich and sweet. They’re typically made with a healthy amount of butter and heavy cream and are often enriched further with the addition of an egg.

The texture is dense, crumbly, and tender. This is what differentiates them from American biscuits, which while also rich, are much lighter and flakier in texture.

While there are savory American-style scones, they’re usually made sweet and often studded with ingredients like fresh or dried fruit, chocolate or nuts. Sometimes, they’re also glazed similarly to doughnuts.

Scones like this are most commonly enjoyed at breakfast, and they’re a staple at coffee shops around the country. They’re typically enjoyed warm or at room temperature without an accompaniment since they’re plenty buttery and flavorful on their own. However, butter, lemon curd or jam can be slathered on for added sweetness or richness. 

Tips and Tricks

Though there are only a handful of ingredients in these scones, they can be tricky to master. Lucky, these tips will set you up for success.

• Like pie crust, the secret to a tender scone is cold butter so you should freeze the butter.
• While cutting a stick of cold butter into cubes and working it into the flour does the job just fine, freezing the butter then grating it on a box grater works even better. This greatly reduces the chances of the butter melting into the dough while you’re preparing it.
• Don’t overwork the dough. It’s tempting to press and knead the dough to form a cohesive ball, but this can result in tough scones. Instead, use a light hand and mix together the dry and wet ingredients until just combined. The dough will be lumpy and a bit floury in spots but that’s okay.
• Cut the dough in triangles. American scones are traditionally triangle-shaped. Simply pat the dough into a rough circle and use a sharp knife or bench scraper to cut it into wedges. This technique also helps prevent you from overworking the dough.

Scone Additions and Variations

This recipe results in scones that are scented with vanilla and sprinkled with coarse sugar. While they’re perfect in there simplicity, they’re a blank canvas for add-ins. Add up to 1 cup of any of the following, right after you’ve tossed in the grated butter and before you’ve added the wet ingredients.

• Fresh fruit such as berries, diced stone fruit, and diced or grated apples
• Chocolate chips or chunks, as well as butterscotch, peanut butter or cinnamon chips
• Toasted and chopped nuts such as walnuts or pecans
• Dried fruit such as raisins, dried cranberries, or chopped figs
• Chopped candied ginger
• Unsweetened shredded coconut
• In place of vanilla extract, use almond extract or finely grated citrus zest
• In place of the coarse sugar, try sprinkling the scones with cinnamon-sugar before baking

Freezing Scones

To freeze baked scones: Alternatively, baked scones can be frozen. Freeze on the parchment-lined baking sheet until firm, then transfer them to a zip top freezer bag. Thaw overnight at room temperature, then rewarm them in a 400°F oven.

To freeze unbaked scones: Cut the dough into wedges, hold off on brushing them with cream and sprinkling them with sugar, and freeze on the parchment-lined baking sheet until firm, then transfer them to a zip top freezer bag. Bake the scones, as needed, directly from the freezer, as directed, brushing them with cream and sprinkling with sugar, and adding a few minutes onto the baking time.

More Satisfying Scone Recipes

• Ginger Scones
  
• Lemon Blueberry Scones
• Queen Elizabeth’s Drop Scones
• Savory Scones with Goat Cheese and Chives
• English Scones
• Irish Scones