Bake up a few of these blueberry scones for a delicious breakfast or brunch. They are flaky, buttery, and easy to make!
Scones make for a delicious pastry perfect for breakfast or brunch! You can serve them with fruit salad, healthy egg muffins, and some homemade lemonade.
What is a Scone?
Scones are one of our favorite breakfast treats!! There are so many varieties to choose from and today we wanted to share a simple scone recipe that can be customized any way you want.
But, what is a scone? The scone differs depending on where you live. For some reason people who live in Utah make a sweet scone that is very similar to fry bread, but for the rest of the world a scone is very similar to a biscuit.
A scone differs from a biscuit in the amount of sugar and fat as well as uses both sweet and savory ingredients to flavor. A more traditional scone is fairly plain and often topped with butter, jam, or clotted cream. This scone recipe uses blueberries for extra flavor. Keep reading for more delicious flavor variations you might like to try.
How to Make Scones
PREP. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone liner and set aside.
DOUGH. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Grate the cold butter into the flour mixture, and mix gently with your hands to incorporate the butter.
In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix gently with a rubber spatula until the dough starts to come together. Gently mix in the blueberries, being careful not to crush them.
CUT & BAKE. Pat the scone dough out into an 8 inch circle about 1 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 8 wedges, and place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes, until light golden brown.
Recipe Tips
Cold Butter is really important! In fact, using all cold ingredients is key to a successful scone. Grate cold, even frozen, butter to mix into the dough. Use cold eggs and cream. The colder the butter the more steam can be released creating flakier air pockets inside a crisp crust.
Don’t overwork the Dough: One reason is to keep the butter and other ingredients from getting too warm. The other reason is so you won’t over activate the gluten. The more you mix and knead the dough, the more the gluten is activated causing a denser chewier scone instead of it being flaky and airy.
Change up the shape: I will often use cookie cutters when making biscuits. It’s particularly fun when using holiday chapes. Instead of cutting the dough into 8 wedges, as the directions state, use a cookie cutter to stamp out your shapes. You may need to adjust the bake time depending on the size of your shapes. Be sure all the shapes are similar sizes so they all bake at the same rate.
Tips for a Crispy Crust :
- For a crispier crust be sure there is space between the individual pieces on the baking sheet. If you place the pieces close together you will have softer sided scones.
- To keep your crust crispy be sure to cool uncovered. If you cover the scones as they cool the moisture will create a softer crust.
Scone Variations
The basic dough recipe for these scones is simple, and easily adaptable to different flavor combinations. I made the recipe with fresh blueberries, but it’s easy to customize the recipe to any flavor of scones you like.
To change up the recipe, add ½ cup dried fruit or ¾ cup fresh fruit of your choice. You can also add different flavorings, and even mix-ins like chocolate chips or coconut. Here are some of my favorite flavor combinations:
- Cinnamon Chip Scones – Mix in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon with the dry ingredients, then fold in ½ cup cinnamon baking chips after the dough is mixed together. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking.
- Blueberry Lemon Scones – Mix the zest of one lemon in with the dry ingredients, then add 1 teaspoon lemon extract with the wet ingredients. Stir in ¾ cup of fresh blueberries before baking.
- Cranberry Orange Scones – Mix the zest of one orange in with the dry ingredients, then fold in ½ cup dried cranberries after the dough is mixed.
The flavor combinations are endless!
How to Store
Follow these easy tips to store your delicious scones!
Dough: You can shape the scones and store them in the fridge overnight to be baked in the morning. Be sure to cover the baking pan with plastic wrap before putting them in the fridge.
You can also freeze them in their dough form to be baked later. Place the shaped dough on a baking sheet then put it in the freezer. Once the scones are solid transfer them to a freezer safe storage container. I recommend only freezing them for 3-4 weeks otherwise the effectiveness of the leavening agents start to decrease and the scones will not be as light and airy as you want.
Baked: Allow the scones to cool before storing them. You can store them in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. You may want to separate the scones with parchment paper or wrap them individually with plastic wrap to keep them from freezing to each other.
For more breakfast recipes, check out:
- Cranberry Orange Bread
- Quick and Easy Cinnamon Rolls
- Snickerdoodle Bread
- French Toast Bake
- Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
- Cherry Danish
- Homemade Pop Tarts
Scones Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter cold
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone liner and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Grate the cold butter into the flour mixture, and mix gently with your hands to incorporate the butter.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and mix gently with a rubber spatula until the dough starts to come together. Gently mix in the blueberries, being careful not to crush them.
- Pat the scone dough out into an 8 inch circle about 1 inch thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 8 wedges, and place the wedges on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 15-17 minutes, until light golden brown.
will frozen blueberries work out just as well? add frozen or thaw first ??? cant wait to make this !
You can use frozen and I’d suggest putting them in the dough frozen and gently mixing in.
I’ve made your recipe many times and it is sooo good! My kids love them; soft and flaky but not dry, and just the right sweetness. I usually do them with a bit of orange zest and a tsp of orange juice.
I have a question tho, I was about to make them today and realized I am out of parchment paper and don’t have a silicone mat. Will it stick horribly? Is there a way to make it without parchment paper?
I’m so glad you love the scones. The orange addition sounds yummy! Yes, you can spray the bottom of a pan with non-stick cooking spray. That should help them not stick horribly as well.
love your recipe for scones., just wish my dough would not come out so dry. so you havce any tips for a way to have it come out not so crumbly… i do the same thing you do in lthe video. i
First I would try not handling your dough too much. You don’t want to over-activate the gluten. The more you mix and knead the dough, the more the gluten is activated causing a denser, chewier, and sometimes even drier scone. I hope this helps!
These are amazing! Made them with GF flour (Bobs Red Mill) and they turned out incredible. Not dry – made sure not to over mix/knead. I also put a little vanilla glaze over and it was perfect. First time ever making scones and I was so impressed with how they turned out!
Thanks for sharing what you did! Way to make scones!! I hope that everyone enjoyed this one too.
Absolutely fantastic recipe. Follow recipe exactly and is delicious every time!
I see the suggestions for different flavours but not one for cheddar cheese flavour. I’m curious about how best to tweak this recipe to make cheese scones. Would you cut out the sugar and vanilla? And how much cheese would you suggest using?
Great recipe. I took it up a notch and brushed tops with a little cream and sugar before baking.
Buttery, moist & delicious! I had never made scones before & usually thought they were very dry when I tried them. But these are so good. I actually substituted the sugar for granulated Splenda since my boyfriend is diabetic & they were just as moist & good.