These Raspberry Scones are crisp around the edges and soft & moist in the center. With a drizzle of icing or a layer of coarse sugar on top, these will be your new favorite breakfast treats!
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I remember the first time I tried a scone and thought to myself "why on earth would someone prefer these over a muffin or a donut?!" It was so dry, crumbly and overall just mehhh. Is that your experience with scones??
Well I'm here to tell you tell you that scones (when made properly) are absolutely AMAZING! If a muffin and a biscuit collided, this is what I'd imagine. They've got the moistness and softness of a muffin, yet the flaky exterior and buttery flavor of a biscuit. I promise....scones don't have to be dry. Just follow my tips below and you'll be well on your way to an incredible (and impressive!) scone!
What ingredient makes scones rise?
Baking powder is the leavening agent in these scones. Therefore, it's important to double-check that your baking powder is still good by looking at the expiration date.
Although the baking powder gives these scones the majority of their rise, the chilled butter helps. The chilled, grated butter forms moist little air pockets that make these hold their shape and oh so tender and delicious! I adapted this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction scone recipe and I think you're gonna LOVE it.
What is the secret to making good scones?
Well that's a loaded question! 😉 I've broken it down into three super important tips, so follow these and my recipe below for the road to scone success!
- Don't overwork the dough. This is probably the most important! As you can see in my process photos below, the dough is just barely combined when I form a circle and cut it into triangles. Overworking the dough will develop more gluten and make for a chewier scone.
- Use cold butter. Again, this is HUGE. I find that the best way to get moist, flaky scones is to grate the butter before incorporating it into the dough. And it's a whole lot easier to mix in than with a pastry blender.
- Chill before baking. Since you've taken the time to grate the butter into little pieces, you want to keep those butter pieces in tact. If you put the scones in the oven when they're room temperature, they're much more likely to spread more than you want and be flat.
How to make scones: Step by step
Follow along with the numbered photos below to better understand how to make an incredible scone!
- Combine the dry ingredients
- Grate the cold butter
- Add the butter and combined wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
- Stirred just enough (you never want to overwork scone dough!)
- Adding the berries
- The dough ready to shape (again, you see how it's just barely incorporated)
7. The dough on the counter being shaped
8. A nice circle with imperfections around the edges (the mixture will be a little crumbly - this is what you want!)
9. Cut into triangles
10. Scones placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet
11. Brushing the scones with milk or cream
12. Topping with coarse sugar crystals (can skip this step and add frosting at the end of baking instead)
Next, you'll chill the scones and then pop them into a hot oven. Before you know it, you'll be sitting down with a cup of coffee and a piping hot scone ready to be devoured! 🙂
Not ready to conquer scones yet? No worries!
I get it - making the perfect scone can be intimidating (though it's really not that hard!;)) However, if you want to stick with muffins and quick breads for now, that's cool too.
My peach muffins, homemade blueberry muffins and healthy double chocolate zucchini muffins are among my favorite. Pumpkin coffee cake is a delicious recipe, especially in the fall and cranberry apple bread is perfect around the holidays!
And if you ARE ready to conquer the perfect scone.... print the recipe below!
Raspberry Scones
Ingredients
- 2 c flour
- ½ c sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ c buttermilk (or ½ tablespoon vinegar + enough milk to equal ½ c)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ c salted butter grated*
- 1 ¼ c fresh raspberries
- 2 tablespoon milk or cream
- coarse sugar (or icing for drizzle)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla.
- Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients then drizzle the wet ingredients over the mixture.
- Stir until just barely combined (you'll still see some flour that isn't incorporated, which is good!).
- Add the raspberries and carefully mix until spread throughout.
- Dump the dough on a lightly floured surface and form a circle about 10 inches in diameter.
- Cut the dough into 8 triangles and transfer them onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Put the scones in the fridge for 30 minutes (or more!) and preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Decide how you'd like to top the scones. If you want them sparkling with coarse sugar, you'll brush the milk over the scones and generously sprinkle with coarse sugar. If you want to add a drizzle of icing instead, hold off on the milk and coarse sugar.
- Bake the scones in the preheated oven for 18-24 minutes, until golden brown around the bottom edges.
- Let the scones cool.
- Once they're cool, drizzle with a powdered sugar icing, if desired.
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