These American Scones are the perfect pairing for your morning cup of coffee. Adapt this scone recipe by adding dried fruit, nuts, icing and more.
What is your idea of the perfect scone? Honestly, I love them all and for such an innocent pastry it’s a topic that’s hotly debated depending on which side of the pond you’re from.
The scones you find in America, in bakeries and coffee shops are very different from those you find in Britain and Ireland. Today, the focus is on rich, ultra-buttery American-style scones. The perfect treat for your morning cup of coffee!
American scones are rich and sweet. They’re usually made with a healthy amount of butter and whipped cream, and often further enriched with an egg.
The texture is dense, crumbly and delicate. This sets them apart from American cookies, which, while rich, are much lighter and flaky in texture.
While savory American scones exist, they’re usually made sweet and often studded with ingredients like fresh or dried fruit, chocolate, or nuts. Sometimes they are also glazed similar to donuts.
American scones are most commonly enjoyed for breakfast and are a staple at cafes across the country. They are usually enjoyed warm or at room temperature with no accompaniment, as they are richly buttery and flavorful on their own. However, butter, lemon curd or jam can be slathered on top for added sweetness or richness.
Tips and tricks for making American Scones
Although there are only a handful of ingredients in American scones, they can be difficult to master. Luckily, these tips will put you on the road to success.
- Like pie crust, the secret to a tender scone is cold butter, so consider freezing the butter.
- While dicing a stick of cold butter and rubbing it into the flour works just fine, freezing the butter and grating it on a box grater works even better. This greatly reduces the chances of the butter in the dough melting as you prepare 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 chewy scones. Instead, use a light hand and mix the dry and wet ingredients together until just combined. The dough will be lumpy and a little floury in some places, but that’s okay.
- Cut the dough into triangles. American scones are traditionally triangular. Simply pat the dough into a rough circle and cut into wedges with a sharp knife or bench scraper. This technique also prevents you from overworking the dough.
Scone additions and variations
What sets American scones apart is what they’re seasoned and peppered with. This recipe yields scones that are scented with vanilla and sprinkled with coarse sugar.
While they’re perfect in their simplicity, they’re a blank canvas for add-ins. Add up to 1 cup of any of the following right after tossing in the grated butter and before adding the wet ingredients.
- Fresh fruit such as berries, diced stone fruit, and diced or grated apples
- Chocolate chips or chips, as well as butterscotch, peanut butter, or cinnamon sticks
- Roasted and chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans
- Dried fruits like raisins, dried cranberries, or chopped figs
- Chopped candied ginger
- Unsweetened grated coconut
- Instead of vanilla extract, use almond extract or finely grated citrus zest
- Instead of the coarse sugar, you can sprinkle the scones with cinnamon sugar before baking
How to store and freeze
Scones are best enjoyed fresh the day they are baked, either warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days.
Freezing Baked Scones: Alternatively, baked scones can be frozen. Freeze on the parchment-lined baking sheet until firm, then place in a zip-lock bag. Thaw them at room temperature overnight, then reheat them in an oven at 400°F.
How to freeze unbaked scones: Cut the dough into pieces, top with cream and sprinkle with sugar, and freeze on the parchment-lined baking sheet until set, then place in a zip-lock bag. As needed, bake the scones straight from the freezer as directed, brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar and add a few minutes to the baking time.
More satisfying scone recipes
- ginger cakes
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Queen Elizabeth Drop Scones
- Spicy scones with goat cheese and chives
- English scones
- Irish scones
American scones
This recipe is simple and easy as it is, but feel free to add up to 1 cup of your favorite blend (mixing options noted above). It also uses shredded frozen butter. Place a knob of butter in your freezer for at least 15 minutes while you work on other steps of the recipe, or you can save a pound of butter in your freezer for just those occasions.
ingredients
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2 cups (257G) all purpose flourplus more as needed
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1/4 cup (50G) granulated sugar
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1 tablespoon (fifteenG) baking powder
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1/2 teaspoon (2G) kosher salt
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2/3 Cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy creamdivided
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1 big egg
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2 teaspoon vanilla extract
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8 tablespoons (1 floor) unsalted butterfrozen
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1 tablespoon coarse sugar such as turbo
method
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Lay out a baking sheet:
Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Combine the dry ingredients:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
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Combine wet ingredients:
Measure out 2/3 cup heavy cream. In a medium bowl, whisk together about half the heavy cream, egg, and vanilla extract. You will use the rest of the cream later.
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rub butter:
Place a box grater over the prepared baking sheet. Rub the butter on the large holes of a box grater. When you come to a small piece of butter, chop that piece into a few small pieces.
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Add butter to dry ingredients:
Use the parchment paper as a slingshot to add the butter to the dry ingredients in the large bowl. Then place the parchment paper back on the baking sheet.
Use your fingers to toss the butter into the flour, breaking up any lumps until evenly coated.
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Combine wet and dry ingredients into a dough:
Gently drizzle the cream, egg, and vanilla mixture over the butter and flour mixture in the large bowl. Use a fork or your hands to combine and mix lightly. The mixture will start to look sandy.
Add the remaining half of the reserved heavy cream, 1 tablespoon at a time, continuing to mix with a fork or your hands until a rough and lumpy but cohesive ball of dough forms. You must not use all of the remaining cream.
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Shape the dough:
Place the dough on a floured work surface and pat out into a rough circle, 2.5 cm thick and about 20 cm in diameter.
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Cut the dough into pieces and arrange on the baking tray:
Using a sharp knife or scraper, cut the dough into eight wedges. Transfer the wedges to the prepared baking sheet and space evenly, about 1 inch between the scones.
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Put the scones in the fridge, arrange the oven rack and preheat the oven:
Chill the unbaked scones while placing a rack in the center of the oven and preheating the oven to 400F.
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Spread cream on scones and sprinkle with sugar:
Once the oven is preheated, use a pastry brush to brush the scones with the remaining 1 tablespoon cream. Sprinkle evenly with the caster sugar.
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Bake scones:
Bake until scones are golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes.
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Cool and serve scones:
Allow the scones to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before enjoying warm or transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 325 | calories |
| 20g | Fat |
| 33g | carbohydrates |
| 5g | protein |
