Raspberry Scones
These raspberry scones are buttery, tender, lightly sweetened, and irresistible. They are made with fresh raspberries and topped with a lemon glaze.
Scones, like banana muffins and French toast casserole (a.k.a. bread pudding), are one of those desserts that you eat for breakfast without anyone blinking an eye. And, with these, you are even getting in some morning fruit!
These scones are considered American scones because they are a little sweeter and slightly more dense than English scones; English scones are more like what we in the US would call biscuits.
Baking Tips
The secret to perfect scones, similarly to when you make pie crust or homemade puff pastry, is making sure that your butter is at the right temperature.
Your butter must be cold!
You don’t want the butter to fully integrate into the dough. Mix in the butter with your hands, squeezing it to smash it down as you work. Stop when the butter is broken into pea-sized pieces. You could also use a food processor – giving short pulses until the butter is the correct size. If you do this with an electric mixer, you run the risk of over-mixing.
When you whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, you also want to be careful about not overworking the dough. Everything should be combined, but the batter will still be lumpy.
To bake, you can divide the dough evenly and put it into a greased scone pan – this will make the most uniform scones.
Or, you could form the batter into a circle onto a parchment or silicone mat-lined cookie sheet and cut it into sections. Unlike desserts like madeleines where the correct pan is a must, you can make perfectly respectable scones without a scone pan. This method yields less uniform scones (unless you measure your cuts), but the edges of each scone come out more crispy.
I always add lemon zest to my raspberry scones because lemon and raspberry go so well together (think raspberry lemonade). I place several raspberries on top of each scone before baking.
Scones are best eaten within a few days, but you can freeze them in an airtight container for months.
Lemon Glaze
I top my scones with a simple two-ingredient lemon glaze made by mixing together lemon juice and powdered sugar.
I use a ratio of 2 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice to 1/2 cup powdered sugar. The goal is for the glaze to be thick yet still flow.
Variations
For a totally fun twist on these scones, I like giving them a crumb topping. (Let’s be honest, I like giving everything a crumb topping – see my apple crumble pie).
To do so, mix together 1/4 cup of melted butter, 1/2 cup + two tablespoons of all-purpose flour, 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons of rolled oats to make crumbs. Put the unbaked crumbs over the scone dough before baking.
Raspberry Scones
Ingredients
Scone Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter cold
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of 1 lemon
- 32 raspberries
Lemon Glaze Ingredients
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
Scone Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Cut in small pieces of cold butter and mix with your hands until you can just see pea-sized pieces of butter.
- In a separate bowl, mix eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and lemon zest.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients a little bit at a time until just combined - the batter will be lumpy.
- Divide batter evenly between the sections of a greased scone pan. Or, press the batter into a thick circle onto a parchment- or silicone mat-lined cookie sheet and cut it into eight sections.
- Place four raspberries on top of each uncooked scone.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until the scones are browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
- Cool on a cooling rack.
Lemon Glaze Instructions
- Stir the powdered sugar and lemon juice together in a small bowl until you have a thick but still flowy glaze. Add more powdered sugar or juice as needed.
- Drizzle over cooled scones.
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