Were you wondering what to serve at your next coffee or book club meeting? Look no further. Use this guide to learn how to make the best British scones. In England, these are served at โcream teaโ in the late morning, or with afternoon tea. These scones are the best and super easy to makeโTheyโre a fun treat to make as a compliment to your dinner, or a snack between meals to go with a refreshing beverage.

Perfectly flaky scones that can easily be made into any flavor youโd like including blueberry, cranberry orange, pumpkin, chocolate chip, pumpkin, and cinnamon!
Should I add an egg to my British Scone batter? What does it do?
It’s a matter of personal preference as to whether or not you add eggs to your scones. Adding an egg to your scone batter will change the texture of your scone, creating a richer, more dense result. This recipe will work either way and the egg is completely optional and does not need to be replaced.
What is the difference between a British scone and a biscuit?
A British scone uses more leavening and less butter than traditional biscuits. They are also made with cream. They end up denser and less sweet than American scones or biscuits.
You will use grated butter to create a biscuit-like dough, but you will use cream in the dough and to brush on top. These scones go great with traditional biscuit or toast toppings, like Apple Butter, jam, honey butter, or plain old, delicious butter.
Grating Butter vs. Pastry Cutter vs. Food Processor
Scones require a pastry technique where you cut a fat into a flour mixture in order to create a sand-like coarse meal texture. This process provides an even distribution of the cold fat in the recipe. When baked at a high heat this fat will expand quickly, creating a flaky, layered texture in the baked good. There are several different ways to accomplish this. You can use a cheese grater to finely grate your butter, you can use a pastry cutter which is a traditional manual method, or you can use the S-blade on a food processor and pulse the fat.
Can I make the dough in advance?
Yes. This dough freezes nicely to be made in later on. Make the dough and cut into wedges and then, wrap in parchment paper and seal in a freezer bag. To make, thaw the dough and bake as directed.
Flavor Options
- Blueberry Scones (1 cup blueberries + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- Chocolate Chip Scones (1 cup mini chocolate chips)
- Cranberry Orange Scones (3/4 cup dried cranberries + 2 tablespoons orange zest)
- Pumpkin Scones (replace half of the heavy cream with 1/2 cup pumpkin puree + 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice)
- Cranberry Scones (1 cup dried cranberries + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- Lemon Scones (replace 1/4 cup of the heavy cream with 1/4 cup lemon juice + 2 tablespoons lemon zest)
- Cinnamon Scones (replace white sugar with brown sugar + 1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon)
Serving Suggestions:
British scones are complemented with jam and butter, clotted cream, honey butter, and apple butter. The most common fruity add-in used in England is sultanas or golden raisins. You can add in all kinds of fruits and berries to change up the flavor or make the scones a little sweeter.
Storage Instructions:
Store scones in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
More Delicious Treats
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and weโve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Sadly this recipe did not work for me (and I’m an experienced cook) as it had WAY too much liquid for the amount of flour. Couldn’t even touch the batter/dough to work in more flour to pat it out.
I ended up putting the entire batter into a baking dish and baking it. Tasted okay, but like cut up biscuits.
The Master Muffin recipe worked for me, so I was expecting this one to work, as well.
I’m so sorry to hear that, especially when you’ve had good results with the muffin recipe. I’ve personally made this recipe dozens and dozens of times. Unlike muffins, if your dough is too wet to work with when making scones or biscuits, more flour should be added, just like when making a yeast bread. I’m not sure what you are describing by not being able to touch the dough to work in more flour, but you should have been able to stir more in.
Can you use buttermilk instead of heavy cream?
You can since scones are akin to biscuits and buttermilk biscuits are always delicious. It’ll add a slightly more savory note with the acidic buttermilk.
Hi Rachel. Do you recommend substituting vegetable shortening for the butter? Curious to try this recipe. Thank you!
You certainly can. It changes the texture slightly as different fats produce different results. The biggest difference will be in flavor since vegetable shortening and butter taste quite a bit different. A butter flavored vegetable shortening might be the best balance.
Oh my! So good! My neighbor gave us oranges and lemons from his trees, so I made some lemon ones and some orange ones, (although no cranberries on hand). They were just perfect. The texture and flavor were wonderful. Theyโre great just like that, but we all have a sweet tooth so I drizzled some glaze (fresh squeezed juice and powdered sugar). Like I said, oh my!! So good! Sharing with my neighbor๐
These are the best scones ever.!! No matter who I make them for they love them .
Easy to prepare .thank you ๐
best recipe ever hands down! ๐ฉต
Can you make these ahead and freeze the scones?
Yes, scones freeze quite nicely and thaw at room temperature.
I can I bake in a muffin pan? I love all your recipes
Well now I’ve never tried that! People make biscuits in muffin tins so I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t do the same with scones. It’s looking like maybe 400 degrees for somewhere between 15 to 20 minutes.
Can you use this recipe for a savory scone?
Absolutely! You just leave out (or reduce) the sugar and experiment with mix-ins to your hearts desire!
Yes Iโve reduced the sugar by half and made jalapeรฑo cheddar and cheddar and chive and also roasted red peppers and cheddar all 3 fantastic!!!!
Really good recipe! I added pecans and white chocolate chips to the cinnamon version of the recipe.