Flaky yet tender scones, filled blueberries and topped with a blueberry glaze
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blueberry scones with blueberry glaze
These blueberry scones are for blueberry LOVERS. They’re loaded with fresh blueberries, and topped with a blueberry glaze (Huge shoutout to macerated berries for producing the prettiest natural glaze colors!)
why you’ll love these blueberry scones:
- They’re moist and flaky. A lot of scones are sad and dry – and while scones need to be a little dry for their signature shape and rise, these are *way* more moist than you’d expect.
- That glaze color. That glaze color is allll natural from the blueberries, truly just the prettiest color you could ask for.
- They’re super easy to make. Scones are actually super easy to make, can easily be made ahead of time and baked off at a later date, and are *perfect* for sharing.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
keep the dough and ingredients cold:
The trick to getting those flaky layers and butter pockets is to keep the dough cold. If you notice the butter getting too warm at any point while making the scones, just pop the dough into the freezer for 5-10 minutes to harden it up again. You’ll also want to keep your egg & sour cream in the fridge until you’re ready to use them.
Mix the dough carefully:
Be careful to knead the dough just until it comes together. Over-kneading the dough can lead to a drier, tougher scone.
freeze the dough before baking it
This step is super important because it ensures that the scones will not spread much in the oven, and will bake up nice and tall! Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes before slicing them and baking them off. If you’re freezing the dough overnight or longer, make sure you wrap the dough up tightly in plastic wrap to avoid it drying out. Also – you will probably need to let it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before it’s soft enough to slice in to.
how to cut butter into the scones
There are multiple different ways that you can incorporate butter into your scones. I find it’s easiest to cube up the butter and then smush it into the flour with my fingers until the pieces are fairly tiny. You can also use a pastry blender, or two forks to kind of cut the butter up into the flour. If you wanted to prep the night before, you could use a cheese grater to grate the stick of butter and then freeze it until you’re ready to make the scones.
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for blueberry scones:
blueberry scones:
- All purpose flour: for structure.
- Baking powder: for helping the scones rise.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the scones.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and making those delicious flaky layers. You can substitute in salted butter, just be sure to remove the excess salt from the dough!
- Light brown sugar: for lightly sweetening and for moisture. You can easily substitute in granulated or dark brown sugar.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Sour cream: makes these scones nice and tender and keeps them from being dry. I recommend full-fat sour cream for the best texture.
- Blueberries: I used fresh blueberries. Notes on how to use frozen can be found later in this blog post.
- Hazelnuts: optional, but great for flavor and texture. Make sure the hazelnuts are skinless if using. You could also replace this with walnuts, almonds, pecans, or pistachios.
blueberry glaze:
- Blueberries & granulated sugar: we’re going to macerate the blueberries to get a natural, beautiful purple/pink hue in the glaze!
- Dried culinary lavender: optional for a little floral note in the glaze. Here is the one I use.
- Powdered sugar: the base of the glaze.
how to make blueberry scones with blueberry glaze
blueberry scones recipe q&a
can I make these blueberry scones ahead of time?
Yes, you can! There are two ways you could go about this.
- Prepping the night before: After making the scone dough and shaping it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and leave in the freezer overnight. In the morning you can bake these scones off as stated in the recipe.
- Prepping further in advance: After making the scone dough and shaping it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Freeze the dough for up to 1 month before baking. You can bake the scones right from frozen, they will just need a couple more minutes in the oven!
can I double this recipe?
Of course! Simply double all of the ingredients in the recipe and divide the dough into even circles. I (even more) strongly recommend measuring by weight if you are going to double the recipe for the best results.
can I use frozen blueberries instead of fresh blueberries?
Yes, of course! They are a little bit more finicky to work with but honestly, fresh fruit can be expensive (especially if not in-season) so frozen is always a great back-up option. They will also bleed a lot more so your dough may be more blueish-greenish than the ones you see in this post, but that won’t make them any less delicious.
For the glaze, you’ll use the same process, you just may need to wait 20-30 minutes before you can mash the blueberries. Also, I would recommend slowly adding the blueberry juice into the powdered sugar because frozen berries will give off a lot more liquid.
how to store scones
Like most baked goods, these scones will taste the best on the day that they are baked, but will keep well for 3-5 days in an airtight container stored at room temperature.
american scones vs. british scones
These are very much American scones. British scones are more akin to American biscuits and likewise, do not contain any egg (while British biscuits are more like shortbread in America!) These scones contain one egg which helps make them light, fluffy, and moist.
My scones turned out super dry
The #1 reason for baked goods coming out super dry is not measuring the flour properly. I seriously can’t recommend using a scale enough for the best baking experience and outcome! They may also turn out dry if you over-kneaded the dough (only knead until it comes together), or if you browned the butter for too long and too much moisture evaporated.
My scones spread a lot in the oven
There are three reasons this may have occurred –
- The dough was not chilled for long enough. Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking. This allows all the ingredients to get cold again, which leads to less spreading in the oven.
- Your oven temperature is wrong. I recommend getting an oven thermometer, you might be surprised to find out that your oven runs too hot or cold!
- Your baking powder might be expired. You can test if your baking powder is active by dropping some in a small amount of water. If it bubbles, it’s active, if not, it’s expired.
tools and ingredients:
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other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
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Blueberry Scones
Ingredients
Macerated Blueberries
- 80 g fresh blueberries (½ c.)
- 2 tbsp. light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp. dried culinary lavender optional
Blueberry Scones
- 1 egg
- 95 g sour cream (⅓ c. + 1 tbsp.)
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 240 g all purpose flour (2 c.)
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- 35 g light brown sugar (3 tbsp.)
- 113 g unsalted butter cold, cubed (½ c.)
- 140 g fresh blueberries (1 c.)
- 70 g hazelnuts skinless, crushed (½ c.)
Blueberry Glaze
- 180 g powdered sugar (1 ½ c.)
- macerated blueberry juice
Instructions
Blueberry Scones
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, sour cream, and vanilla. Set the mixture in the fridge.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cube up your cold butter stick and add it into the dry ingredients.
- Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut the butter into the flour mixture until the butter pieces are quite small (pea-sized pieces.)
- Make a well in the center of the ingredients. Add in the sour cream/egg mixture, fresh blueberries, and crushed hazelnuts.
- Gently mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Once you reach a point where it seems hard to continue mixing in the bowl, pour the dough out onto a clean work surface.
- Use your hands to lightly knead the scone dough until it comes together as one.
- Form the dough into a circle that is 6" in diameter. Place the giant dough circle onto a sheet of parchment paper and on to a plate or tray. Cover the dough lightly with plastic wrap and let it rest in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.
Macerated Blueberries
- In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the sugar and lavender (if using). Mash up the blueberries, then cover the bowl and place it in the fridge until you're ready to make the glaze. You can make this macerated blueberry mixture up to 48 hours in advance.
- Once you're ready to bake the scones, preheat the oven to 425°F / 220°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Slice the scones into 8 equally sized triangles. Evenly space them apart on the lined baking sheet.
- If desired, you can brush a little bit of heavy cream on top of the scones to encourage the tops to brown. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the scones start to turn golden brown on the tops and bottoms.
Blueberry Glaze
- Pour the macerated blueberries through a fine mesh sieve into a small mixing bowl. Add in the powdered sugar, and whisk until combined. If the berries didn't make enough juice for the mixture to come together, you can slowly add in your favorite milk or water until you reach your desired glaze consistency.
- Once the scones have cooled to room temperature, top them with the glaze. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
cutting the butter into the flour:
My favorite way to do this is with my hands because you have more control in breaking up the pieces of butter. Use your fingers (or a pastry cutter) to cut up the butter into smaller chunks and distribute it throughout the flour, until the pieces are pea-sized. If the butter pieces are too large, they will just melt out while baking rather than giving you lift and flaky layers.Keep the dough & ingredients cold:
I know I’m always saying to have room temperature ingredients, but another reason scones are great is because you *need* cold ingredients. You’ll want to keep your ingredients cold to avoid melting the butter. If at any point your dough seems too warm while putting it together, place it in the freezer for 5 minutes and then continue on with the recipe.Hazelnuts & lavender:
I added hazelnuts to the dough because they pair so nicely with the blueberries and is nice for some added texture in the scones. You can omit the hazelnuts and replace them with your favorite nut, or just leave them out all together. Same with the lavender – adding it into the macerated blueberry mixture gives you just a nice hint of floral notes in the glaze. You could leave it out or even replace it with dried rose petals which would also be delicious!Use a kitchen scale:
I can’t stress enough the importance of a kitchen scale for accurate baking. While other things can go wrong during the baking process, using a kitchen scale helps your recipe come out closer to how mine did and can be more helpful for troubleshooting if something goes wrong. Here is a cheaper kitchen scale (affiliate link) that was trusty and helpful when I was starting with a scale. If you can’t use a scale – please make sure that you fluff up your flour with a fork, and spoon it into your measuring cup while measuring the flour.Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
just IN LOVEEE with this recipe. the final product is gorgeous and i lovee that we used fresh blueberries in batter andddd the glaze. this is SOOOO good, pillowy and just chefs kisses
I loved this recipe! So delicious, they came out great.
Thank you so much Julia, I’m so happy you liked them!! 🙂
These are so good! When first reading the recipe I wasn’t convinced they were going to be great. Like how are they this good!? And why would I ever doubt your recipes!? Rookie mistake🙃
They are flakey, soft and so delicious! The glaze is the perfect compliment! They are also so easy!
Thank you so much Catelyn, I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂