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Scone Recipe: The Best Scones Ever

The best scone recipe ever. It always works and it's the perfect base for other flavors!

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This is my scone recipe for the best scones ever – buttery, crispy on the outside but velvety on the inside perfection! These scones are simple to make and will have you baking them weekly for your weekend breakfasts.

Slather these with clotted cream for the perfect combination!

Table of Contents
  1. The Best Scone Recipe Ever
  2. Do Scones Have Eggs?
  3. Simple, Easy Scones Ingredients
  4. Step by Step How to Make Good Scones
  5. More Scone Recipes
  6. Best Scones Ever Recipe Tips & Tricks
  7. Scone Recipe: The Best Scones Ever Recipe
  8. Pin this recipe to your Breakfast or Desserts Boards and Remember to FOLLOW ME ON PINTEREST! 
buttery scones with raisins on blue background

The Best Scone Recipe Ever

I have been baking these scones for as long as I can remember. I think, sometimes, that my husband married me for my baking. Not all of it, but some. He has admitted, in a sugar-induced haze, that he married me so he could savor my butter tarts every Christmas. Now, don’t go getting all excited, I mean butter tarts, there are no sneaky innuendos or double meanings implied there. My family’s recipe for butter tarts. Yup. Savor them he does. Or is the word inhale?

And then that evolved to my mincemeat tarts. And then my shortbread. Now the past few years, its my scones.

I guess baking is cheaper than a divorce in any case, right?

Do Scones Have Eggs?

This recipe does and I think that’s what really sets it apart from all others. I use sour cream AND an egg to make the ultimate rich scones. Really, just read all of the raving reviews below from readers that have made these – I don’t call anything the best unless I REALLY think it is!

Sour cream is what sets the best scones apart from all others, it yields a tender crumb inside while the butter in the recipe makes the outside crispy and snappy, the perfect scone in my opinion. This recipe is one of the oldest on my website and has been updated many times over the years with new photos and even a new how-to video- but never a new recipe!

Simple, Easy Scones Ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of sour cream
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 4 cups of flour
  • 1 cup of white sugar
  • 1 cup of blueberries or raisins, or whatever fruit you want.
  • 1 cup of margarine or butter
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Kick the tires & light the fires to 350 degrees.
all the ingredients needed for scones ready
ingredients needed for scones

Step by Step How to Make Good Scones

Get all of your ingredients ready to use! It’s easier when you have everything ready to go, or “mise en place” as chefs say, which translates to “everything in it’s place.”

ingredients needed for scones in red and white bowls on wood board
ingredients needed for scones

More pretty.

close up of blueberries for scones in a white bowl
bowl of blueberries for scones

Take your bowl with your cup of sour cream, and mix in the baking soda. It makes it poof up. That’s my well-educated explanation of the chemical reaction that happens. It poofs up.

adding the baking soda to a bowl of sour cream in a white bowl
sour cream in a bowl

It…poofs…up.

a spoon in bowl with sour cream
sour cream in a bowl

Ok, throw those 4 cups of flour into a big mixing bowl. I brought out my Big Steel Baddy for this job. He can handle it.

flour mixture for scones in a large stainless bowl, sour cream mixture in a small white bowl on the back
flour mixture for scones recipe

Add your cup of sugar.

adding a cup of sugar to the flour mixture for scones recipe
flour mixture for scones recipe

Add in your baking powder.

 baking powder on a small red bowl
baking powder

And your salt.

pinch of salt in a red small bowl
salt

And whisk them all together, or sift. If anyone out there owns a sifter you can go ahead and feel free to use it. Don’t be intimidated by my whisk, and the fact that it can kick your sifters hiney, then come back and fluff my ingredients right up, then come back for a second helping of kicking hiney on your sifter. Just saying.

a whisk on dry mixture for scones in a large stainless bowl
dry mixture for scones

Ok, butter time. And even though there are some scone purists who may clutch their pearls and fan themselves rapidly with their cookbooks, I have used margarine in this recipe, and it tastes great as well. Choose your poison.

 salted butter in a red small bowl
salted butter

Now, this is one kitchen do-hickey I cannot live without, my pastry blender. Can you believe that I used two knives scissor style for years? And for the gold cookie award, does anyone want to guess who gave me this for Christmas one year? Leave your answer in my comments, I am sure you can guess correctly.

cutting the butter using pastry blender into the dry mixture
cutting butter into scones dry mixture

Cut the butter in until your arms ache, and it looks like this. If your arms aren’t aching, it ain’t cut in enough!

butter blended into the dry mixture
cutting butter into scones dry mixture

Hello world. Meet egg. I love this picture because it shows how I am loathe to wash more dishes than I have to. See the little salt sprinkles on the front edge? I just re-used the closest dirty bowl to me.

 beaten egg in a small red bowl
beaten egg

Beat the egg slightly.

Take your poofy sour cream and your egg and add them in.

adding the beaten egg into the dry ingredients mixture
beaten egg in orange container

Mix it well, and then add your fruit. With fresh fruit, you have to be oh so careful not to squish it in too much. Raisins are amazing in this recipe as well, they make a sweeter scone than the blueberries do. Raisins, you can pound the heck outta the suckers and you won’t even make a dent. Blueberries are a delicate fruit to use, but worth it in the end.

Be gentle.

blueberries added into the mixture for scones on a large stainless bowl
how to mix blueberries into scones

Divide into three equal circles, patting each into a circle that is one inch thick (width ranges from 6-7 inches).

three equal size circles of scone dough
how to cut scone dough

See? If you look at the front, even I squished the berries.  After I had the gall to lecture you. Serves me right. Later I will show you what it looks like all baked up, don’t even sweat it if you squish some.

close up of a circle scone dough
how to cut scone dough

Cut each circle into 6 pieces.

3 pieces of circle scone dough cut into 6 pieces each
how to cut scone dough into 6 pieces

Lay your beautiful little pie-like pieces onto your very well greased baking sheets. Blueberries like to stick.

Pop them into your preheated 350 degree oven and bake until the bottoms are nice and brown, and the tops are slightly browned.

little pie-like pieces of scones on a baking sheet
scones on baking sheet

So here is a squished one, see how it just shoots little blue veins through the dough? No big deal, in fact, fairly attractive looking.

a piece of a pie-like baked blueberry scone
baked blueberry scone

These are great plain, better with margarine or butter, and fantastic with jam.

More Scone Recipes

Here are a few more tried, tested and true recipes here on The Kitchen Magpie!

  1. Glazed Meyer Lemon Scones
  2. Christmas Cherry Scones
  3. Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Scones
  4. Pumpkin Spice Scones
close up of scones with raisins on blue background
scones with raisins

Best Scones Ever Recipe Tips & Tricks

  • Use cold butter ( even frozen) and grate it into the scones if you have a grater. Don’t fear however if you want to make these and you didn’t have time to freeze the butter, cold from the fridge works great as well!
  • Try not to overwork the dough if you can. The heat from your hands will soften the butter. IF you think you did over work the dough, you can refrigerate the scone triangles before you bake them to get the butter hard again.
  • Make sure to read my Step by Step How to Make Perfect Scones. It will totally help you with cutting the scones up!

Happy baking!

Love,

Karlynn

Scone Recipe: The Best Scones Ever

The best scone recipe ever. It always works and it’s the perfect base for other flavors!
4.94 from 284 votes
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
15 minutes
Total Time
25 minutes
Course
Breakfast Meals
Cuisine
British
Servings
18
Calories
287
Author
Karlynn Johnston

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup of sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 4 cups of flour
  • 1 cup of white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup of butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup of blueberries or raisins or whatever fruit you want.
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Instructions
 

  • Kick the tires & light the fires to 350 degrees.
  • Take your bowl with your cup of sour cream, and mix in the baking soda.
  • Whisk together the flour, sugar,baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  • Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or two knives in a criss-cross fashion, until the butter is broken into pea sized morsels in the flour.
  • Beat the egg and mix in into the sour cream.
  • Add the sour cream mixture into the dry mixture, working it in.
  • The dough can be a bit dry, but if you use your hands to combine it, it will be perfect. If needed add milk until it’s combined. The secret to a good scone is a drier dough, not gluey.
  • When the dough is combined, mix in the fruit. I fold in delicate berries by hand.
  • Divide into three equal circles, patting each into a circle that is one inch thick (width ranges from 6-7 inches). Cut each circle into six equal triangles.
  • Bake on a well greased or parchment lined baking sheet for 15-20 minutes, until the scones are browned nicely on the bottom and slightly on the top. Watch them carefully!
  • Serve and enjoy!

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

Tips & Tricks

  • Use cold butter ( even frozen) and grate it into the scones if you have a grater. Don’t fear however if you want to make these and you didn’t have time to freeze the butter, cold from the fridge works great as well!
  • Try not to overwork the dough if you can. The heat from your hands will soften the butter. IF you think you did over work the dough, you can refrigerate the scone triangles before you bake them to get the butter hard again.
  • You can substitute in currants for a very traditional scone!
  • Make sure to read my Step by Step How to Make Perfect Scones. It will totally help you with cutting the scones up!

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1g, Calories: 287kcal, Carbohydrates: 39g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Cholesterol: 42mg, Sodium: 306mg, Potassium: 176mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 410IU, Vitamin C: 0.6mg, Calcium: 49mg, Iron: 1.6mg

All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.

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 Scone Recipe: The Best Scones Ever! Crispy, perfect scones! #scones #recipe #dessert #baking #blueberry #raisin #tea #teatime #British

Karlynn Johnston

I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a cocktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!

Learn more about me

Site Index Blueberry Raisins Scones

Reader Interactions

Comments & Recipe Tips Share a tip or comment!

  1. Kathristal says

    This sounds like an awesome recipe, I can not wait to give it a try! 

    As far as the butter goes, I use real butter frozen, and grate it with 

    a cheese grater. Its the perfect size to make it “crumble” in the flour!

    So much easier and saves time!

  2. tcmcvey says

    Absolutely, positively the best scones ever!! I have been trying to make good scones for years and they always fell short. Too heavy, too crumbly, too tough. These were perfect. I even felt confident enough about them to give some to a friend who is a professional chef. I was a little short on sour cream so I added a bit of heavy cream. I think mixing with the hands is a perfect way to get it all to work together without over doing it. Can’t wait to mix it up a bit and try different flavors. Thanks for this recipe!!!!

    • thekitchenmagpie says

      tcmcvey  So glad that you liked them and yes, working in with your hands is the best way!

  3. just me says

    I love this recipe.  Being lazy, I didn’t cut the butter in — and I used real butter.  Instead, I melted the butter and stirred it in just until mixed.  I didn’t have blueberries, but I had some apples that needed to be used so I grated three small red applies in and added some cinnamon and walnuts – yum!

    • thekitchenmagpie says

      @just me  Glad they worked out! The apple walnut sounds delicious!

  4. Emma says

    So I’m British and super picky about my scones! I have tried many recipes and this was for sure the best I have ever tried!!! I have to add a bit of milk in at the end as the egg and sourcream isn’t enough to bind it all together. I have also tried this with cherries and raisins and then one batch with whole wheat flour which wasn’t bad either! Thanks for sharing this fantastic recipe!

    • ClaudiaRivera says

      Did you use the whole wheat flour for the entire recipe or half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat? Would love to know since I would like to make them using only whole wheat flour. Thanks!

  5. Amber Shirley Medeiros says

    Usually 15-18 mins on my recipe. Just don’t leave!!

  6. Gaetane Shirley says

    Wanting to make some scones….but wish there was at least an idea of how long to bake them??!! Guess I’ll try these and hope I don’t burn the heck out of them!

  7. Gregory Brassil says

    Thanks for this recipe. I’m trying to impress a friend I owe a favor to. This looks like it will do the trick nicely!

  8. Debbie says

    A tip for adding the butter to flour is to grate it on largest holes on grater.

  9. Mindy says

    I will be trying these for the royal wedding. Thank you.

    Signed,

    Your favorite Brit

  10. Karlynn says

    The orange containers aren’t measuring cups, but we do have ALL types of dry measuring cups available, from square to round. Those are just holding the ingredients, so don’t worry. Good luck, they are amazing scones!

  11. Nesta says

    Love the rough rustic look. I’m going to try these to christen my new cooker. Just one thing disconcerting me – looking at the pictures, what kind of cups do you have over there to measure your marg with?! In this country cups are generally round, of different sizes and only used for liquids!

  12. Heide M says

    Thank you for posting your recipe for a classic treat.

  13. Carolyn Edgar says

    The kids and I made these this morning. We have an affinity for chocolate chips – so of course that was our fruit of choice. Great recipe! It has officially replaced my old recipe and will be used in the near future.

  14. Lindsey says

    I have made these scones a couple of times and absolutely love them! My roommate is not a big fan of scones in general but he raves and is extremely overjoyed every time I make them! They taste fantastic and make my apartment complex smell yummy!

  15. Kim says

    Hi Karlynn…Kim again. I was just about to write how i did somethign wrong, but now i know what it is. They are in the oven and spreading, the dough was wet and I could not get the blueberries to incorporate.

    I used double to amount of butter. I measured wrong. *sigh*

    Will let you know how they turn out, though! 😉

  16. Karlynn says

    Oh and Raven, I missed your comment, it WAS the hubby who bought the pastry blender! Gold star for you 😉

  17. kIM says

    I’m going to try these soon — I went and got blueberries just for this recipe!

    Question: for some reason, sprinkling sugar on the top before baking came to mind (maybe a muffin recipe I saw somewhere?) — do you think this would be ok to do?

    • Karlynn says

      I don’t see why you couldn’t sprinkle some sugar on top, but these are pretty amazing the way they are, granted, they aren’t a sweet scone, more of an excellent tea scone. Maybe try a few of each and let me know how the sugar on top is! I haven’t made them in forever…mmm.. just remember to be gentle with the blueberries in them! Happy baking!

  18. Raven says

    For once this is a version i can make perfectly. No complicated “Professional” terms. Your directions are fun and easy to follow and the pics are a perfect addition. Thanks sooo much for sharing. And Im betting it was your adoring hubby that gave you your blender tool just so you would make more yummy treats for him. Blessed Be

  19. Shelly says

    Wow, I’ve never made scones before, and I just made some lemon curd that really needed something to go with it and found your recipe on tastespotting.
    These really ARE the best scones ever… thank you so much for sharing!

  20. Jenn says

    These looks SO good. I’m going to try and make them! (I’m a cooker and not much of a baker). Thanks for sharing!

  21. Sara says

    I made these scones today for a friend. They turned out so delicious, I already ate 2! Thank you for sharing.

  22. Christina says

    I made your recipe and it was so delicious! Instead of blueberries, though, I used raspberries and the zest of one lemon… to die for!!! Thank you so much for the recipe!

  23. K.P. says

    Just thought I would update y’all…these scones were a HIT with the family. Served cool or warm from the microwave, they were delicious. I also found the recipe via tastespotting.

  24. Capillya says

    Found your recipe via Tastespotting. I’m making these today. Just wanted to say I love the step-by-step pics (they ARE pretty!), but I oh-so-very-much enjoyed the humor!

  25. Karlynn says

    K.P. thanks for the lovely comments and telling us your version; I think this recipe is the perfect base for all sorts of scones, the sour cream gives it a perfect tang. It’s also so forgiving, you can mess around with the ingredients and it almost always turns out great!

    Your ingredients sound soo yummy! I would love to try walnuts in these.

  26. K.P. says

    As I’m munching on one right now, warm from the oven, I can’t help but thank you for sharing this great recipe. I made a few alterations that I thought I would share: I used dried apricots and strawberry flavored craisins instead of fresh fruit, I also added chopped walnuts for a little crunch. I thought I would experiment a little, so I doubled the recipe. Eight cups of flour seemed like a lot when I measured it in the bowl, so I cut back to 7 cups, and the consistency was perfect.

    They turned out great! Yummy! Thanks once again 🙂

  27. Maddy(collectingcardigans) says

    Oh my god, they look amazing! I have to make these tomorrow, they look perfect for a sunday baking session 🙂

    • Kathristal says

      okay, I used sour milk and butter instead of sour cream, because I had no sour cream readily available, so I will let you know how this worked out for me! I am on the search for a perfect scone recipe that I can use and omit or add whatever I may be wishing for at that particular time. Like today I am wishing for oat,nut and berry. So this is what I am going to try and incorporate into this particular recipe! I have not yet found a recipe that I truly enjoy! 

  28. Malin says

    I looove scones and have my freezer filled with blueberries! It’s meant to be 🙂

    • Kathristal says

      What can I use instead of sour cream? Would yogurt or milk+vinegar be okay?

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