Looking for soft, buttery, flaky scones to serve at your next tea party? This basic Buttermilk Scones recipe is everything you need and more. I’ll share with you all my tips and tricks for the most tender, delicious scones in any flavor!
Fresh from the oven, the outside of these scones is crispy while the inside is soft and fluffy. These melt-in-your-mouth plain buttermilk scones are perfect the way they are, but it is super easy to spruce them up with mix-ins and any flavor your heart desires.
I love to serve these scones slightly warm with a cup of coffee for breakfast or with afternoon tea. If you must have something extra, a simple pat of butter and jam will do. Or get fancy with some:
How to make Scones
These basic Buttermilk Scones are made with lots of buttermilk of course, and some very cold butter for that delicious buttery taste and tender texture.
- Start by working the cubed butter to the dry ingredient mixture with the tips of your fingers until about pea and bean size. Make sure to use cold butter.
- Beat together buttermilk, egg, vanilla, and add the mixture to the dry ingredients. Leave behind 1 – 2 tablespoon to use as egg wash later.
- Fold with a spatula until a shaggy dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat it out into a rectangle, fold it over itself a few times. Finally, pat it into a circle about 1” thick.
- Cut into 8 triangles and transfer to a lined baking sheet. Brush with the reserved egg wash, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar just before baking.
Customizing your own buttermilk scones recipe
This is the best scone recipe for customization. You can easily add flavors using citrus zest or different flavor extracts and spices. You can fold in dried fruits, fresh fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, pretty much anything you can think of!
- If you’re using any kind of citrus zest, mix the zest with sugar to release the essential oil before you mix all of the dry ingredients together.
- If you’re using ground spices, stir them into the dry ingredients before adding the cubed butter.
- If you’re using a different kind of extract, reduce the amount of vanilla called for in the recipe to ¼ – ½ teaspoon but don’t omit it altogether. Then add the additional extract in with the wet ingredients.
- If you’re using any kind of filling like dried fruits, fresh fruits, nuts, or chocolate chips, toss them into the flour mixture after you have finished working the butter in and just before adding the wet ingredients.
- If you’re using delicate fresh fruits like berries, you’ll want to skip the “fold the dough over itself” step to avoid squishing the berries. Just shape the dough into a disk right away.
Baker’s Tips
- Similar to making any type of pastry dough, you want to make sure the butter pieces are still visible within the dough. When the scones are baked at high temperature, the butter will melt leaving behind pockets, creating that flaky texture.
- While working with this buttermilk scone dough and any variation of it, use only as much extra flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. Adding too much extra flour can dry out the scones. A slightly wet dough will yield softer scones once baked.
- Folding the dough over itself is a crucial step to create distinct layers and making the scones “flaky” when baked, with the exception when using berries for filling.
- These scones do spread because the dough is softer, refrigerating or freezing the dough before baking could help curb the spreading and allow them to rise higher.
- I like to use an insulated baking sheet for scones to keep the bottom of the scones from getting too brown. A regular baking sheet will work, but the bottom of the scones may get extra crispy.
- This recipe makes 8 fairly large scones, cut them smaller if you wish to make a batch of 12 mini scones. Bake the mini scones for about 15 minutes.
Storing and reheating
These scones will keep at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped individually in plastic for 3 – 5 days. They do not need to be refrigerated but will last longer in the fridge.
They are best when still slightly warm straight from the oven, but you can serve them at room temperature the next day, or warm them up in the microwave for 15 – 20 seconds. I like to wrap them in a damp paper towel when microwaving so they don’t dry out.
Unique scones recipe you’ll love
- Almond Scones (with homemade almond paste)
- Cinnamon Scones (coffee cake scones)
- (Starbucks) Cranberry Orange Scones
- Orange Scones with dried apricots
- Apple Pie Scones
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, send me a photo, rate it and don’t forget to tag me @wildwildwhisk on Instagram. I’d love to see what’s cooking up in your kitchen. Cheers!
Buttermilk Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cup all-purpose flour, 270 g
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 63 g
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 oz unsalted butter, cold & cubed, 113 g
- ⅔ cup buttermilk, 160 g
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Turbinado sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder into a large mixing bowl, add kosher salt and sugar, whisk to combine.
- Add cold cubed butter to the flour mixture, work the butter into the flour with your fingertips or a pastry blender until all the butter pieces are about pea and lima bean size.
- Add egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract to a small bowl, whisk to combine. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture, reserving 1 - 2 tablespoon to use as egg wash later. Fold with a spatula or wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board or countertop, and pat the dough out into a rectangle about 1/2” thick. Fold the dough over itself and pat it out again, do this about 3 - 4 times. Then shape the dough into a circle about 1” thick. Cut into 8 portions.
- Place the scones on the parchment-lined baking sheet, brush the top and sides with reserved egg wash, and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet 5 - 10 minutes before transferring the scones to the wire rack to cool completely. Best served warm.
Video
Notes
- Customize this recipe using citrus zest, different flavor extracts and spices, as well as adding filling such as dried fruits, fresh fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, ect.
- Folding the dough over itself is a crucial step to create distinct layers and making the scones “flaky” when baked, with the exception when adding fresh berries for filling.
- This scone dough will spread, if you want it to be taller or spread less, you could freeze the dough after cutting it into 8 before baking or pat it out taller than 1”.
- This recipe makes 8 large scones, you can divide it into 12 smaller scones if you wish. Note that smaller scones will bake faster so you’ll need to adjust the baking time appropriately, about 15 minutes.
- I like to use an insulated baking sheet for scones to keep the bottom of the scones from getting too brown. A regular baking sheet will work, but the bottom of the scones may get extra crispy.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
This post was originally published on 9/10/2018. The post has been updated and republished on 6/5/2020 with the latest improvements, extra tips, and a video to help you in the kitchen.
I have tried 8 scone recipes (including several from well known authors and British baking show judges) and these are absolutely superior to the others. I have made these several times using a variety of flours and dried fruits. I have frozen the dough and they baked from frozen wonderfully (adding extra bake time of course). When frozen, I have brushed them with half and half cream. This recipe is the outstanding!
For those of us who measure ingredients by weight, it would be so useful to provide this info as part of the ingredients. I see that you provided, in your comments, weights that you actually used, vs just a mathematical conversion, thanks for doing so.
Thank you for a wonderful review, John!
Lovely simple and quick recipe! I even put it up on Youtube for others to see and shared your blog in the description of the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tRixCbCoN0
Hi Les, thanks for making the recipe and a wonderful video 🙂
I have made this recipe twice now. Both times my dough was quite wet. The first time I misread and used one teaspoon of baking powder instead of one tablespoon. They didn’t raise much but were soft and fluffy. My dough both times was slightly firmer than muffin batter but I turned it (the gloop) out onto a very well floured surface, floured my hands as I was patting and folding the dough and after several folds and turning over, the dough became more scone-like/firm. In all, the floured surface and extra flour for hands used about 3/4 cup additional flour. I popped thr dough into the fridge for about 15 minutes before shaping and baking. I didn’t want triangles so after cutting, I patted the dough and shaped into circles. No complaints from the family. My second batch of dough – eith the correct amount of baking powder) is in the fridge now. Hoping it will rise better this time but even if it doesn’t, if it is as good as the previous batch, they will be gone in a flash.
P.S. I used milk that had just expired instead of throwing it away and going out to buy buttermilk.
3/4 cup extra flour is quite a bit more than what I would expect. I do like to keep my scones dough slightly wetter, so they come out softer on the inside. If you have trouble working with it, a trick is to use a bench scraper to help lift the dough. I appreciate your thorough and detailed comment. This would help others if they run into the same problem. I’m glad to hear that at least the family didn’t complain 🙂
Absolutely perfect. I did add extra vanilla, and brushed with buttermilk instead of egg. , sprinkled with brown sugar instead of white.
Just made them and they are amazing! I am going to try to add different flavours but the base it perfect!!
Thanks Silvia, they are the perfect vehicles for other flavors!
Just made these this morning – my new favorite scone recipe!!! I added candied and fresh ginger. Used frozen butter which I grated into the flour. Turned out wonderfully light, flaky, fluffy. Thanks for a great recipe! Can’t wait to try more variations.
Oh I love candied ginger, such a clever addition. Thank you for the wonderful review!
Melt in your mouth scones.
Came out beautifully ,Made it for my wife Kamie for Mothers Day treat with a cup of Jacobs Coffee.She said it was way better that store bought muffins.Light and deliciously moist,Thank you very much for the recipe.
What a wonderful Mother’s day treat, happy mother’s day to your wife and thank you for the review! 🙂
Not sure what I do wrong. I measured everything properly, but the dough was wet to handle.
Wait, nevermind. I figured out what I did wrong. I was supposed save some of the buttermilk mixture but I ended up putting everything in.
Hi Winston, sometimes cup measures can vary depending on how you measure it, 1 cup for me is usually about 135 g, sometimes 140 g but I know for some people 1 cup can be 120 g which will definitely affect the texture of the dough. If the mixture is too wet to handle, add a little more flour, but keep in mind that you don’t want it to be dry because the scones will end up too dry after baking. This dough should be a little wet and sticky, just keep the surface and your hands floured well, if it sticks a bit, it’s totally fine, use a scraper for the counter surface.
This was my first time ever making scones and I am a beginner baker, and these were AMAZING! I decided to grate the frozen butter in the flour and chilled the cut scones in the fridge for half an hour before baking. CAME OUT GREAT!
Thank you Aarti! I’m so happy to hear they were a success! Keep on baking 🙂
OH MY GOD !!! I literally tried 3 times to make scones these came out amazing and fluffy !! I wish I can send you a reaction video I’m so happy !!!
I’m so happy to hear and I can totally feel your excitement through your comment 🙂 🙂 Thank you so much for baking with my recipes!