Soft and tender, melt-in-your-mouth Strawberry Scones, filled with juicy fresh strawberries and creamy white chocolate chips are the perfect brunch treats for spring and summer.
These Strawberry Cream Scones are made with a cream scone base instead of the typically buttermilk scone base. The heavy cream gives these a rich milk taste, enhanced by the creamy white chocolate chips.
How to make Strawberry Scones
Why don’t you use butter in this strawberry scones recipe?
You may notice right away that this recipe doesn’t call for any butter. This is intentional. Skipping the butter will keep this scone dough on the dryer side which works beautifully with a juicy filling like fresh strawberries.
I always bake with heavy cream or heavy whipping cream, the kind you make whipped cream with, which contains 36% fat, and this should be enough fat to make a rich scone dough even without the butter.
➤ Be sure to use heavy whipping cream or whipping cream at the very least for the much needed fat content in this recipe.
Preparing the strawberry scone dough
Preparing strawberry scone dough (Photos 1 – 4)
- Start by mixing the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt and sugar, in a medium mixing bowl.
- Add the chopped fresh strawberries and white chocolate chips.
- Toss to cover the berries and chocolate chips in flour completely. Make a well in the middle.
- In a measuring cup, add the egg, and enough cream to fill 1 cup. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Pour this mixture into the well created in the flour mixture, reserving 1 – 2 tablespoon to use as egg wash.
Shaping strawberry scone dough (Photos 5 – 10)
- Fold with a spatula until a shaggy dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
- Gather all the crumbs together, quickly and gently shape it into a 1”-1 ½” thick circle.
- Cut into 8 triangles.
- Brush with additional reserved cream.
- Sprinkle with turbinado sugar before baking.
An alternate way to incorporate the strawberries and chocolate chip into this recipe is to roll the dough out into a rectangle, sprinkle the fillings on top, and roll it up like you would a cinnamon roll. See this almond scones recipe for the process photos of the described technique.
Here’s what the scone would look like using the “cinnamon roll” technique.
What the scone looks like using the “cinnamon roll” technique
Can I use frozen strawberries?
Yes, you can use frozen strawberries instead of fresh strawberries. However, frozen strawberries will begin releasing liquid as soon as they start to thaw, so the scone dough will start getting wet and sticky and a little difficult to work with.
If using frozen strawberries, you will have to work very quickly while the strawberry pieces are still frozen, and you will need to add extra flour to keep the dough from being too wet.
I also suggest reducing the amount of liquid ingredient (cream) called for in this recipe if using frozen strawberries since they will release more liquid when baked, causing the scones to spread more.
➤ Keep the strawberries frozen for as long as you can and work the dough as quickly as you can to avoid them thawing and releasing too much liquid. You may also want to reduce the amount of cream called for to keep the dough from spreading too much.
Can I use buttermilk instead of cream?
Cream provides the fat content needed in this recipe so that you don’t have to add butter. If you want to use buttermilk or any other milk for that matter, you’ll need to add butter to the dough to replace the missing fat from the cream.
You could follow the recipe for these buttermilk scones instead as a starting point. However, keep in mind that you will most likely need to adjust the liquid ingredients in that recipe to keep the scone dough from being too wet as it was developed as a plain scone recipe without any fillings.
➤ It is best to stick to the recipe as written, but if you make the substitution, just be aware that you will need to make some adjustments to the recipe to get similar results.
Can I use other berries or add-ins?
Feel free to substitute other berries, such as:
- Blueberries are the easiest to work with because they don’t tend to release a ton of juice especially while shaping the dough. They’re great in scones like these blueberry scones.
- Raspberries will work, and they go well with white chocolate chips like in these raspberry and white chocolate chip muffins. But they are delicate so you will need to be extra careful not to crush them. I recommend the cinnamon roll technique for this.
- You can also add citrus zest like lemon or orange zest for more fresh flavor like these lemon poppy seed scones or clementine orange scones.
Baker’s Tips
- Try not to add too much flour while working with the scone dough to avoid drying them out. A slightly wetter dough will create softer and more tender scones. Don’t be afraid of a dough that sticks to your hand as long as it’s not completely impossible to work with.
- Softer scones will spread in the oven. If you want your scones to spread less, chill the dough in the refrigerator or freezer before baking or make it thicker before cutting.
- You can use a scone pan for this recipe.
More troubleshooting tips
My scone dough is too wet and sticky, and they spread flat in the oven
- Did you measure the flour correctly? Not having enough flour will cause this issue. I included exact measurement of the flour in grams in the recipe card. Use a kitchen scale if you can.
- Did you add too much of the liquid ingredients? Note that I listed ¾ cup of cream as an approximate measurement, but you want to use just enough to fill one cup including the egg. If your egg is on the large side, you will need less cream.
- Perhaps your strawberries are extra juicy or you added too many strawberries. You’ll need to add more flour while working with the dough to counteract this.
- Did you use frozen strawberries? See tips for using frozen strawberries above.
- Did you forget to hold back some liquid to use as egg wash? This will add an extra 1 – 2 tablespoons of liquid to the dough.
My scone dough is too dry
- Did you add too much flour? Everyone measures flour differently and even different measuring cups can give you a different measurement. My typical cup averages around 130 – 135 grams, sometimes 140 grams on the heavy side. I try to stay consistent by fluffing the flour in the container first, scoop and level.
- Did you mismeasure the liquid? Not enough liquid will make these scones dry.
- Did you use less strawberries? The fresh strawberries also add water to the dough.
How to serve strawberry scones
Strawberry scones are best when still slightly warm straight from the oven. You can serve them as is, they have enough sweetness from the sugar and white chocolate chips without being overly sweet.
- A glaze is not necessary but you can make a simple vanilla glaze from cream or milk + powdered sugar, a pinch of salt, and a splash of vanilla. You’ll only need 1 tablespoon of liquid and whisk in enough powdered sugar to get the desired consistency.
- You can drizzle melted white chocolate over the top or make a white chocolate ganache for topping.
- For extra strawberry flavor, serve these with this strawberry sauce.
- For some tangy and refreshing flavor, top them with some lemon curd.
Storing and reheating
These scones will keep at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped individually in plastic for 1 – 2 days.
Since these are made with fresh strawberries, these scones are wetter and can go bad if kept at room temperature for too long. Refrigerate or freeze them if you plan to keep for longer than just a couple of days, they will last up to a week in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Thaw refrigerated and frozen scones at room temperature and warm them up in the microwave for 15 – 20 seconds or toast in the oven at 350°F for about 5 minutes if you want the outside a bit crispy.
More strawberry recipes
- Strawberry Cake
- Individual Strawberry Cobbler
- Strawberry Dump Cake
- Strawberry Dog Treats (for your fur babies)
- Strawberry Orange Smoothie
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!
📖 Recipe card
Strawberry Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cup all-purpose flour (260 g)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (67 g)
- 1 large egg (cold, ~55 g)
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream (or enough to fill one cup including the egg, cold, ~180 g)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup chopped fresh strawberries (173 g)
- ¼ cup white chocolate chips (38 g)
- Turbinado sugar for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Sift flour and baking powder into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk in sugar and salt until evenly distributed.
- Add chopped fresh strawberries and white chocolate chips to the flour mixture and toss to cover the berries and chocolate chips in flour completely.
- In a measuring cup, add the egg and enough cream to fill 1 cup. Add vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
- Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the liquid mixture, reserving about 1 - 2 tablespoons to use as egg wash. Fold with a spatula or wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms.
- Turn the dough out onto a well-floured board or countertop. Gently and quickly gather the dough together and shape into a circle about 1” - 1 ½” thick. Cut into 8 triangles.
- Place the scones on the parchment-lined baking sheet, brush the top and sides with the reserved cream, and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
Notes
- Try not to add too much flour while working with the scone dough to avoid drying them out.
- This scone dough is soft and will spread a bit in the oven. If you want your scones to spread less, chill the dough in the refrigerator or freezer before baking or make it thicker before cutting.
- You can use a scone pan for this recipe.
- Optional glaze: 1 tablespoon of cream (or milk) + ½ cup powdered sugar (more or less for desired consistency) + a splash of vanilla + a pinch of salt.
- Refer to the post for more troubleshooting tips and FAQs.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on 6/25/2017. The post has been updated and republished on 6/24/2020 with the latest improvements, and extra tips to help you in the kitchen.
I decided to make these for a work brunch and they are my new favorite scones! I made one batch for family and my mother (who always says the sweets I make are too sweet) ate 3 of these and they were gone within two hours and then I made one batch of strawberries and cream scones and one batch substituted with blackberries (I had almost two cups of freshly picked blackberries that grow on my property) and they were a hit! Not one was left over after the brunch, and I think that speaks for itself. I like that these aren’t super sweet and I LOVE that it doesn’t have butter in the recipe. I don’t make scones all that often because I often don’t want to deal with the cold/ frozen butter and I love that that wasn’t even an option. I also like how quickly everything comes together. It takes about 20 minutes to mix all the ingredients together and another 20 to bake and I felt like I was a baking machine. Will definitely be making these again.
Hi Sofia, thank you for a wonderful review! I’m so happy to hear these were a hit. Yay!
I’m thinking of trying these minus the chocolate adding in almond paste!! Thoughts?
Yes! But maybe reduce the amount of strawberries so it’s not too much filling cuz the almond paste will spread a bit too when baked.
🙂
These were delicious and I’m very glad you didn’t drop off the face of the internet.
Oh I’m here to stay, don’t worry 😉
So gorgeous, I love how those strawberries are peeking out if their little scone caves.
Awe thank you so much Marie! <3
Oh yeah!