Coconut Scones

These scones have delicious coconut flavour, thanks to the addition of coconut milk and shredded coconut. Use coconut extract if you have it for even more coconut flavour.

Related Post: Scones Primer

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Coconut Scones

If you love coconut, these are the scones for you. I used leftover coconut milk in the dough and icing, and added toasted coconut to boost the flavour even more. These are a little sweet, so you may want to cut them into smaller squares or rounds rather than wedges.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time12 minutes mins

Cool & Icing Time20 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snacks

Keyword: Baking, Coconut, Scones

Servings: 8 scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, medium See Notes, below.
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt. plain or vanilla
• 1 tsp coconut extract, or substitute vanilla
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut, medium, toasted

Icing

• 1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2-3/4 cup icing sugar
• 2 tsp coconut milk, or more, as needed
• 1/4 tsp coconut extract, or substitute vanilla

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (See Notes, below.)
• Add all the dry ingredients, including coconut. to a large bowl and whisk together to incorporate.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, coconut milk, and extract. Set aside. 
• Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is about pea-sized. The dough will have the texture of crumbs. (See Notes, below. Or see the Scones Primer for pictures.)
• Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and stir until dry ingredients are incorporated. 
• Gently knead the dough into a ball in the bowl, then turn out and begin patting into a circle until it’s about 1 inch (2.5cm) thick. You may need to squeeze the outer edges a bit to incorporate crumbly bits into the dough. 
• Cut the dough into 8 evenly sized wedges and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Brush lightly with coconut milk if desired. (This gives a nice sheen to the finished scones.)
• Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until edges start to turn golden.
• While the scones are baking, toast the 1/4 cup coconut. Heat a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Add coconut and let it sit undisturbed for a minute or so, then stir fry it until it turns golden. Coconut burns easily so watch it carefully and lower the heat if it is starting to burn. Remove from heat and set aside. See picture, below, for an idea of the colour you should aim for.
• Let scones cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then move them to a wire rack. Place the parchment from the baking pan under the wire rack to catch drips when you ice the scones.
• After the scones have cooled for about 10-15 minutes, make the icing by whisking together all of the icing ingredients. If the icing is too thin, add more icing sugar, a teaspoon at a time. If it is too thick, add more coconut milk, a couple of drops at a time. (See Notes, below.)
• Drizzle or spread icing on each cooled scone, then sprinkle with toasted coconut .

Notes

• You can use sweetened or unsweetened coconut, but the scones will obviously taste much sweeter with sweetened coconut. I recommend medium so the coconut is more present in the scones. Finely shredded coconut might get lost a little. 
• Ovens can vary widely in temperature. For this recipe, I set my oven to 400F and bake for about 11 minutes. Watch your scones carefully the first time you make this recipe to ensure they don’t bake too long.
• The cutting process can take a few minutes but you want to be able to see pieces of butter in the dough, so don’t go too long with this step. 
• The thickness of the icing is a personal preference. You can drizzle thinner icings in a nice pattern across all the scones or spread thicker icings across the top. 

Serving Ideas for Coconut Scones

• As you can imagine, coconut scones are fairly sweet, especially if you use sweetened coconut. You can counter some of the sweetness with a tart fruit or jam. Have some chopped mango alongside the scones, or spread them with a little raspberry jam. You won’t cut the actual sugar content, of course, but can balance the sweet taste of the scones with that hint of tartness.
• If you are concerned about portion size, instead of making 8 wedges, cut the scone dough into smaller rounds or pat it into a square shape and make small squares. Just be sure to reduce the baking time so the scones don’t burn. Six to eight minutes is probably all you need for smaller scones.

Coconut image by Mariia Sultanova | Dreamstime