Vanilla Scones (And Variations)
Related Post: Scones Primer
Lots of options for changing up the flavour in these scones, including using dried fruit or chocolate. See the notes after the recipe. If you like a hint of spice, try my vanilla cardamom scones. For a chocolate fix, try my chocolate chip scones.
Vanilla Scones (and Variations)
A rich vanilla scone that you can change up by adding a range of different ingredients, from fruit to chocolate. See suggested variations below. (This recipe is adapted from the orange cream scones at A Latte Food.)
Servings: 8 scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup 35% cream, plus more for brushing on scones before baking
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
Icing
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 3/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp milk or cream, or more, as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (See Notes, below.)
- Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together to incorporate.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, cream, 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 35% cream if desired. (This gives a nice sheen to the finished scones.)
- Bake for 12-13 minutes, or until edges start to turn golden.
- 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.
- While the scones are cooling, 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 milk or cream, a couple of drops at a time. (See Notes, below.)
- Drizzle or spread icing on cooled scones.
Notes
- 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.
- ½ cup (120 mL) frozen, wild blueberries. Do not thaw them first. The fruit adds moisture, so the scones might take a little longer to bake.
- about 1/3 cup (78 mL) each of white chocolate chips and dried cranberries or dried blueberries.
- about ½ cup (120 mL) chocolate chips, or any other flavour of baking chip (salted caramel, butterscotch, peanut butter, toffee, mint–whatever you prefer). You can also add some chocolate sprinkles to the icing, for an added chocolate boost.
- Try switching the icing for ganache when making chocolate chip scones, or any scone really! I use this recipe from Life, Love & Sugar, although I cut back the volume. For full details on the amounts, refer to my chocolate chip scones recipe.
Vanilla bean image by Mariia Sultanova | Dreamstime.com