These better-than-the-bakery blueberry scones are bursting with juicy blueberries. They’re buttery and moist with crisp, crumbly edges and soft, flaky centers. Crunchy coarse sugar and creamy vanilla icing are the perfect finishing touches!
I originally published this recipe in 2014 and have since added new photos and a video tutorial.
Scones. You either love them or hate them. I used to fall in the latter category, passing on them in favor of muffins or quick breads. Scones can taste pretty dry, comparable to lackluster triangles of cardboard. No, thanks.
But my opinion on scones took a total 180 a few years ago when I attended a cooking event in the Panera Bread test kitchen. Turns out that I’ve been eating all the wrong scones because when done right, these sweet treats tiptoe into a world of pastry perfection.
Since then, I mastered chocolate chip scones, apple cinnamon scones, ham & cheese scones, cinnamon scones, lavender scones, and strawberry lemon scones. I use the same master scone recipe for each flavor, a formula promising the BEST scone texture. By the way, I wrote an entire post devoted to my favorite base scones recipe. Today we’re making blueberry scones, which is definitely my favorite scone flavor.
There’s no denying these are the best blueberry scones on the planet. Strong statement, right? Trust me.
One reader, Rich, commented: “Sally, I would like to say thank you! These pastries were awesome. I was expecting a dry and pale flavor that I usually get from scones. These blueberry scones absolutely melted in our mouths. I can’t say enough about the recipe. One word for these—AWESOME! I am going to try more of your recipes, and I’m sure I won’t be disappointed. ★★★★★“
These Blueberry Scones Have:
- Crisp, crumbly edges
- Soft, moist centers
- Crunchy golden brown exterior
- Buttery rich flavor
- An overflow of blueberries
- Mega vanilla icing drizzles
Let’s make them!
Blueberry Scone Ingredients
Nothing but basic ingredients coming together to produce something extraordinary. 🙂
- Flour: 2 cups of all-purpose flour is my standard amount, but set extra aside for the work surface and your hands.
- Sugar: I stick with around 1/2 cup of sugar for this scone dough. Feel free to slightly decrease, but keep in mind that the scone flavor and texture will slightly change.
- Baking Powder: Adds lift.
- Salt, Cinnamon, & Vanilla Extract: Add flavor.
- Cold Butter: Besides flour, cold butter is the main ingredient in blueberry scones. It adds flavor, flakiness, crisp edges, and rise. More on butter below!
- Heavy Cream: For the best-tasting pastries, use a thick liquid such as heavy cream. Buttermilk works too! For a nondairy option, try using full-fat canned coconut milk. Avoid thinner liquids such as milk or almond milk—you’ll be headed down a one-way street to dry, bland, and flat scones.
- Egg: Adds flavor, lift, and structure.
- Blueberries: Use fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen, do not thaw.
Before baking, brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. These extras add a bakery-style crunch and beautiful golden sheen. Highly recommended!
Frozen Grated Butter
Frozen grated butter is key to blueberry scone success.
Like with pie crust, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients. The cold butter coats the flour. When the butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam and pockets of air. These pockets add a flaky center, while keeping the edges crumbly, crunchy, and crisp. Refrigerated butter might melt in the dough as you work with it, but frozen butter will hold out until the oven. And the finer the pieces of cold butter, the less the scones spread and the quicker the butter mixes into the dry ingredients. Remember, you don’t want to over-work scone dough.
I recommend grating the frozen butter with a box grater.
How to Make Blueberry Scones
Blueberry scones are a quick and easy breakfast pastry recipe. Since there’s no yeast, they go from the mixing bowl to the oven relatively quickly. First, mix the dry ingredients together. You need flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Second, cut cold butter into the dry ingredients. You can use a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your hands. A food processor works too, but it often overworks the scone dough. To avoid overly dense scones, work the dough as little as possible.
Next, whisk the wet ingredients together. You need heavy cream, 1 egg, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the blueberries, then gently mix together. Form the dough into a disc on the counter, then cut into 8 wedges.
One of my tricks: To obtain a flaky center and a crumbly exterior, scone dough must remain cold. Cold dough won’t over-spread, either. Therefore, I highly recommend you chill the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes prior to baking. You can even refrigerate overnight for a quick breakfast in the morning.
After that, bake the scones until golden brown.
The scones are fantastic warm out of the oven, but taste even better with a drizzle of vanilla icing on top. The icing is totally optional, but you should never pass up the chance to accessorize! It seeps down into the cracks and crevices, adding even more sweet flavor. A dusting of confectioners’ sugar or pat of homemade honey butter is tasty, too!
More Essential Breakfast Recipes
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My Favorite Blueberry Scones
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 large scones
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These better-than-the-bakery blueberry scones are bursting with juicy blueberries. They’re buttery and moist with crisp, crumbly edges and soft, flaky centers. Read through the recipe before beginning. You can skip the chilling for 15 minutes prior to baking, but I highly recommend it to prevent the scones from over-spreading.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream (plus 2 Tbsp for brushing)
- 1 large egg
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 heaping cup (140g) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
- for topping: coarse sugar and vanilla icing
Instructions
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your fingers until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. See video for a closer look at the texture. Place in the refrigerator or freezer as you mix the wet ingredients together.
- Whisk 1/2 cup heavy cream, the egg, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the flour mixture, add the blueberries, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
- Pour onto the counter and, with floured hands, work the dough into a ball as best you can. Dough will be sticky. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour. If it seems too dry, add 1–2 more Tablespoons heavy cream. Press into an 8-inch disc and, with a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges.
- Brush scones with remaining heavy cream and, for extra crunch, sprinkle with coarse sugar. (You can do this before or after refrigerating in the next step.)
- Place scones on a plate or lined baking sheet (if your fridge has space!) and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. After refrigerating, arrange scones 2–3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 22–25 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes before topping with vanilla icing.
- Leftover iced or un-iced scones keep well at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Freeze Before Baking: Freeze scone dough wedges on a plate or baking sheet for 1 hour. Once relatively frozen, you can layer them in a freezer-friendly bag or container. Bake from frozen, adding a few minutes to the bake time. Or thaw in the refrigerator overnight, then bake as directed.
- Freeze After Baking: Freeze the baked and cooled scones before topping with icing. I usually freeze in a freezer-friendly bag or container. To thaw, leave out on the counter for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Warm in the microwave for 30 seconds or on a baking sheet in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 10 minutes.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare scones through step 4. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Continue with the recipe the following day.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Box Grater | Pastry Cutter | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | Bench Scraper | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush
- Over-spreading: Start with very cold scone dough. Expect some spread, but if the scones are over-spreading as they bake, remove from the oven and use a spatula to press back into shape, then return to the oven to finish baking.
Your recipes are so delicious! Everyone of them are always a keeper! Thank you, keep on creating!
delish!
will frozen raspberries work in this recipe? 🙂
Absolutely!
Hello – would any changes to baking time be needed if baking these in a silicone scone mold?
Hi Annie, we haven’t tested this recipe in a silicone mold, so don’t know for sure. Begin checking them around 22 minutes, and take them out when they’re lightly browning on the top and around the edges. Enjoy!
I love scones. Now I have a recipe and technique to make them at home. Thanks Sally!
These are truly delicious. The cinnamon in the dough mixes with the pops of blueberry so well. I could eat all of them in one sitting. My only change would be to add more blueberries as that was my favorite part. Our blueberries were huge, so I would probably get smaller blueberries so they are more evenly distributed across the dough. But that is my fault! Excellent recipe.
These blueberry scones are delicious! This was my first attempt to make scones and I’ll definitely make them again. Can I substitute raisins for the blueberries?
Hi Janine, absolutely! Raisins would be delicious here.
These scones are perfection. The only things I do differently are to grate cold butter and THEN freeze it. Much easier. We have brunch often and serve these often. However, since they are very large, I divide the dough in two and form each into a circle about 5 1/2 inches in diameter and cut each into six pieces.
If all i have is whipping cream instead of heavy cream can i use that instead? will it mess up my scones?
Hi Suzanne, that should work in a pinch. Enjoy!
Do you use the upper oven rack for the blueberry scones ?
Hi Ralph, I recommend the center rack for most baking recipes unless otherwise indicated.
My first time making scones and they are so delicious! I need to practice on how to make eight pieces the same size. I had a few that were bigger than others but they tasted just great! the scones and these were just enough softness that we’re just perfect texture!
Have made Sally’s master scone recipe many times. Made the blueberry scones with buttermilk and refrigerated dough overnight. Best batch ever! Great texture and flavor.
Best scones I’ve ever tasted!
I’m curious if I should use room temperature eggs and cream since the butter is frozen?
Hi Nicole, you’re going to want to start with very cold scone dough to avoid overspreading, so we’d recommend keeping the eggs and cream cold before combining the ingredients.
We made these and omg they are just delish the house smelled like heaven they are the best scones we have ever eaten light and airy not dense phenomenal make them and we are making them again
I plan to try this recipe for a friend who is a blueberry nutcase! However, they look like very thick cookies, and I’m looking for something that is taller and can be easily split in half. Should I make these thicker?
Hi Gerry, you can make these thicker, or drop style, if you prefer. Bake time will be longer. But these aren’t thin, like cookies!
I love all your recipes!! Do you have a big fat cookbook with all kinds of recipes? Ive been looking. I really only use your recipes!! Your recipes are always my 1st go to..because they never fail Thank you!
Hi Carrie, we’re so glad that you are enjoying these recipes! Here is the Cookbooks page. The 4th will be published in 2025!
These look absolutely delicious. I just bought a mini scone pan. Any tips on using that for this recipe?
Hi Julie, we haven’t tested these in a speciality scone pan but we don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Let us know how they turn out if you try!
I wonder if buttermilk could work in place for part or all the cream? Or is it fat from the cream that’s important?
Hi Molly, buttermilk works great here – happy baking!
Absolutely delicious! I used frozen blueberries and kept them completely frozen until I VERY gently folded them into the dough. My dough turned purple!!! It didn’t affect the taste but they sure looked ugly. They were for my daughter’s birthday breakfast and I’m so glad she has a great sense of humor.
I also used frozen blueberries, thinking the colder the better, and my scones are also a deep shade of purple, won’t be eating them until tomorrow though.
Do you think the frozen berries rather than fresh ones be the cause of the color?
Another classic and spot recipe. Made the best scones yet. Used Vietnamese cinnamon and the pop of flavor was astonishing. Again, thank you for posting reliable recipes.
The neighbor raved, the lady in the tienda raved and so did my husband. Needed something quick before we had guests over. These fit the bill and everyone loves them.
Looking forward to seeing your next recipe..
This is the best scone recipe!
I’ve made these a few times and everyone always loves them. Great flavor and texture. I use a cast iron wedge pan to bake them so they maintain their shape.
I make this recipe often,. My whole family and friends love them. Especially adding lemon zest and glaze.
I make these scones weekly cause my husband loves them as do I. Twice I’ve tried grating the frozen butter but it sticks to the grater and makes a mess when I try to scrape it off from the inside. Any tips? I’ve been cutting the butter into cubes and smooshing with my fingers and refrigerate overnight and they come out perfect!
Hi Mary, is your stick of butter frozen before you grate it? It will soften in your hands a bit as you grate it, but you can always stick it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes if it’s becoming difficult to work with. That said if you’ve found an alternative method that works for you, feel free to continue using it!
Mary, I add the butter last so it stays as frozen as it can. I use a food processor to grate it down and a spatula to get it into the dough never touching it.
I love this scone recipe and have been making it since when it was first published. The year the blueberries are really wonderful, big and sweet and the scons are super yummy.
This morning I’m about to make your recipe for strawberry scones. Love those too. With the poppy seeds and lemon, wonderful!
Love all you recipes and I’m getting quite a collection.
How would I use fresh rhubarb in this recipe?
Hi Wendy! Rhubarb is great in scones, you can use the same amount of chopped rhubarb.
These are my favorite as well…all your scone recipes are great.
I sometimes sub out half a cup of the flout with half a cup of medium grind cornmeal. It makes them a bit more rustic and adds the corneal taste I happen to love. I also often prepare them the night before , put the disk in the fridge and in the morning, portion them out and proceed with baking.
Delicious moist Scones and excellent easy-to-follow recipe! Thank you for the extra tips too, helped with a perfect execution on the first try!
I don’t have whipping cream on hand. Can I substitute yogurt mix with water or low-fat milk?
Hi Janya, we don’t recommend using yogurt. Heavy cream or buttermilk would be best (and half-and-half or whole milk will work in a pinch).
Delicious recipe! I can’t wait to try your other variations. The only hiccup is that I haven’t managed to prevent the over spreading. I followed the recipe closely. So I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. But either way, they are delicious, so I will continue to use this recipe!