Perfectly fluffy on the inside and delicately crisp on the outside, these Strawberry Scones are studded with fresh strawberries and drizzled in a lusciously smooth strawberry icing!
Although I’m more of a cinnamon roll girlie, I have to admit that I do love me a good scone from time to time. They’re so soft, tender, and absolutely heavenly with a slab of melted butter. Not to mention, there’s nothing like picking up a scone, fresh from the oven, and breaking it in half to reveal a cloud of steam.
Mmmmm…
And now that strawberry season is in full swing, what better way to honor this iconically crimson berry than to bake it into something as divine as a scone?
These Strawberry Scones are absolute perfection. They’re incredibly light and fluffy on the inside, and delicately crisp and golden on the outside. Each scone is studded with fresh strawberries and enrobed in the prettiest pink strawberry icing. Without a doubt, these scones would be perfect at your next brunch!
Why You’ll Love These Scones
Packed with Fresh Strawberry Sweetness: Not only are there fresh strawberries baked into the scones, but each one is generously drizzled in fresh strawberry icing!
Exquisitely Fluffy: These aren’t your dense, heavy scones that’ll weigh you down. These Strawberry Scones bake up light, fluffy, and perfectly moist.
Make Now, Bake Later: The dough can be made, scooped, and refrigerated for up to 3 days. You even have the option of freezing the unbaked scones for up to 3 months.
Tips for Making the Best Scones
Use Cold Butter: Cold butter is absolutely key for keeping scones moist and tender in the center. In fact, I recommend sticking your butter in the freezer for 20 minutes before grating it on top of the dry ingredients. Once the scones are in the oven, the butter melts, and the water content begins to evaporate into steam. As the steam escapes, the dough rises, and you’re left with tall, fluffy scones.
Add Cream Cheese: This not-so-standard scone ingredient provides a richness that you can’t get from butter alone, and it makes the scones deliciously tender.
Equal Parts Greek Yogurt/Sour Cream and Heavy Cream – Most scone recipes rely on either milk, buttermilk, or heavy cream to create that moist crumb. However, I’ve found that an equal ratio of Greek yogurt/sour cream and heavy cream produces extra soft and fluffy results. Heavy cream adds a richness to the scones, while the Greek yogurt/sour cream adds a slight tang and keeps the scones extra moist.
Be Gentle with the Dough – Overworking scones almost aways results in a pastry that’s tough, dense, and rubbery. So once the wet ingredients are added to the butter-flour mixture, I use a rubber spatula to stir everything together until it’s mostly mixed, but still very crumbly. Then I add the chopped strawberries, and use my hands to gently fold and press the dough onto itself until it looks just mixed. Try to resist the temptation to overwork the dough and don’t worry about any loose strawberries. The next tip will solve that issue.
Use a Cookie Scoop – Instead of shaping the dough into one large disc and cutting it into triangles (like a pizza), I decided to try the scooping method. Not only do you end up with more scones, but the portions are more equal. I used a cookie scooper that held about 1/4 cup of dough, so if you don’t have a scooper, just use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to portion out the dough. Don’t worry if the dough mounds don’t look perfect. You can shape them once they’ve chilled in the refrigerator.
Chill Before Baking – Chilling the dough for at least 30 minutes before baking not only allows the gluten to relax, but it also prevents the scones from spreading too quickly in the oven.
Brush with Heavy Cream and Sprinkle with Coarse Sugar – Brushing the scones with a little heavy cream before placing them in the oven, ensures that they bake up with that beautifully golden, slightly crisp exterior. And adding a little coarse sparkling sugar on top doesn’t hurt either.
Tips for Making the Best Strawberry Icing
Macerate Fresh Strawberries: The first step to making the icing is macerating the strawberries. This is when you combine fresh sliced strawberries with a little sugar and lemon juice, and allow it to sit in the refrigerator. As the strawberries sit in the sugar and lemon juice, their juices release, leaving you with the yummiest strawberry syrup. The amount of syrup you’re left with will depend on how ripe the berries are as well as how long they’re allowed to sit. I would recommend at least 30 minutes, but an hour is best.
Add ALL of the Powdered Sugar First: To prevent lumpy icing, stir all of the powdered sugar into the strawberry syrup BEFORE adding any heavy cream. I like to stir in the powdered sugar in 1/4 cup increments. It should be quite thick once you’ve added the full 2 cups. In fact, it’ll look a bit like Play-doh, but it’ll thin out to a drizzle-able consistency once you add the heavy cream.
Add a Little Almond Extract: This ingredient is totally optional, but I find that just a few drops of almond extract really brightens up the icing and brings out the flavor of the strawberries. You won’t need more than an 1/8 teaspoon since almond extract is quite strong.
Strawberry Scones
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cold*
- 2 ounces cream cheese, cut into small cubes
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 ⅓ cups chopped fresh strawberries
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream or milk, for brushing scones
- Coarse sugar crystals, for sprinkling
Strawberry Icing:
- 1 ½ cups chopped fresh strawberries
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3-5 Tablespoons heavy cream
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Instructions
Make the Dough:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, both sugars, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together. Use a cheese grater to grate the butter on top of the dry ingredients. Add the cream cheese. Then use a fork or pastry blender to cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the 1/3 cup heavy cream, yogurt (or sour cream), egg, and vanilla together until combined. Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, and stir with a spatula until dough comes together. You might need to use your hands to mix the rest of the loose flour into the dough.
- Add the chopped strawberries, and use your hands to gently fold and press the dough onto itself until it looks just mixed. Try to resist the temptation to overwork the dough and don’t worry about any loose strawberries
- Spray a cookie scooper, or 1/4 cup measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop up dough in mounds place onto prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between scones. Gently press down the tops to level a bit and press in any jagged areas on the sides of the scones. Set in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and preheat the oven to 400℉.
- Brush each scone with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove scones from the oven and allow to cool at least 5 minutes before drizzling icing on top.
Make the Icing:
- In a medium bowl, combine the strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar. Allow to sit and macerate for at least 30 minutes**, preferably an hour.
- Pour the strawberries into a fine mesh sieve set over a mixing bowl, allowing the juice to strain from the berries***.
- Whisk the powdered sugar into the strawberry juice, a 1/4 cup at a time, until combined. Mixture will be really thick. Stir in 3 Tablespoons of the heavy cream. If desired, add more to achieve a nice drizzle-able consistency. Stir in almond extract.