Raspberry Scones

No two scone recipes ever seem alike. They may be round or triangular, loaded with fruit and nuts or plain, and topped with glaze or slathered with jam. Even scones from the same batch will likely have unique shapes when you slide them off the baking sheet.

Despite so much variation, scones are some of the easiest pastry recipes you can make at home. Take these drop raspberry scones for example: After the  dough is mixed together, you dollop the dough onto a baking sheet and pop it into the oven. Once baked and cooled, drizzle the scones with a lemon glaze that adds extra flavor and a decadent sweetness. It takes just 30 minutes to have these warm raspberry pastries on the table to enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.

What are scones?

Some of the variation in scones comes from how they’re made. For lightly sweetened English scones, you usually cut butter into flour and then fold in milk, or you replace the butter and milk with cream. English scones are closely related to buttermilk biscuits, which use a similar technique but stir in buttermilk for a higher-fat dough and typically skip the sugar.

American scones often stir melted butter into the wet ingredients and add enough flour to support all sorts of add-ins. The dough is sturdy enough to cut into triangles or drop from a scoop into mounds. But the variations don’t end there: In the U.K., drop scones look more like pancakes, and in the U.S., a regionally popular deep-fried pastry bears the name Utah scones.

This raspberry scone recipe falls in the American scone category. It’s sweeter than a biscuit, with just a little tang from flavored yogurt instead of buttermilk. The melted butter helps the sticky dough release from the scoop when you drop it onto the baking sheet and, when baked, gives the scones a layered look with browned, craggy edges.

Ingredients for Raspberry Scones

• Flour: All-purpose forms a solid base for these scones. Different types of flour could have an unexpected effect, like making the scones denser or rise unevenly.
• Sugar: This raspberry scones recipe calls for two types of sugar: Granulated sugar is mixed into the scone batter, and confectioners’ sugar is in the glaze.
• Leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda both work as leaveners in these scones. The baking soda reacts to the acidity of the yogurt, and since it’s a little salty, you add only a tiny bit of additional salt for flavor later. The baking powder adds extra loft. The scones might turn out denser and flatter without it.
• Lemon zest: Lemon zest brings out the tartness of the raspberries and increases the flavor complexity of these scones. With the zest in the dough and the lemony glaze on top, they could easily be called raspberry lemon scones.
• Raspberry yogurt: Yogurt’s acidity does wonderful things in baked goods, reacting with baking soda for a slight tanginess and fluffy texture. The preflavored yogurt builds on the dominant taste of whole raspberries in this fresh raspberry recipe.
• Egg: An egg enriches scone dough with the fat in the yolk and adds structure from the proteins in its white. It’s easier to beat together the yolk and white of a room-temperature egg, so set the egg out on the counter 30 minutes before you mix the scone dough.
• Butter: Melted butter mixes more easily into eggs and yogurt than fridge-cold or even room-temperature butter. Melt the butter around the same time you take the egg out of the refrigerator and let both reach room temperature so that you don’t risk curdling the egg.
• Raspberries: Because fresh or frozen raspberries work in this recipe, you can bake raspberry lemon scones all year. Both the fresh and frozen berries are delicate enough that they’ll crumble apart a bit when you fold them into the stiff scone dough, which just distributes their flavor more completely.
• Glaze: Confectioners’ sugar dissolves in just a little liquid—in this case, we use lemon juice and zest for a strong flavor. Add the juice a little at a time just until you reach your desired consistency. Or, stir in a little extra confectioners’ sugar if the glaze seems too thin.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately

Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the raspberry yogurt, egg and butter.

Step 2: Combine the wet and dry ingredients

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Stir the yogurt mixture into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the raspberries.

Step 3: Bake the scones

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Drop the dough by 1/2-cup scoops spaced 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake the scones for 15 to 18 minutes or until lightly browned.

Step 4: Glaze the pastries

Combine the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest.

Editor’s Tip: Wait to make the lemon glaze until the scones are out of the oven so that it stays viscous. If it does stiffen up, stir in a few drops of lemon juice until it loosens.

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Drizzle the glaze over the warm scones.

Editor’s Tip: The hotter the scones, the more the glaze will run when you drizzle it on top, so let them cool down a little bit first.

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Raspberry Scone Variations

• Use plain yogurt: Preflavored yogurt is almost always sweetened, unless you make yogurt at home. For less sweet scones, use plain yogurt instead of reducing the sugar because less granulated sugar could affect the scone’s texture. Omit the glaze to further cut the sweetness.
• Mix up the berries: Make mixed berry scones by replacing some of the raspberries with blackberries and blueberries. Other bramble fruits, like boysenberries, loganberries or marionberries, and wild ones like huckleberries also taste delicious in scone recipes.
• Change the shape: Instead of mounded drop scones, make triangles or squares. Divide the dough in half, and then pat each half into a 3/4-inch-thick circle or square with sharp corners. Cut the flattened dough into wedges or small squares with a sharp knife. For soft centers, set the cut scones 1/2 inch apart on the greased baking sheet. They will expand as they bake until they touch. Then, carefully pull them apart while still warm.

How to Store Raspberry Scones

Store scones at room temperature in an airtight container. It’s fine to store them in the refrigerator instead, but expect them to dry out even when tightly sealed. Before you store them, let the pastries cool completely to minimize condensation and let the glaze set. Store them in a single layer to keep the glaze from sticking to neighboring scones.

How long do raspberry scones last?

Raspberry scones taste best the day they’re baked but will last for three to seven days when stored at room temperature. If you store them in the refrigerator, eat them more quickly, before they become stale and crumbly.

Can you freeze raspberry scones?

You can freeze baked or unbaked raspberry scones. Drop the scoops of scone dough onto a baking sheet and let the mounds freeze until firm. Layer them in airtight, freezer-safe packaging and freeze. Frozen scone dough will keep well for up to three weeks with minimal change in quality. Bake the scones directly from the freezer at 400° for 20 to 30 minutes.

To freeze already-baked raspberry scones, let them cool completely without any glaze. Place them in an airtight freezer-safe container and freeze them for up to two months.

Raspberry Scone Tips

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What’s the secret to making great scones?

The secret to making great scones is to mix the dough just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Longer mixing risks overworking the dough and producing dense, tough scones. Being attentive to how you mix is one of the baking steps you shouldn’t skip.

Scones made with melted butter also sometimes turn out flatter and less flaky than ones that work cold butter into the flour. To make a raspberry scone recipe rise higher, place the baking sheet with the mounds of dough in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking. If you decided to shape the scones into squares or triangles, gently pat out the dough—just once—instead of rolling or kneading it. Repeatedly shaping the dough can also overwork it.

Is it better to use fresh or frozen raspberries for a raspberry scones recipe?

Either fresh or frozen raspberries can be used for scones, with slightly different effects. Delicate fresh raspberries will break apart as you fold them in and might release juices, giving all the dough a faint pink hue. Still-frozen raspberries will hold their shape better during mixing but then release their juices as the scones bake, discoloring the dough that surrounds the berries and increasing the moisture in the scones. Scones with frozen berries in them might also take slightly longer to bake.