Ridiculously Easy Lemon Raspberry Scones

These heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth Lemon Raspberry Scones are not only ridiculously delicious, they're also ridiculously easy and come together so quickly!

Have you ever (mistakenly) tried to trick yourself into thinking that something enticingly delicious was "safe" in the freezer? That you wouldn't be tempted by it if it was tucked away somewhere in Siberia? That's exactly what happened to me with these Lemon Raspberry Scones.

After taking pictures of these crazy good scones, I packaged up a few plates to take to friends. Not trusting myself (or Scott), I wrapped up the rest and quickly stashed them in the freezer. Not the kitchen refrigerator-freezer, mind you, but rather the one in the farthest corner of the garage, the one that takes a bit of effort to get to. You know, "out of sight, out of mind", as the old saying goes.

So much for earnest plans. After spending the last 30 minutes editing (in other words, "staring" at) the pictures for this post, I succumbed to the enticement and meandered (well, probably more honest to say, raced) out to the garage. It only took about 30 seconds in the microwave to remove the chill and restore every bit of deliciousness... oh my!

If you're frowning at me a bit, from the other side of this screen, you need to know that I did this more for you than for me. Simply because I really wanted to be able to describe just how incredible these little sweet confections are. How else am I supposed to write this post?

Oh goodness! Now I have a problem with my nose growing... Brother! That means that there's no way I can hide my indiscretion from Scott. Yikes! Busted again!

Seriously, these Lemon Raspberry Scones are melt-in-your-mouth delicious and amazingly irresistible. One friend commented after the first bite: "Oh my goodness, I've never tasted a scone anything like this, SO... delicious!"

Ridiculously easy!

The awesome thing is that they're as easy as they are delicious. We call it Ridiculously Easy around here. We have lots of recipes with this special little classification but, in order to take on that description, they have to live up to very specific guidelines. You can read more about these guidelines in this post but my nutshell definition is "Recipes that make you look like a kitchen rock star with minimal effort on your part."

A brilliant technique

This Ridiculously Easy Lemon Raspberry Scones recipe incorporates one of my favorite little kitchen tricks. I didn't come up with this technique myself but discovered it on the Cook's Illustrated site. They figured out that instead of having to “cut” the butter into the flour mixture (the classic biscuit/scone method), you could get the same results by simply combining very cold cream (or buttermilk in the case of biscuits) and warm butter, resulting in “globules” of butter suspended in the buttermilk (see picture below).

This lumpy mixture is then combined with the dry ingredients to form little pockets of butter that produce steam when the butter melts which creates little air pockets. The final result is tender flaky scones, with much less work when using this method! 🙌

Do you have to use heavy cream to make these Lemon Raspberry Scones?

Yes and no. I know that most everyone is trying to watch their calories these days. Because of that, I actually tried these scones with buttermilk instead of heavy cream that has significantly more calories and fat. Honestly, it's just not the same.

The scones were good with buttermilk, but not GREAT. They were more like raspberry biscuits. While there's nothing to turn your nose up about biscuits, they just weren't the same as melt-in-your-mouth crazy-good scones. So, in my humble opinion, if you're in the mood for some fabulous scones, use the real-deal ingredients and just plan to get a little extra exercise after breakfast or brunch!

A simple glaze

These scones aren't super sweet so the lemon glaze is, what I call, the crowning glory. It's a simple combination of powdered sugar, fresh lemon juice and milk or half and half. Just stir it up while the scones bake, let them cool slightly and glaze away!

A wonderful recipe to have in your breakfast/brunch collection

These Lemon Raspberry Scones will be sure to steal the show at any breakfast or brunch gathering. They're perfect for easy entertaining because you can make and bake them ahead then either freeze or serve fresh. Another option is to make the dough the night before, portion it out onto a sheet pan and refrigerate. In the morning all you have to do is bake these delightful sweet treats and... breakfast is served!

Put these scones on your "must make" list. Just learn a leasson from me though: don't even dream for a minute that you can hide them from yourself in the freezer!

Cafe Tips for making these Ridiculously Easy Lemon Raspberry Scones

• I use fresh raspberries to make these scones. Frozen berries tend to bleed more into the batter and make it an unattractive purple color.
• Break each raspberry in half with your fingers and distribute them over the dough. Then gently mix the dough. You want the raspberries to break up a bit, but you don't want the batter to turn pink.
• If your cream mixture doesn’t form the “clumps” or “globules”, your cream probably wasn’t cold enough. You can stick the whole mixture in the freezer for another 5-8 minutes, then stir with a fork and you should see the clumps.
• You don’t want to overmix scone dough. However, you do want to make sure all of the flour at the bottom of the bowl is incorporated into the dough.
• Be sure to refrigerate the scones for at least 15 minutes before baking. This helps the butter to chill again which creates tender scones. It will also help the scones to keep their shape.
• You can make these scones several hours ahead of time. Just scoop them up onto your sheet pan, cover with plastic wrap and pop the whole tray into the refrigerator. When ready to bake, transfer to the oven and bake as directed. They will take a minute or two longer to bake.
• You can also make these Lemon Raspberry Scones and freeze them, unbaked. Pull as many as you want out of the freezer and bake as directed, adding about 3-5 minutes extra to the total baking time. You want to look for a pretty golden brown color.
• I use a medium size retractable ice cream/cookie scooper to scoop up consistent sized scones. A medium size scoop will yield about 12 scones. If you use a larger scoop the yield will be closer to 8.
• Scoops are also super helpful for lots of other recipes. I really like this set of scoopers  that includes  a small, medium and large size.
• I spray my cookie scoop with non-stick cooking spray which makes scooping up the scones really easy.
• This recipe calls for lining a sheet pan with parchment paper. This is optional, but is nice for easy cleanup. I love these pre-cut parchment paper sheets. They come in a flat box for easy storage, are perfect for cookies, scones, biscuits, cake, etc. and a box will last forever.
• This batter is quite thick. You’ll want a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon to stir it. At first, it might seem like all the flour mixture will not be incorporated, but keep going. All of a sudden it will be all mixed in. Don’t be tempted to add more liquid.
• You may not need all of the icing and some of it will drip onto the foil or sheet pan.

Thought for the day:

When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?
Psalm 8:3&4

What we're listening to for inspiration:

How Great Thou Art

If you enjoyed this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review! It’s so helpful to other readers to hear your results, adaptations and ideas for variations.

4.93 from 41 votes

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Ridiculously Easy Lemon Raspberry Scones

These heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth Lemon Raspberry Scones are not only ridiculously delicious, they're also ridiculously easy and come together so quickly!

Author: Chris Scheuer

Course: Breakfast/Brunch, Snacks

Cuisine: American, French

Keyword: Lemon Raspberry Scones, Raspberry Scones, Ridiculously Easy

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 35 mins

Servings: 12

Calories: 282 kcal

Ingredients

For the scones:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• zest of 1 medium size lemon
• ½ cup fresh raspberries

For the glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoon milk or half and half
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the scones:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper (you'll need 2 sheet pans for smaller scones). Set an oven rack on the middle level of the oven. Measure 1 cup heavy cream and place in the freezer while proceeding with the recipe. (You want the cream to be in the freezer 10-15 minutes.)

2. Place butter in a microwave safe bowl, cover with a paper towel and heat on high for 1 minute. If not completely melted, return to microwave for 10 second intervals till melted. Set aside to cool a bit while prepping other ingredients.
3. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, lemon zest and salt in a medium-size bowl. Stir to combine.

4. After heavy cream has been chilled in the freezer for 10-15 minutes, combine it with the melted butter. Stir with a fork until butter forms small clumps or globules (see the picture above in the post).

5. Add butter/cream mixture to dry ingredients and stir with rubber spatula until all flour is incorporated and batter pulls away from sides of bowl. The batter will be very thick, like a cookie dough. Don’t over mix it, but you do make sure all the little flour bits are incorporated.
6. Break each raspberry in half and sprinkle them evenly over the top of the batter. Stir once or twice, gently to mix the berries throughout the dough.
7. Spray a cookie scooper (see notes above) or large spoon with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop up scones in mounds onto prepared pan. When you scoop, try to get some of the raspberries into each portion. Space the scones at least 2-inches apart to allow for some spreading.
8. Refrigerate scones for at least 15 minutes or up to an hour. If you don’t have room for 2 sheet pans in your refrigerator, put them all on one to chill. Then separate before baking.
9. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until light golden brown. Transfer to a wire cooling rack.

For the glaze:

1. While the scones are baking, make the lemon glaze. Combine the powdered sugar, milk (or half and half) and lemon juice in a medium-size bowl. Whisk well until smooth to make a thick, but spoonable glaze. (If glaze is too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar, if too thick add add a little more cream.)
2. Place a sheet pan or piece of foil under the cooling rack and spoon the glaze over scones to cover completely, allowing any excess to drip onto the sheet pan or foil.
3. If you can wait, let scones sit for 15 minutes to let glaze set before serving.

Recipe Notes

See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips.

Calories 282kcal

Fat 16g

Saturated fat 10g

Trans fat 1g

Cholesterol 49mg

Sodium 220mg

Potassium 154mg

Carbohydrates 34g

Fiber 1g

Sugar 16g

Protein 3g

Vitamin A 540%

Vitamin C 2%

Calcium 67%

Iron 1%