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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:
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.
These heavenly, melt-in-your-mouth Lemon Raspberry Scones are not only ridiculously delicious, they're also ridiculously easy and come together so quickly!
- 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
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoon milk or half and half
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
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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.)
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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.
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Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, lemon zest and salt in a medium-size bowl. Stir to combine.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Bake for 18-22 minutes or until light golden brown. Transfer to a wire cooling rack.
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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.)
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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.
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If you can wait, let scones sit for 15 minutes to let glaze set before serving.
See Café Tips above in the post for more detailed instructions and tips.
Sarah says
Hello! Weirdest thing! I scooped these and put them in the fridge for about 50 min (while I whipped up a batch of your maple pecan scones!) and then popped them in the oven. I noticed as I took them out of fridge snd popped in oven that there were some darker shadows but figured it was raspberries just below the surface. But now that they’ve baked, there are streaks of blue! Just on the surface it seems- I opened one and they have baked beautiful, smell beautiful, beautiful white and raspberry inside but the blue speckles over the top. This ever happen? Any idea what it could be? I’m baffled!
Sarah says
Never mind! I wasn’t finding an answer in initial google search so I asked you. But I found it now- my clabber girl baking powder has aluminum in it- which reacts with the acid from the berries! Guess I’m getting new baking powder!
Chris Scheuer says
I'm glad you figured it out, Sarah!
Kelly Chua says
Do you think I could add fresh peaches to this recipe along with the raspberries?
Chris Scheuer says
That would be delicious. I would cut the peaches small and drain them on a paper towel before adding to the batter.
Ann says
Fantastic! So tender and delicate. Left off the glaze and served with lemon curd - raves from everyone. Thank you
Chris Scheuer says
Awesome! Thanks so much for letting us know, Anne!
Liz says
Hands down the best scone I have ever made. They came out unbelievably light and tender and were so easy. This is going to be the “one” from now on!! I can’t wait to try them with dried cherries!
Chris Scheuer says
Awesome! Thanks so much for letting us know, Liz!
Linda Hadaway says
Hi. A little confused. Step 1 says that the cream is in the freezer for "about 10 minutes"
Step 4 says "chilled in freezer for 15 minutes". So, is it 10 or 15 minutes? Does it matter - minimum 10 to maximum 15 minutes? Thanks
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Linda, sorry for the confusion. It is 10-15 minutes and I have clarified that in the recipe. Enjoy!
Tara says
Thanks so much for this clarification!
Tara says
Does this recipe call for unsalted butter? I just want to be certain. Thanks!
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Tara, contrary to popular opinion, I'm a big fan of salted butter. I think it has more flavor and it stays fresh longer. You could definitely use unsalted butter though and add a little extra salt.
Holly says
My daughter and I made these and they were delicious, even though we had to make adaptations since I have many food intolerances that trigger migraines.
Oat Creamer-instead of cream.
White Spelt Flour
Dried Cranberries reconstituted in pineapple juice Lemon Zest that I had previously frozen
In glaze-Fresh Lime Juice because I didn’t have lemons. I baked them 19.5 minutes, which I think was a minute too long.
I would definitely make these again! I don’t know how to post a picture. They don’t look near as nice as yours, but delicious nonetheless!
Thank you for sharing your recipe!!!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks for sharing your results, Holly!
M. Nelson says
These were perfect scones". I made them and froze the dough and then baked 5his morning for Easter. No fuss and they are awesome.
Chris Scheuer says
Yay! Thanks so much for sharing your results, M!
Evelyn says
Hands down, the best, mouthwatering, scrumptious scones ever; it replaces Victoria's famous Empress Hotel's afternoon tea scones (their recipe came from Buckingham Palace) as my favourite! This will be a special occasion staple in our household. The tips really make the difference! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Chris Scheuer says
Thank you, Evelyn! I'm so glad you had great success with these!
Cathy says
Should I bake a day ahead or is it ok to refrigerate until ready to bake the next day?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Cathy, it's fine to refrigerate them overnight. Just cover them lightly with plastic wrap.
Cynthia A Leman says
Can I make these in a 9x5 loaf pan?
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Cynthia, I haven't tested this recipe in a loaf pan so I can't say if it would work or not. You might be better off going with a recipe for raspberry bread.
Susan says
These are absolutely the best scones, the method of cold heavy cream with the melted butter is a winner! I may try with milk or buttermilk but doubt will be as good, really so quick & easy, it’s definitely my go 2 receipe for scones, best I’ve ever tasted
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much, Susan!
Linda Youens says
Would strawberries work in place of the raspberries? Live in country. Grocery is too far away....ha. I really like your recipes!
Chris Scheuer says
Here you go:
https://thecafesucrefarine.com/ridiculously-easy-fresh-strawberry-scones/
Heather says
Hello again Chris, Thank you for showing me just how simple the solution was to my querie to a Tablespoon of butter.(I am as SIMPLE as was the solution).
Heather
Chris Scheuer says
Haha! It's easy to miss 😉
Heather Maile says
Hi Chris, thank you for a YUMMY sounding recipe BUT a Tablespoon of butter is pretty ambiguous, I have had some FAILURES due to this fact. I don't want these to fail they sound so good.
Could you be more specific please i.e grams/ounces. (we are Metric in Australia).
Anxious - Heather
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Heather, you can change the units of the recipe by clicking the word metric at the end of the ingredient list.
melona will says
I made these scones last night ( at midnight). I can’t believe how easy they were to make. All the recipes I make of yours have turned out perfect. I don’t look anywhere else now. I followed the recipe exactly but I used wax paper to line my trays instead of parchment paper. I didn’t know there was a difference. And about 18 minutes into baking my oven started to smoke and I didn’t realize until today it was because of the wax paper ! I am making these again tomorrow morning so I will use the parchment this time :). I wonder what these would taste like with a few white chocolate chips in them :). Thanks again for all your delicious recipes
Chris Scheuer says
Oh my goodness, Melona! What a thing to happened at midnight! 😩
Thanks so much for your kind words, I'm so happy you'e enjoyed our recipes! 💕
I think white chocolate chips would be delicious. If I were making them, I would probably run my knife through the chips a few times to roughly chop them which would distribute the flavor nicely.
Doran Richart says
Ridiculously delicious scones!!! I love the technique of mixing the very cold cream with the butter. Thank you for making me want to make scones again!
Chris Scheuer says
Thanks so much, Doran! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!
Sarah says
My "scones" came out flat and spongy, not at all how they are pictured above. I will not be using this recipe again.
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Sarah, first of all, I'm so sorry you had poor results with this recipe. It's hard to say why these scones came out spongy without having been right there in the kitchen with you.
I've made variations of them hundreds of times and never have had "spongy" results. I'm wondering if you may have inadvertently veered from the ingredients or directions at some point.
marilyn says
These sound great. Am going to try them as soon as I get raspberries.
Chris Scheuer says
Enjoy!
Mary Desai says
Made them today. Love them! The only problem is mine didn't look like yours. They spread out like a cookie, and weren't rounded up like the picture. They are still wonderful. I followed the instructions to the letter. Any ideas as to why this happened?
Chris Scheuer says
So happy you enjoyed them, Mary. It may be your flour, not that anything is wrong with it but flour can vary and hold different amounts of moisture. You may want to add 1-2 tablespoons extra flour next time.
Also be sure to chill before baking.
Candice says
Could you use blueberries instead of raspberries? I searched the site to see if you had a lemon blueberry scone recipe. Thank you.
Chris Scheuer says
Yes, you could use blueberries, Candice!
Candice says
Thank you.
Mary C says
Hi Chris
Love the globules technique. The biscuits are an awesome recipe and so are the cinn rolls. With this scone recipe would cranberries be an option. Not a fan of raspberries.
Chris Scheuer says
Cranberries would work fine. We do have a cranberry scone recipe: https://thecafesucrefarine.com/ridiculously-easy-orange-cranberry-scones/
Suzanne says
Hi Chris, what a great read, really enjoyed your great sense of humour. Probably won't enjoy the extra inches around my girth but they sound so worth it. I am about to rush to the shops for the ingredients. Best wishes. Suzanne (Australia)
Chris Scheuer says
Haha! Thanks Suzanne 🥰
Millie Law says
Hi Chris,
Can these be made ahead?
Thanks for another yummy recipe!
Millie
Chris Scheuer says
Hi Millie,
Yes you can definitely make these ahead. Check under the Café Tips for a couple of options.