Spring and Summer just aren't complete without these tender, buttery Vanilla Glazed Fresh Strawberry Scones that are studded with ruby-hued bits of sweet strawberries in every bite! They are perfect for weekend breakfasts, a sweet afternoon snack, or any festive occasion like Mother's Day or Easter Brunch!
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I'm full-blown obsessed with these deliciously fruity, buttery scones. It's the combination of the heavenly texture using my favorite basic scone recipe, the delicious little bits of fresh, ripe strawberries, and the simple, sweet glaze that all work together to achieve brunch perfection. I really think every needs to make these scones at least once, especially if you haven't had good scone experiences in the past.
I did not grow up enjoying dessert scones like these strawberry scones. My family regularly enjoyed biscuits for breakfast and I always thought scones were more of a fry bread meant to be covered in honey like you see at fairs in Utah and Idaho. The few times I had the opportunity to sample what I thought was a true scone I found them to be tasteless and dry and far inferior to biscuits.
When strawberries are in season, we can't resist getting them at the store or farmer's market! Sometimes we even go strawberry picking ourselves at nearby U-pick farms! Some of our other favorite strawberry recipes are Fresh Strawberry Pie and Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream.
It was only as an adult that I ventured into the realm of sweet American-style scones, as opposed to British scones which are usually served plain without as many mix-ins or glazes. It was eye-opening! Really good scones are actually tender, flaky, buttery, and as long as you aren't a purist, can be loaded with all sorts of delicious flavors or drizzled with glazes!
Back at my first job out of law school, there was a paralegal name Leah who was a talented and generous baker who used to bring in scones that she made once a month or so. I credit her with my full-blown scone obsession and still need to try my hand at recreating her bacon cheddar scones and lemon scones. It's too bad we lost touch after I left the practice of law or I would reach out and ask her to share her recipes!
I have made a bunch of varieties of scones ever since Leah kindled my love of this breakfast pastry, but I have to say that these strawberries and cream scones are my favorite of them all. If you really want to amp up the strawberry element in your breakfast, try serving these with Homemade Strawberry Milk!
What is the secret to making good scones?
The secret to making really great scones lines in remembering just a couple of principles: using very cold ingredients and not overworking the dough. I recommend freezing your butter and grating it into the scone dough, then chilling the scones in the fridge for a bit before baking them just to make sure they stay nice and cold before heating the heat of the oven.
My other trick to deliciously tender scones it to not overmix the dough when adding the wet ingredients. The scone dough should just start to come together but still be pretty shaggy when you dump it out onto a piece of parchment paper. Then use the edges of the parchment paper to lift the crumbly dough and press it into a disc in the center.
This avoids introducing extra flour, keeps the dough from getting overworked, and helps it not stick to your hands or warm up to much while you knead it into a disc shape. Of course, you can just go in with your hands to pack it all together, I just personally find the parchment paper approach to make things easier.
Ingredients in Strawberry Scones
- Flour: All-purpose flour provides the bulk of the structure for my scones. I haven't tried making a gluten-free version of these yet, but have had good success in the past replacing regular flour with Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 gluten-free flour and feel pretty confident recommending that for these scones.
- Butter: Really cold butter is key to making the best scones! I always keep extra butter stored in the freezer and use that when making scones. Use a box grater to grate it right into the flour, which is the easiest approach.
- Cream: Heavy cream adds richness and an overall wonderful flavor to these scones, while also acting as just enough liquid to bring the dough together.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar not only helps sweeten these scones, but it also adds moisture to baked goods. You will also need powdered sugar for the glaze, and I like to also sprinkle a little coarse sugar on top of the scones before baking for a little added sparkle and crunch.
- Egg: One egg helps bind the scone dough so they don't crumble as much.
- Baking powder & baking soda: These two leavening agents work together to give just the right amount of lift to the scones without making them too muffin-like.
- Salt: This common baking ingredient plays an important role in balancing flavors and making sure your baked goods don't taste bland.
- Vanilla extract: The vanilla flavor adds dimension to the glaze. I love using my homemade vanilla extract.
- Strawberries: Be sure to wash and pat your strawberries dry, then cut off the tops and slice them. If your strawberries are small, you might just need to quarter them. But if they are larger, you will want to slice them so they are no bigger than about ½-inch.
How to Make Strawberry Scones from Scratch
- Combine dry ingredients: Whisking the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together helps disperse the ingredients evenly so you don't end up with a clump of baking powder somewhere in your dough. This helps the scones bake more evenly and taste better as well.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the butter: I find the best way to do this is to grate a frozen stick of butter right over the flour mixture, then toss them together so the butter is evenly coated. I like to grab my pastry cutter and cut it in a bit more too. Even really cold butter straight out of the fridge will work with this approach. Alternately, you can just cut the cold butter in with a pastry cutter or even use a food processor (affiliate link) to chop the butter in to the flour mixture.
- Toss the strawberries in with the flour: I like to add the strawberries before adding the liquid and tossing them with the flour mixture so they are evenly distributed.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together before adding: Use a fork to beat the egg with the cream and vanilla, then pour all of that into the bowl with the flour and butter mixture. Mix them together using a spatula or your fork, just until the liquid starts being absorbed. The texture will be very similar to biscuit dough and shaggy or crumbly at this point.
- Knead: This isn't like kneading bread, it's more like pressing the dough together a few times until it starts coming together in a clump. I find this easiest to do by dumping the shaggy dough onto parchment paper and using the paper to press the dough in on itself a few times. Pat and shape it into a disc about 8 inches across.
- Cut into wedges: Use a sharp knife, bench scraper, or even a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 8 wedges. You could also use biscuit cutters for round or heart shaped scones, if you want. Brush a little extra cream on top and sprinkle them with coarse sugar for a nice sparkle and crunch. This is a good time to preheat your oven to 400 degrees F while you stick the scones in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes so they are nice and cold before baking.
- Bake: It usually takes anywhere from 22 to 25 minutes to bake the scones until they are a lovely golden brown color on the outside. Don't overbake, which can dry out the scones. Remove the finished scones from the oven and let them cool while preparing the glaze.
- Glaze: Whisk powdered sugar, cream, vanilla, and salt together to get a nice, smooth glaze. You might need to add a little more cream or a little more powdered sugar to get the glaze to the consistency that you like. I let my scones cool most of the way before glazing so you can see the glaze on top. If you glaze while the scones are still warm, it will mostly get absorbed into the scones. You can drizzle or spoon the glaze over the scones, or even dip the scones into the glaze and let them set up for an hour so the glaze can dry.
Freezing and Storage Instructions
These scones freeze well without the glaze. If you plan to only eat a few of the scones and freeze the rest, I recommend making the full amount of glaze, then storing it in a ziploc bag along with the scones in the freezer.
When you are ready to enjoy them, let the scones and glaze thaw on the counter, then snip off the end of the baggie and drizzle the glaze on the scones.
You can even make and freeze the scones before baking. In that case, I recommend thawing the frozen scone dough in the fridge overnight before baking, rather than baking straight from frozen. Although if you prefer to bake straight from the freezer, you can just add 3-5 minutes to your bake time and watch them to know when they are done.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can substitute milk for the cream in this recipe in equal amounts. The scones won't be quite as rich, but still delicious and plenty buttery.
If you find that your scones aren't as tall or fluffy as you would like, first make sure you are working with fresh baking powder. Also, try not to overwork the dough by kneading or compacting it too much and don't pat out the disc quite as flat.
No, you can certainly skip the glaze if you want! The scones are sufficiently sweetened and the sparkling sugar on top gives a nice finish of its own. We enjoy them both ways, although my family is partial to glazed scones.
Often you can use thawed frozen strawberries in recipes, but not in this case. They just release too much water and don't work nearly as well as using fresh strawberries.
Variations
- Strawberry Lemon Scones: Add some 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon zest to the scone dough along with the strawberries. Instead of making the glaze with cream, use lemon juice along with 1-2 teaspoons of lemon zest.
- Strawberry Poppy Seed Scones: You can add 2 tablespoons of poppy seeds to the scone dough for a delicious poppy seed crunch.
- Strawberry White Chocolate Scones: If you really want these to be more of a dessert, try adding ¾ cup of white chocolate chips with the strawberries.
- Strawberry Rhurbarb Scones: Replace half of the strawberries with diced rhubarb for a sweet-tart version.
More Muffin and Scone Recipes
- Vanilla Glazed Chocolate Chip Scones
- Blackberry Scones
- Twice Glazed Pumpkin Scones
- Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Easy Apple Oatmeal Muffins
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Glazed Strawberry Scones Recipe
Ingredients
Scones
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- â…“ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup very cold salted butter
- 1 large egg, beaten
- ½ cup cold heavy cream + extra for brushing on the tops of the scones
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chopped strawberries
- 2-3 Tablespoons coarse sanding sugar, for sprinkling
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 Tablespoons cream or milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
- Grate the butter over the flour mixture (it helps to use a frozen stick of butter). Toss to coat the butter in flour, then cut it in using a pastry cutter. A food processor (affiliate link) could also be used. Add the chopped strawberries and toss to coat in the flour mixture.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the cream and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork just until a shaggy dough starts to come together. It's very much like a biscuit dough.
- Turn the shaggy dough out onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Use the paper to lift and press the dough together, kneading it a couple of times until it can be shaped into an 8-inch disc. If it's warm in your house, you might want to stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.
- Cut the disc into 8 wedges using a sharp knife or bench scraper. Space them out on the baking sheet, then brush the top of each scone with a little extra cream and sprinkle with the coarse sugar. Refrigerate for 15 minutes so the butter is nice and cold before baking.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes until the scones are golden brown on top.
- While the scones are cooling, make the simple glaze by whisking the powdered sugar, cream, vanilla, and salt together until smooth. If you need to thin it out more, you can use additional cream.
- Drizzle the glaze over the cooled scones. The glaze will dry and set after an hour, if you can wait that long.
Notes
- Freezing: The baked scones freeze best without the glaze, although they freeze okay with the glaze and are just a little sticky when thawed. If you know you will not be eating all of the scones immediately, I recommend transferring any unused glaze to a ziploc bag and freezing it along with the scones. Thaw both on the counter, then snip the end off the baggie and use it to drizzle the glaze over the thawed scones.
Scones are my favorite too and these look simply divine, anything with fresh strawberries is a favorite for me!
Defiantly couldn’t wait for the glaze to harden. So good nice and warm out of the ovenÂ
These were delicious! I we also could not wait for the glaze to firm, love the fresh strawberries in them