Lemon Scones — The Ones I Made for My Daughter’s Brunch
My Daughter Asked, So I Made Something I Had Never Made Before
These lemon scones happened because my daughter asked for them. She was putting together a little brunch for her roommates and wanted something bright and lemony on the table, and this was a brand new recipe to me — which almost never stops me. I am a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of girl, so I made them for the very first time with the camera running and took y’all along with me. They came out of the oven beautiful, and once they were dipped in that glaze with the little flecks of zest showing through, I could not stop looking at them.
☕ These are on the menu in my fall brunch menu — a whole brunch for eight to twelve, with the table and the timeline that gets it all on it. They sit next to my quiche Lorraine, which is the anchor of that table.
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Watch me make these lemon scones from start to finish — or scroll down for the full printable recipe card.
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• I always said keeping lemons around was too much work. Then I saw those little flecks of zest sitting in the glaze and got converted.
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Lemon Scones
Start CookingIngredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 large eggs
- 1 lemon zested
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup granulated sugar
- 5 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup salted butter cold and grated (2 sticks)
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- 3 tablespoons whole milk more as needed
Don’t Want to Plan? I Got You.Every Saturday I share a full week of dinners, sides, and a dessert — with the grocery list already done. Come grab this week’s Weekly Meal Plans!Equipment
Method Start Cooking
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, egg, and the zest of one lemon. Set it aside to steep for 10 to 15 minutes while you work on the dry ingredients.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Grate the cold butter on the large holes of a box grater and add it to the flour mixture. Work it in with a pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Pour the cream mixture into the flour and butter and stir gently with a fork until it comes together. It will still look crumbly, and that is exactly right.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Press it together into a ball, then flatten it into a rough rectangle.
- Roll the dough out about 3/4 inch thick, into a rectangle roughly 18 by 10 inches. Trim the edges square with a knife.
- Cut the rectangle into 12 squares, then cut each square in half diagonally to make 24 triangles.
- Transfer the scones to a parchment-lined or ungreased cookie sheet, spaced slightly apart. Bake at 350°F for 15 to 18 minutes, pulling them just before they start to turn golden.
- Move the scones to a wire rack and let them cool completely before glazing.
- Whisk the powdered sugar together with the zest and juice of one lemon.
- Add the milk a little at a time, whisking until the glaze is completely smooth and just thin enough to dip.
- One at a time, roll the top of each cooled scone through the glaze, letting the excess drip off, then set it back on the wire rack.
- Let the glaze set completely, about an hour, before serving.
Nutrition
Video
Notes
Glaze amount: 2 cups of powdered sugar makes plenty for all 24. Add the milk slowly — it thins out faster than you expect, and you want it just loose enough to roll a scone through.
Storage: once glazed, these keep several days at room temperature in a covered container.
Sizing: this makes 24 medium scones. For a brunch or tea party with lots of other food on the table, cut them smaller — the big ones don’t get eaten as well.
Variation: this started as a lemon rosemary scone. If you want the original, add a tablespoon of finely minced fresh rosemary to the cream mixture and a teaspoon more to the glaze.
Four Weeks of Family-Friendly FoodWhen people gather, I cook. Four weeks of the dinners my crowd asks for — planned, tested, and shopped for. Come see what’s in the cookbook →Why These Lemon Scones Work
The thing that makes these lemon scones taste like lemon all the way through, and not just on top, is what happens in the very first step. The zest of a whole lemon goes into the heavy cream with the egg and sits there for ten or fifteen minutes while you work on everything else. That little bit of waiting pulls the lemon oil right into the cream, so by the time it meets the flour, the whole dough is already lemony. I do not zest very often — I have always been the kind of cook who says bottled juice is fine and keeping lemons around is too much work — but this recipe converted me.
The other thing that matters is cold butter, and how you get it in there. I grated two sticks on a box grater straight out of the refrigerator instead of cubing them, then worked them into the flour with my pastry blender . It is a very warm day here in Florida most of the year, and cubed butter softens and clumps back together on me before I can get it worked in. King Arthur Baking gets into why grating the butter works so well if you want the long version, but the short version is that the shreds all come out the same size, so the butter is spread evenly and you get lift instead of grease.
Once it all comes together, it behaves like biscuit dough, because that is more or less what it is. You mix it with a fork, you turn it out crumbly, and it pulls itself together on the floured counter. I got this one from The Pioneer Woman — hers is a lemon rosemary scone, and I left the rosemary out because my daughter wanted these all lemon. I still think the rosemary would be lovely, and I will probably try it that way one day.
A Few Things That Make Lemon Scones Even Easier
- Grate the butter cold. Straight from the refrigerator, on the big holes. It goes into the flour faster than cubes do, and in a warm kitchen that is the difference between coarse crumbs and one greasy lump.
- Let the cream sit. Ten or fifteen minutes with the zest in it, while you measure out the dry ingredients. You are not waiting on anything — the time is already there.
- Mix with a fork and then stop. This is biscuit dough and it loves a fork. It should still look a little crumbly when you turn it out. That is right, and it will come together on the counter.
- Cut squares first, then triangles. Roll it into one big rectangle about three quarters of an inch thick, trim the edges, cut twelve squares, then cut each square corner to corner. That is how you get twenty-four out of one batch without measuring anything.
- Dip them, do not drizzle them. Roll the top of each cooled scone right through the glaze and set it back on the cooling rack so the extra drips off. It is messier and it is worth it.
Lemon Scones FAQ — The Questions I Get Every Time
What temperature do I bake lemon scones at, and for how long?
Bake them at 350°F for 15 to 18 minutes. Because I had never made these before, I started checking mine at 15. You want to pull them just before they start to turn golden — they keep cooking a minute on the hot pan, and a pale scone under glaze is exactly right.
Why do you grate the butter instead of cutting it in?
Because it is faster and the pieces all come out the same size. Cutting in butter with a pastry blender works fine and I do it all the time, but in a warm kitchen the butter softens while you are working and you end up with uneven pockets. Grating gets a half pound of cold butter into three cups of flour in about a minute.
Can I make lemon scones ahead of time?
You can. Bake them the day before, let them cool completely, and glaze them the morning of. Once the glaze has set, they keep several days in a covered container at room temperature, so making them a day ahead of a brunch is not a compromise at all.
Can I freeze lemon scones?
Yes, and this is how I get ahead for a party. Bake them, cool them all the way, and wrap them tightly before they ever see glaze. Thaw them the day you need them and dip them then — the glaze goes on last so it stays smooth and shiny.
Should I dip them in the glaze or drizzle it on?
You can do either, and you could even spread it on thick like frosting if you made the glaze stiff enough. I dip, because dipping puts the most glaze on the scone and gives you that smooth white top. Put a piece of foil down first. I get sticky every single time.
Do I have to use fresh lemons, or can I use bottled juice?
For the juice in the glaze, bottled will do. For the zest, you need real lemons, and the zest is doing most of the work here — it is what flavors the cream and what puts those little yellow flecks in the icing. Two lemons is all it takes, one for the dough and one for the glaze.
How do I scale lemon scones up for a crowd?
One batch already makes twenty-four, which is a lot of scones. If you need more, make a second batch rather than doubling — a double batch of this dough is more than one bowl and one rolling pin want to handle. And if there is a whole table of other food, cut them smaller. Big ones look like too much and people pass them by.
The whole thing in under a minute, if you just want to see how they come together.
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Ingredients
Equipment
More Brunch Recipes You’ll Love
- Apricot Pecan Scones — my tried-and-true scone recipe, the one I have had for years.
- French Toast Casserole — put it together the night before and bake it while everyone is waking up.
- Mama’s Banana Bread — the recipe I almost kept to myself.
- Homemade Biscuits and Gravy — for the mornings when a scone is not going to be enough.
- Candied Pecans — the party favor that sits at each place, made days ahead in little jars.
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Lemon Scones — About Stephanie’s Recipes
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.