Apple Scones
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Yummy apple scones! Crumbly, buttery, & so moist, with a sweet cinnamon sugar topping. Quick to make as a grab & go breakfast or snack.
Fall is fast approaching and I’m loving the cooler temps!
Let’s celebrate with one of my absolute favorite fall treats: Apple scones!
This is my basic scone recipe jazzed up with the fabulous seasonal flavor of apple and cinnamon. You just can’t beat it!
I love to bake up a big batch and have them all week for an easy, grab-and-go breakfast or snack.
For more convenient recipes like this one, be sure to check out our banana chocolate chip muffins zucchini muffin, and blueberry buckle recipes.
Table of Contents
- What are apple scones?
- Why this is the best apple cinnamon scones recipe
- What does this apple scone recipe taste like?
- Ingredients
- Special equipment
- How to make this apple scones recipe
- How to serve apple and cinnamon scones
- Expert tips
- Frequently asked questions
- A few more of my best scone recipes
What are apple scones?
A scone is a buttery, crumbly pastry that is often enjoyed for breakfast or as an afternoon-pick me up. This version is filled with fresh, seasonal apples and topped with cinnamon sugar.
Why this is the best apple cinnamon scones recipe
- Tastes amazing: These are just sweet enough, with plenty of juicy apples in every bite and a crunchy cinnamon sugar layer on top.
- Moist: My apple scone recipe bakes up nice and moist with a light texture that practically melts in your mouth.
- Few ingredients: You’ll only need a few pantry staples plus one fresh apple to make this yummy treat.
- Easy to make: These come together in just a few minutes with no fancy techniques or baking expertise required.
What does this apple scone recipe taste like?
These bake up with a rich, buttery taste that’s not overly sweet. There’s lots of juicy apple in every bite, and the cinnamon sugar topping provide a nice crunch and a little pop of fall flavor.
Ingredients
Flour: Regular, all-purpose flour is perfect for this recipe. You can substitute with another type of flour if you like. Whole grain flours could work well, although you may need slightly less. And a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend should work well too.
Sugar: I’ve used granulated white sugar, but light or brown sugar would work well too, as would any type of granulated sugar substitute.
Leavening: Baking powder helps these scones to rise and spread and have an airy, light texture. Make sure you’re using baking powder, not baking soda, and make sure it’s not past the expiration date.
Salt: Salt carries all the flavors and intensifies them. I like kosher salt best because it’s cheap, easy to source, and doesn’t contain any bitter-tasting additives like iodine.
Butter: Unsalted butter allows you to get the exact right balance of salt with no guess-work, since different brands of butter could contain different amounts of salt. This ingredient should be very cold. It will result in moist, light scones. You could also use a 1:1 plant-based butter product, for dairy-free and vegan apple scones.
Cream: Heavy whipping cream brings the dough together and keeps the scones moist. You can also swap in the same amount of a plant-based cream substitute.
Apple: Any kind of firm apple that’s good for baking will work. I prefer Granny Smith apples or Honeycrisp apples. Peel it or not; the choice is yours! But you do probably want to chop it into small pieces or grate it with a box grater, discarding the core or saving it to thicken jam or pie filling.
Cinnamon sugar: For added flavor. If you don’t have any on hand you can just stir 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon into 1 1/2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.
Special equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons: Follow my guide on how to measure ingredients.
- Food processor: I love how quickly scones come together in the food processor, but if you don’t have one or don’t want to use one, you can make these apple scones by hand in a large mixing bowl with a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your clean hands.
- Extra flour: To prevent sticking to your hands or worksurface.
- Knife: I love my dough scraper for dividing the dough and for scraping up the mess, but a regular knife works fine too.
- Parchment: Keeps your sheet pan clean and prevents sticking.
- Baking sheet: I’m in love with my aluminum bakers half sheets.
How to make this apple scones recipe
This easy recipe is perfect for a beginner and comes together in 5 simple steps.
Step 1: Combine dry ingredients
Start by placing the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of your food processor, and pulsing a few times to combine them.
Step 2: Cut in the butter
Next, add the butter. I like to cut it into smaller pieces first.
Pulse the butter in until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. The pieces of butter should be about the size of small peas, each one coated in the flour mixture.
Step 3: Add cream
Next, stream in the cream slowly. When the dough starts to clump up, stop the machine so you don’t overwork the dough. (This can result in tough, hard scones rather than crumbly, tender ones).
Step 4: Fill & shape the scones
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press it together into one big clump. Then divide it in half.
Press each half flat and pile on the apples.
Then bring the sides of the dough up and over the apples, encasing them and pinching them inside.
Flatten to a thickness of about 1 1/2 inches, forming a disc shape.
Cut each disc in half, then each half into thirds so you have 6 scones per disc.
Step 5: Top and bake
Transfer the unbaked scones to a parchment-lined baking sheet, allowing about 1/4-inch in between for spreading.
Then sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar and bake in a hot oven until set. They should still be pretty soft towards the centers. Don’t worry, they’ll continue to cook and set up as they cool.
How to serve apple and cinnamon scones
I love scones more than anything else for breakfast. They also make a really nice afternoon snack with a cup of tea, coffee, or cocoa.
You can enjoy them warm or at room temperature, and while they’re perfectly delish as-is, I love them smeared with soft honey butter or apple butter. They’re also really good with jam, softly whipped cream, lemon curd, or marmalade.
Expert tips
Keep everything cold: It’s really important that the butter and cream are very cold. And the scone dough should also be cold when it goes into the oven. This will create steam that puffs up the scones and helps to give them an airy, tender mouthfeel.
Preheat the oven fully: Make sure your oven is good and hot when the scones go in. You want cold butter and a hot oven to create that steam action. If the dough is warm and/or the oven isn’t hot enough, you’ll see butter melting and pooling on the sheet pan.
Make them extra-cinnamon-y: Add additional cinnamon to the dough if you like. You can add as much or as little as you like. I’d probably suggest starting with 1/2 teaspoon and adding up to 2 teaspoons if you’re a real cinnamon-lover.
Don’t overwork the dough: Be careful not to overdo it with the mixing. If you do, it will elongate the natural gluten molecules and your scones could come out hard or tough.
Don’t overbake: If your scones come out dry, they’ve probably been in the oven too long. Remember to consider carry-over cooking, which is the idea that foods will continue to increase in temperature even after they’ve been removed from the heat source. Keep this in mind and know that if in doubt, it’s better to take them out slightly underbaked.
Frequently asked questions
Absolutely!
I’d suggest trying these with apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, chai spice, or Chinese 5-spice powder. Cardamom, nutmeg, and/or ground cloves would also be really nice.
As would pears, quince, raisins, or even shredded carrot!
You can and I do it often!
These keep (baked) very well at room temperature for a day or so and can be reheated in the microwave or low oven.
You can also freeze the dough and break off one or two for freshly baked scones whenever the craving strikes. You don’t even need to thaw it first, but you may have to increase the bake time slightly.
If you have any still hanging around after a day or so, slip them into a zip-top bag and they should keep in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for a month or two.
Thaw them in the fridge.
This recipe makes 12 scones. They are slightly smaller than what you would get at a bakery or cafe, but I find them very filling and often can’t even finish a whole one in one sitting.
The nutritional info below reflects a serving size of one scone or 1/12th of the whole batch. It’s for the scones only; it does not include any of the spreads suggested above.
A few more of my best scone recipes
As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Apple Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (6 g) baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon (3 g) kosher salt
- 1/2 cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, very cold
- 1 (182 g) apple, (medium) roughly chopped or grated
- 1/2 cup (119 g) heavy whipping cream, very cold
- 2 tablespoons (24 g) cinnamon sugar, (or 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar mixed with1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.*
- Cut the butter into smaller chunks, add to the bowl, and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (pieces of butter should be about the size of a small pea).
- With the food processor running on low speed, stream in the cream until the dough gathers itself into a few clumps (don't overwork the dough).
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface to avoid sticking, then divide it in half.
- Press each half flat, top with about half the apples, and fold it in on itself to encase the fruit in the dough, pinching any seams together.
- Use your clean hands to shape each half into a disc about 1 1/2 inches thick.
- Cut each disc in half, then each half into thirds, then transfer the unbaked scones to the prepared baking sheet, allowing about 1/4-inch in between each scone for spreading.
- Top the unbaked scones with cinnamon sugar and bake until firmly set around the edges but still moist towards the center (approx. 18 to 22 minutes). Do not overbake or the scones could come out dry.
