These melt-in-your-mouth cream scones are incredible and incredibly easy to make. They’re made with just six ingredients and can be on your breakfast table in under twenty minutes.
Let’s set the scene here: you, a lazy weekend morning, there’s coffee brewing on the counter and half a carton of heavy cream in the refrigerator from last night’s dinner that you need to use up. What are your going to do?
You’re going to make cream scones.
You’re going to take five minutes to throw together 5 ingredients and that leftover cream to make some dough, 14 minutes to have a kitchen dance party while it bakes, and then you’re going to spend the most charming morning sitting at the counter in your sun-drenched kitchen spreading butter and jam over freshly baked, warm-out-of-the-oven scones while you sip coffee and finish organizing your Pinterest boards.
At some point, you’ll smile to yourself and whisper yeah, we can have it all.
Okay, maybe not really. Maybe that scenario ends with you in yoga pants and a t-shirt from high school with a hole in the armpit, crying over a scone as you scroll through Twitter (even though you know nothing good ever comes starting your day with Twitter).
But you know what, a morning crying over Twitter with a freshly baked scone is still going to be better than a morning crying over Twitter without a scone.
Scones aren’t going to cure the world’s ills, but they’ll brighten your morning just a bit.
And fortunately, whenever your morning needs a bit of brightening, this small batch of cream scones is one of the easiest and quickest things to bake. It’ll go from bowl to 6 cute little scones in less than 20 minutes, and you can start eating them as soon as they’ve cooled enough that you’re not scalding off taste buds.
Pull one open, enjoy that little curl of steam that puffs out, and spread butter and jam over the inside or give it a drizzle of honey. The outside will be a little crunchy, the inside soft, and the whole thing kind of just melts in your mouth when you bite into it.
The entire process, from making to shaping to eating is utterly satisfying and really does make you feel like you accomplished something with your morning, even if that thing was just making some excellent baked goods.
Small-batch Cream Scones Recipe Tips
- Proper flour measurement is very important in this recipe. Too much flour and you might have trouble getting your dough to come together. Make sure to follow the measuring instructions in the recipe.
- If it feels like a maple morning, I made a version of these scones (The Good Place themed!) with maple glaze, Small-batch Maple Scones.
- Have leftover heavy cream? Here are some ideas to use up the leftover cream.
Looking for more small-batch breakfasts? Try these Cinnamon Rolls for Two, Small-batch Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls, and Fluffy Buttermilk Pancakes for Two.
Small-batch Cream Scones
Ingredients
Cream Scones
- 1 1/2 cup (180g) all-purpose flour measured by weight or using the spoon and sweep method*
- 3 tablespoons (37g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup heavy cream plus more for brushing on scones*
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Serve With
- Butter
- Jam
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- In a bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine heavy cream and vanilla. Drizzle cream over flour mixture and stir, using just enough cream so that a shaggy dough forms with no loose flour at the bottom of your bowl (you may not need all of the cream).*
- Use your hands to shape the dough into a ball and place on a lightly floured work surface. Press the dough into a disk about 5 1/2-inches across or 3/4-inch thick.
- Use a knife or your dough scraper to cut the circle into six wedges. Transfer scones to your prepared baking sheet, placing them in a circle, 1-inch apart.
- Brush scones with a little more cream to help with browning and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until baked through and lightly golden.
- Allow to sit for 5 minutes and serve warm. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe Adapted From King Arthur Flour
Harriet says
I just love plain, scones with jam and fresh cream and sometimes butter. I will be making these soon.
Tracy says
That’s my favorite way to eat them too. 🙂 I hope you enjoy them!
Yvonne says
I just found your website today and the small-batch idea is genius! First I want to do the cream scones tomorrow morning because I have some left-over 34% cream to use ASAP and the recipe for the scones is so easily doable – it sounds just right for a coldish, rainy morning in November.
Tracy says
Hope you enjoy them, Yvonne! Scones on a rainy morning sounds ideal!
C says
This recipe was awesome. So simple, quick and just the right amount for Christmas morning.
Tracy says
So glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Margot says
Fantastic recipe and so quick and easy! I’m not a baker and these were impressive. I added some orange zest before mixing and folded in some dried cranberries. New favorite, thank you!!
Tracy says
So thrilled you enjoyed them, Margot!! Love the orange/cranberry combo. It sounds fabulous!
Angelica says
I’m not a bsker, would it be possible to know exactly how much cream to put in…a drizzle is kind of confusing to me, I wouldn’t know how much or too little to put in it
Tracy says
Hi, Angelica, drizzle’s not a measurement, it’s an instruction. Basically you’ll want to measure out 3/4 cup cream (as the recipe calls for) and then slowly drizzle that into the flour mixture while stirring. When your ingredients start to clump and create a dough with no loose flour at the bottom of the bowl, stop pouring. You’ll use most of or all of the cream. The recipe’s written this way because sometimes based on how you measure your flour or environmental factors, you’ll need more or less cream to form the dough, and too much cream can leave you with a sticky, heavy dough that’s hard to work with. Hope that helps, and let me know if you have any other questions!
Tonya says
Can’t wait to try this recipe but I don’t have any cream right now. I’m sure cream is better but could this work with whole milk?
Tracy says
Hi, Tonya, I probably wouldn’t make these with just whole milk, but if you have butter, you can combine 6 tablespoons of butter and 6 tablespoons (1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) of milk and heat just until butter is melted, and use that in place of the cream. If you’re using salted butter, I’d also cut the amount of salt in the recipe by half. I tested this out this morning and it worked great. Hope that helps!
Tonya says
Thanks for the recommendation. I tried it this morning before I saw your response with whole milk. It was pretty good but a little dry. I will definitely try this recipe again with the butter or cream.
Tracy says
Thanks for reporting back, Tonya! Glad to hear these (sort of) work with whole milk. LOL Definitely let me know how it goes if you try them again!
Mary Bartosic says
I made the recipe exactly as instructed and found these scones to be not only easy but absolutely delicious. They are moist but not cake-y, and are very close to the scones I fell in love with in Ireland. Well done!
Tracy says
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them, Mary!!
Nancy Peters says
At home right now gives me a chance to putter in the kitchen and do some new things. REcipes for two is perfect for my son and I as we are both shy of leftovers and trying to keep portions in mind. Scones for sure are on my mind for today even tho’ they would not be on a weight watch list. Thanks also for suggesting substitutes (I have no cream on hand).
Tracy says
So glad you’re finding the recipes useful!!
denise says
I made these this morning and they were wonderful. Tried with apricot preserves and blackeberry preserves and both were quite good.
Frida says
I thought I had left over cream only to find they had already gone bad. Made this with the 50/50 milk & butter. Delicious – and it was so easy. Definitely will try again with cream, maybe adding orange and cranberries like one of the posts. Thank you , Tracy!
Tracy says
So happy to hear you enjoyed them, Frida!!
Jackie Oikawa says
Only have Coffee Cream which is 18%.. would this work?
Jackie from New Brunswick Canada
Tracy says
Hi Jackie, I’ve had people tell me they’ve made these with half and half before, so you could probably get away with it, but I worry you might miss some of the fat. I’d probably use the coffee cream with some butter, maybe 1/2 cup cream, 1/4 cup butter. At the bottom of the recipe card, there’s instructions for making a milk/butter mixture to replace the cream, just follow that but use the ratio I just mentioned instead. Hope that helps!
Kelvin Nairn (Australia) says
I’ve followed the recipe exactly 6 times, and ended up with small batchs of very tasty biscuits. Could you suggest where I might be going wrong?
Tracy says
Hi, Kelvin. I see you’re in Australia, so by biscuits, do you mean cookie biscuits or American-style bread biscuits? If it’s the latter, you’re probably not doing anything wrong, these scones just might have a different texture than you’re used to. If they’re coming out flat like cookies, I’d double check that you’re using baking powder not baking soda and make sure you’re not using too much cream. If you’re using the milk/butter combo instead of cream, try refrigerating the scones for half an hour before baking. Hope that helps.
Kelvin Nairn says
Hi Tracy, thank you so much for your advice. Each time I’ve followed your recipe, I’ve ended up with cookie style biscuits which have been tasty and enjoyable. I’ve traditionally made scones by rubbing butter into the flour mixture etc. I was hoping for a similar result using your recipe. However, I’ll follow your advice and refrigerate the dough for half an hour prior to baking. Kind regards, Kel.
Tracy says
Cream scones have a different texture than traditional scones made by rubbing butter into flour. You might prefer this base recipe, which is made the traditional way: https://bakingmischief.com/bacon-scones-with-maple-glaze/
Julia says
These are soooooo good and soooooo easy. I need to make a large batch now because they’re almost gone! So glad I stumbled across this recipe. Definitely will be my go-to recipe now!
Tracy says
Yay! So happy to hear it, Julia!!
Nicole says
Just made them literally ten minutes ago I have left over heavy cream and didn’t want to waste and these did not disappoint. They were soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. Will be making tomorrow later!
Tracy says
Thanks, Nicole!! So glad they worked out for you!
Natalie says
Made these this morning for my bf and I for a change instead of toast! Turned out so delicious and was so easy, and I don’t even think I’ve had a scone before today 🙂 The only thing that went wrong was I changed the recipe to 2 servings, but didn’t realize the grams in brackets didn’t change, wasted enough heavy cream before realizing my mistake, but once I used 60g instead of 180g it all came together perfectly haha. My mistake but great recipe, will be making more tomorrow!
Tracy says
So glad you enjoyed them, Natalie!!!
Kristin says
I got stuck at home alone on Christmas sick and I made these for myself as a treat on Christmas morning. They came out great! Simple and fun. I subbed the heavy cream for full fat canned coconut milk, so I’m sure it wasn’t exact but it still was very very good. I used the coconut milk mixture to brush on top and it worked like a charm to help with browning. Thanks for the small batch recipe, works great for a solo person!
Tracy says
So sorry to hear you were sick on Christmas!! But glad these scones worked out for you, and I love knowing they work with full-fat coconut milk!
D says
Just tried this this morning and my husband who thought he didn’t like scones from childhood memories of them, said these are the best scones he’s ever had. So thank you very much for the recipe!! So easy I can make them fresh whenever I want!
Tracy says
So happy to hear that!!
denise says
I love the simplicity of this recipe and they taste so good. I have made several times and they have turned out delicious each time.
Crystal Hetke says
Love them. Made them this morning. I added dried cranberries and sprinkled coarse sugar on top. They tasted great and are a cinch to make. Thanks for great recipe.
Jody says
I made 2 batches today to use up my half and half cream. Used 1/2 cup half & half with 1/4 cup melted butter. First batch i added lemon essence and cranberries. Second batch i added raisins, vanilla, touch almond essence and toasted sliced almonds.
Both were fabulous!
Jean B. says
Today is supposed to be pie-crust-dough-making day, so i had bought buttermilk to make your wonderful piecrust(s) in prep for Thanksgiving. Then…An unexpected visitor showed up and I needed a little something to nibble on, so grabbed this recipe, but had to sub buttermilk for the cream. Still absolutely delicious!
Thank you so much for your great recipes!
Rachel says
I love these!! I’ve made them so many times – with cream or with the butter option – and they are so good. I love that I can make them quick and noiseless so that my little guy doesn’t wake up when I want to enjoy then with my cup of coffee in the morning (too much sugar for him is a bad thing…. I’m sure it is for me too but these are just so good with coffee!!) Thank you!!