These cinnamon scones are overflowing with sweet cinnamon spice and cinnamon chips. They’re buttery and moist with crisp crumbly edges and soft flaky centers. Crunchy coarse sugar and coffee icing are the perfect finishing touches!
Cinnamon Scones: also known as the best coffee pairing in the entire world. 🙂
Until recently, I was never a fan of scones. I’d much rather pair my coffee with jumbo blueberry muffins or cinnamon rolls. The truth is, scones can taste pretty lackluster and boring.
But my opinion took a total 180 a few years ago when I attended a cooking event in the Panera Bread test kitchen. We made deliciously moist yet crisp scones with cream, butter, and crunchy sugar on top. The flavor and texture were on point—and the scone recipe was pretty easy, too! If you’re not a fan of scones, you may just be eating the wrong ones because when done right, they are pure pastry perfection.
You’ll be singing all the praises for these cinnamon scones. Promise.
Since then, I’ve mastered chocolate chip scones,blueberry scones, and pumpkin scones. I use the same master recipe for scones for each flavor, a careful formula promising the BEST flavor and texture. Here are all of my scone recipes!
These Cinnamon Scones Have:
- Sweet crumbly edges
- Crunchy golden brown exterior
- Delicious brown sugar flavor
- Soft, moist, cinnamon-spiced centers
- Sweet cinnamon chips
- Lots of coffee icing
Cinnamon Chips
I use Hershey’s brand cinnamon chips in these scones. Keep your eyes peeled and when you see them, stock up. They’re wonderful in scones, muffins, snickerdoodles, and even banana bread. I usually find them in Target, Walmart, and grocery stores during the fall and winter months.
If you can’t find them in stores, they’re sold on Amazon too.
How to Make Cinnamon Scones
These cinnamon scones are relatively easy. First, mix the dry ingredients together. You need flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Second, cut cold butter into the dry ingredients. You can use a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your hands. A food processor works too, but it often overworks the scone dough. To avoid overly dense scones, work the dough as little as possible.
Next, whisk the wet ingredients together. You need heavy cream, brown sugar, 1 egg, and vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the cinnamon chips, then gently mix together. Form the dough into a disc on the counter, then cut into 8 wedges. Before baking, brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. These extras add a bakery-style crunch and beautiful golden sheen. (The best parts!)
One of my tricks:To obtain a flaky center and a crumbly exterior, keep scone dough as cold as possible. I highly recommend chilling the shaped scones for at least 15 minutes prior to baking. You can even refrigerate overnight for a quick breakfast in the morning!
After that, bake the scones until golden brown.
Frozen Grated Butter
Frozen grated butter is key to scone success. Like with pie crust, you will work cold butter into the dry ingredients. The cold butter coats the flour, which creates tons of flour coated butter crumbs. When the butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam which creates all the delicious flakiness we love. The exterior becomes crumbly, crunchy, and crisp.
Why FROZEN butter? Refrigerated butter might melt in the dough as you work with it, but frozen butter will hold out until the oven. And the finer the pieces of cold butter, the less the scones spread and the quicker the butter mixes into the dry ingredients. I recommend grating the frozen butter with a box grater.
Let’s Talk About the Coffee Icing
Finish the cinnamon chip scones with a simple coffee icing made from a couple Tablespoons of strong coffee, confectioners’ sugar, and vanilla extract. If desired, make vanilla icing by substituting the coffee for milk or heavy cream. I found the coffee glaze really gives them something special.
These cinnamon scones are a cross between an iced cinnamon roll and a buttery brown sugar scone. I have a ton of self control around baked goods but I couldn’t keep my hands off these. And they are 1000% worth it in all their cinnamon sugared, coffee glazed, crumbly, buttery, creamy glory!
More Cinnamon Recipes You’ll Love
Because we all can’t get enough of this perfect spice. 🙂
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Homemade Cinnamon Swirl Bread
- Cinnamon Sugar Donuts
- Chai Spiced Cinnamon Swirl Bundt Cake
- Banana Scones
- Giant Cinnamon Roll Cake
Cinnamon Chip Scones
4.8 from 24 reviews
- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 large scones
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Save Recipe
Description
These sweet cinnamon scones are buttery and moist with crisp crumbly edges and soft flaky centers. Read through the recipe before beginning. You can skip the chilling for 15 minutes prior to baking, but I highly recommend it to prevent the scones from over-spreading. Feel free to replace the coffee icing with vanilla icing.
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour (), plus more for hands and work surface
- 2 and 1/2 teaspoonsbaking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoonsalt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, frozen
- 1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream(plus 2 Tbsp for brushing)
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) cinnamon chips
- for topping: coarse sugar
Coffee Icing
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’sugar
- 3 Tablespoons strong black coffee
- 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter, two forks, or your fingers until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. See video above for a closer look at the texture. Place in the refrigerator or freezer as you mix the wet ingredients together.
- Whisk 1/2 cup heavy cream, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the flour mixture, add the cinnamon chips, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
- Pour onto the counter and, with floured hands, work dough into a ball as best you can. Dough will be sticky. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour. If it seems too dry, add 1-2 more Tablespoons heavy cream. Press into an 8-inch disc and, with a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges.
- Brush scones with remaining heavy cream and for extra crunch, sprinkle with coarse sugar. (You can do this before or after refrigerating in the next step.)
- Place scones on a plate or lined baking sheet (if your fridge has space!) and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. After refrigerating, arrange scones 2-3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet(s).
- Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes as you prepare the icing.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together. Drizzle over warm scones.
- Leftover iced or un-iced scones keep well at room temperature for 2 days or in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Notes
- Freeze Before Baking: Freeze scone dough wedges on a plate or baking sheet for 1 hour. Once relatively frozen, you can layer them in a freezer-friendly bag or container. Bake from frozen, adding a few minutes to the bake time. Or thaw overnight, then bake as directed.
- Freeze After Baking: Freeze the baked and cooled scones before topping with icing. I usually freeze in a freezer-friendly bag or container. To thaw, leave out on the counter for a few hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Warm in the microwave for 30 seconds or on a baking sheet in a 300°F (149°C) oven for 10 minutes. When ready to serve, top with lemon icing.
- Overnight Instructions: Prepare scones through step 4. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Continue with the recipe the following day.
- Special Tools (affiliate links):Glass Mixing Bowls|Box Grater|Pastry Cutter|Whisk |Silicone Spatula|Bench Scraper|Baking Sheet|Silicone Baking MatorParchment Paper|Pastry Brush
- Over-spreading: Start with very cold scone dough. Expect some spread, but if the scones are over-spreading as they bake, remove from the oven and press back into its triangle shape (or whatever shape) using a silicone spatula.
