Cream Cheese Scones
These cream cheese scones are wonderfully tender and have a unique tangy and sweet flavor thanks to the addition of cream cheese. Vanilla flecked and delightfully crumbly and moist.
My daughter wants you to know, these cream cheese scones are ‘the best scones ever’. In the first two tests I’d done on the recipe, they were coming out quite wonky (a result of layering the dough and adding too much leavening). She did not care and gobbled hers up like candy, having a mini argument with her dad about who got the bigger scone.
Obviously everybody’s flavor preferences are different but I think if you like biscuits and scones, and especially the kind of biscuit the northeast uses for strawberry shortcakes: I think you’ll love these.
Recipe Origins
I worked off of the scone recipe from these babka scones; starting by replacing a portion of the butter with cream cheese. Cream cheese has more water in it so I made other adjustments: removed the egg and adjusted the heavy cream accordingly. Leavening was also adjusted as I was getting some exploding (beautifully if you ask me 😉 ) scones out of the oven.
Recipe Ingredients
Flour: For scones I like to use a low-protein flour (like White Lily) as it makes them softer and flakier, but any all purpose flour will do.
Leavening: baking powder. Cannot be substituted.
Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, use half the amount listed.
Sugar: fine granulated sugar.
Butter: unsalted butter at a cool room temperature. We want it to be easy to slice, but still firm. Salted butter is fine too, but in this case I’d reduce the amount of salt added to the dough.
Cream Cheese: full fat cream cheese, at a cool room temperature.
Heavy Cream: full fat heavy cream or heavy whipping cream. You can use light cream here but the scone will be less moist.
Vanilla: pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
Coarse sugar: I use this for topping the scones, it can be organic cane or turbinado.
Lemon zest: optional, and can be added with the dry ingredients (I would probably add the sugar to the bowl first, zest the lemons into it and rub it in with my fingers, then add the remaining dry ingredients and proceed as directed.
How to make Cream Cheese Scones
→These have a short chill in the freezer, twenty minutes, so start making them at least an hour before you want to eat them.
→ Before you begin, both the butter and cream cheese should be at a cool room temperature.
Make the dough
Start by adding the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder to a bowl and whisking. If the flour is lumpy (low protein flours usually are) sift it into the bowl first:
Slice the butter over the dry ingredients and add cut up the cream cheese into dice sized bits and add to the bowl:
Either use a pastry knife or your hands (I like to start with the pastry knife, especially if the butter is very firm, and then use my hands) to rub the butter and cream cheese into the flour. If using hands; press the pieces between your thumbs and the rest of your fingers to flatten them:
Pour the heavy cream into the center of the mix and add the vanilla.
Stir the heavy cream into the flour until you can’t see any ‘wet’ bits.
Shape the scones
Use your hands now to gently squeeze and fold the dough over itself, over and over until it comes together in a shaggy ball.
Set the ball on a floured countertop and flatten into a 6 inch round disk that’s about ¾ inch thick.Slice into wedges (four for regular sized scones or eight wedges for mini scones)
Place on a parchment lined baking sheet (I like to use a quarter sheet pan):
Set the tray in the freezer (no need to cover it) for about 20 minutes, until the scones are frozen solid
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Brush the scones with more heavy cream and sprinkle the sugar on top
Bake the scones for about 20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden. The tops might not brown as much so keep an eye on the bottoms and edges:
FAQ on Cream Cheese Scones
Can I make these ahead of time?
Yes, once you’ve frozen them on the pan transfer them to an airtight container and store them in the fridge overnight to bake the next morning. For longer storage, keep them in the freezer.
Can this recipe be doubled?
Absolutely. You can shape it into a disk (it will be larger) and get eight regular sized scones or you can make two disks and get about 16 mini scones.
Can I add in some fruit or nuts to the scones?
With any add-ins, they should go in before adding the heavy cream. Nuts and dried fruit like cranberries, blueberries or even dried cherries would be great here. I’d say strawberries if diced could work too. If you’d like blueberries just be more careful with the dough so they don’t burst and add extra moisture to the dough.
How can I flavor the scones?
Lemon, lime or orange zest rubbed into the sugar before making the dough would be great. If you like it, almond extract instead of or in addition to the vanilla extract.
Serving & Storing the Scones
Storage: These are best stored in an airtight container. A day layer they do get a bit more dry but are still great to eat.
Serving: We like to eat these as is but I feel like this is the kind of scone that is ripe for smearing with jam or cream and macerated fruit.
Cream Cheese Scone Recipe
Cream Cheese Scones
Ingredients
- 200g or 1 ½ cups low protein all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 50g or ¼ cup fine granulated sugar
- 57g or ¼ cup unsalted butter at cool room temperature
- 57g or ¼ cup cream cheese at cool room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 80g or ⅓ cup heavy cream plus more for brushing on top
- Coarse sugar like organic cane or turbinado for sprinkling on top
Method
- Add the flour to a medium or large bowl (if it’s lumpy, sift it in). Add the baking powder, salt and sugar then whisk well to combine.
- Slice the butter and the cream cheese into chunks that are about the size of a dice. Use a pastry knife or your fingers to rub the cream cheese and butter into the flour until the pieces are flat and about the size of a black bean.
- Pour in the heavy cream and into the middle of it add the vanilla. Stir until the liquid is mixed into the flour then use your hands to fold and gently squeeze the dough over itself until it comes together in a dry, shaggy ball.
- Set the ball of dough on a floured countertop and press it into a disk that’s about three quarters of an inch thick. Use a bench scraper or a knife to slice the disk into wedges; you can have four regular sized scones or eight mini scones.
- Line a quarter baking sheet with parchment paper and (use water or oil to get the parchment to stick to the pan) place the scones on the pan. Arrange them so they are rather close to each other but not touching.
- Set the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes, until the scones are solid. Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream then sprinkle sugar on top. Bake the scones for 20 minutes, until golden on the bottom.
- Scones are best the day of but can be kept overnight in an airtight container.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Share & tag me on instagram @buttermilkbysam
Do you use superfine sugar or just regular granulated sugar?
thank you
“Fine”, it is probably closer to superfine than regular granulated which is a bit chunkier.
I would like to try these; however, do you think this would work with gf all purpose flour?
I think it would work as long as it’s a 1 to 1 sub of gf flour (like you wouldn’t need to add xantham gum).