Sour Cream and Fruit Scones

By Dawn Perry

Published May 20, 2020

Sour Cream and Fruit Scones
Yossy Arefi for The New York Times (Photography and Styling)
Total Time
35 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
4(1,619)
Comments
Read comments

The benefit of using frozen fruit in these tangy scones is in how it keeps the butter cold. Cold butter melts slowly in the oven, creating steam and tender pockets in the scones. The frozen fruit also doesn’t get smashed the way fresh fruit does. You can freeze the scones before baking for up to a month, just add a few minutes to the baking time. They are delicious on their own or with a bit of butter, but, for extra credit, split and toast the scones, then mix a spoonful of sour cream with some freshly whipped cream and sandwich inside.

Featured in: 3 Summery Sweets You Can Make With Frozen Fruit

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
    Subscribe

  • Print Options

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:8 scones
  • 2cups/255 grams all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
  • ½cup/100 grams granulated sugar
  • 1tablespoon baking powder
  • ¾teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½cup/115 grams cold unsalted butter (1 stick)
  • 1cup frozen cherries (halved), peaches (in bite-size pieces) or berries
  • ½cup/120 milliliters sour cream or plain full-fat Greek yogurt
  • ¼cup/60 milliliters milk (preferably whole, but whatever you have is OK)
  • 1large egg, beaten
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

304 calories; 14 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 40 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 15 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 260 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by
Cooking Newsletter illustration

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the upper third. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. Step 2

    Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate butter directly into the dry ingredients, stopping a few times along the way to toss the butter pieces into the flour. Use your fingers to work the butter into slightly smaller pieces. Add cherries and toss to combine.

  3. Step 3

    In a small bowl, whisk together sour cream and milk. Add to the flour mixture, and use a fork to stir until all the dry flour bits are incorporated, but the dough is still shaggy. Smoosh and knead the dough a few times until it barely holds together, then dump the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.

  4. Step 4

    Pat dough to a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Cut into 8 squares, transfer to the prepared sheet, and brush the tops with beaten egg.

  5. Step 5

    Bake until golden brown, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool slightly. Scones will keep, covered at room temperature, for 3 days. Reheat, if you like, in a toaster oven or at 350 degrees until warmed through.

Ratings

4 out of 5
1,619 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

N.C. Hammer

The fruits make this dough very sticky so have extra flour for your hands and work surface. Freeze the stick of butter and use a hand grater to add it to the dry ingredients in small pea size butter balls. Add lemon zest and vanilla extract and I brush the top and sides with buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar before baking to add crunch. Because the dough is sticky, don't separate them fully before baking. Cut it, bake it for 18-23 minutes, then separate fully, and bake five minutes longer.

Miriam

Is it essential to use a grater for the butter and your hands for mixing? It seems that using your hands would melt the butter. It’s so much easier to use the food processor to mix the butter and the dry ingredients.

JMac

These are the best scones I ever made! Pulsed the dry ingredients together in a food processsor. Cubed a stick of frozen butter and cut it into the flour with the processor. Turned it all into a bowl, tossed in berries and then the. wet ingredients. Didn't have frozen fruit so used fresh blueberries. Sprinkled a tiny bit of sugar over the egg wash; baked 18 minutes. Perfect. Next time I would cut them into 12 or 16 as they were huge.

Lana S

I will not be making this again. The kitchen ended up a mess. The mixture would not hold together enough to form anything solid to transfer to the baking sheet. It tasted fine but had no discernible shape. I certainly would not serve to a guest.

Helen Gibson

Halved recipe except used the full 1/4 cup milk since a lot of readers added milk to this recipe. Also made with fresh, albeit firm spring strawberries and dumped scone mixture onto parchment covered work surface to knead and form dough before cutting. Still a very wet, crumbly mixture as it went into the oven…but OMG, these came out wonderful. Will definitely make again.

PatriciaL

I used a bag of frozen cherries and berries and sour cream. I enjoyed them so much I will be making a batch tomorrow morning with frozen peaches. Batter was quite sticky but a bench knife helps that so much.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

Advertisement

or to save this recipe.