Blackberry Lemon Scones

How to make perfectly flaky scones with fresh blackberries and a hint of lemon. Jump to the Blackberry Scone Recipe or read on to see our tips for making them.

Blackberry Lemon Scones

There are lots of scone recipes out there and I would most likely love them all! I love scones. These blackberry scones are more of the “American” or “coffeehouse” kind of scone.

These scones are packed with fresh blackberries as well as lots of lemon zest. These only take minutes to make and the best part? No fancy equipment required! If you only have dried fruit on hand, try our cranberry scones recipe instead.

Our tips for making the best scones

Scones should be light and flaky, not heavy and flat. To make them best keep the following tips in mind.

  1. Cold butter is essential. The butter should be chilled and hard and the sour cream should be used straight from the refrigerator.
  2. The less time you can spend working the dough, the better. Over worked scone dough will make the baked scones heavy.
  3. As you cut your scones, you might notice a few edges are ragged. Don’t pat them down or fix them — the flaky edges will puff up in the oven, helping the scones rise and become light.

For these easy blackberry scones, we combine butter with flour, baking powder, baking soda and a little salt. Then we cut the butter into it. You can do this a few ways.

  • Use a box grater to grate frozen butter into the bowl.
  • Cut cold butter into small cubes then use a pastry cutter or two knifes to “cut” the butter in.
  • Add cubes of cold butter to the dry ingredients that are in the bowl of a food processor then pulse.

After the butter, we stir in some sour cream and eggs. Remember, don’t over work the dough. We like to use a fork to swirl them in until everything is mixed. The last ingredient to go in are the blackberries. Some will get smashed into the dough (that’s alright).

Cutting the dough into scones shaped like triangles

After cutting into circles or triangles (that’s up to you), we bake the scones in a hot oven until puffed and cooked through.

Blackberry Lemon Scones

More easy recipes

Recipe updated, originally posted January 2012. Since posting this in 2012, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne

Blackberry Lemon Scones

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

These blackberry scones are easy and come together quickly. We love using fresh blackberries for these, but thawed, frozen blackberries will also work. For the best texture, use the coldest butter and sour cream possible and try your best not to over mix the scone batter.

Makes approximately 8 scones

You Will Need

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar, plus more for scone tops

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

1/2 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

6 ounces fresh blackberries

Directions

  • Make Dough
  • 1Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicon baking mat.

    2Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and the salt in a medium bowl.

    3Use a pastry blender to work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal with a few small crumbles of butter the size of peas. (Or use a food processor).

    4In a small bowl, whisk sour cream, egg, and lemon zest until blended then add to the flour and butter mixture. Use a rubber spatula to mix until a crumbly dough forms. Gently stir in the blackberries. Don’t worry if some of the berries are crushed a bit.

    5Transfer the dough and all dry, floury bits to a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough 3 to 5 times until it just comes together. Form into an 8-inch circle. Cut into 8 triangles, or use a biscuit cutter.

  • Bake Scones
  • 1Place scones onto the baking sheet and lightly sprinkle tops with sugar. Bake until light golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • To Store: Scones are best eaten fresh. If you do have leftovers, your best bet to keeping them fresh is to freeze them. Freeze baked and cooled scones until hard then transfer to resealable plastic bags. Keep up to three weeks. To reheat, bake in a 350 degree F oven until warmed. It shouldn’t take long.
  • You can also freeze unbaked scone dough. Chill cut scones in the freezer until firm, and then transfer to resealable plastic bags. Keep up to three weeks. Bake in a 400 degree F oven straight from the freezer. (They may take a few extra minutes).
  • We originally created this recipe for Betty Crocker, but couldn’t wait to share with you.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Nutrition Per Serving Serving Size 1 scone (1 of 8) / Calories 294 / Total Fat 14.6g / Saturated Fat 8.7g / Cholesterol 58.8mg / Sodium 207.2mg / Total Carbohydrate 36g / Dietary Fiber 2g / Total Sugars 9.6g / Protein 5.4g
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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46 comments… Leave a Review
  • G Daly February 10, 2024, 3:41 pm

    Delicious! I’ve never made scones from scratch, and this was simple and they turned out great! I don’t want to store these long term. I made them for a family gathering tomorrow. Can I just put them in an airtight container and leave on the counter?

    Reply
    • Joanne February 16, 2024, 2:52 pm

      Absolutely! Sounds like you have delicious homemade scones to enjoy! Yes, storing them in an airtight container on the counter overnight is perfectly fine. If you won’t be enjoying them within a day or two, freezing is a great option to keep them fresh for longer. They’ll last up to a month in the freezer!

      Reply
  • Reba January 11, 2024, 10:39 am

    So, this is just a copy of the Betty Crocker Recipe. All the way down to the picture of the scone.

    Reply
    • Joanne January 11, 2024, 1:47 pm

      Hi Reba, That’s because we created this recipe with Betty Crocker many years ago and provided them the permission to share it on their website. There should be a mention of us on that page, but with site redesigns over the years, it may have been lost. Hope that clears it up for you.

      Reply
  • Jay May 18, 2023, 4:14 pm

    Your beautiful scones appear to have a drizzle or sugar topping. Can you share what that is? Thanks

    Reply
    • Joanne May 19, 2023, 1:45 pm

      Hi Jay, We don’t add a drizzle of anything, but we do sprinkle a little sugar on top of the scones before baking them.

      Reply
  • Jackie December 3, 2021, 3:26 pm

    This is my first time making scones. These are delicious! Very easy to make. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  • Mary Chambers July 5, 2021, 11:57 am

    My very first try at scones! (I’m 64!) They were DELICIOUS! Will be making scones often from now on!

    Reply
  • Annette Tulloch November 14, 2020, 12:28 am

    My family and I love cheese. We try not to eat it too often, but when we do, we like to enjoy quality cheese! I have never considered buying a new cheese grater until now. Thank you for the article!

    Reply
  • Maya August 28, 2020, 12:05 am

    I’m allergic the Sour Cream. What can I substitute for the Sour Cream?

    Reply
    • Joanne October 28, 2020, 6:39 pm

      Hi Maya, Would a yogurt be okay? You can try a thick, plain yogurt. You might even be able to sub in a dairy-free yogurt.

      Reply
  • Bonita Abernathy April 23, 2020, 8:15 pm

    I made these and they were delicious!! Moist and flavorful!!

    Reply
  • Julie July 11, 2018, 6:38 pm

    The best scones I ever made! My family loves them. They will not last long enough to have to store them. Thank you for this recipe. It will be used often. Looking forward to trying blueberries.

    Reply
  • Lureta March 5, 2018, 2:42 pm

    I’ve made these scones several times. I like the the dough mixture, and quite honestly just made a double batch and the butter was not cold. I used a cup of goat yogurt , instead of the sour cream, plus craisins and macademias pushed into the top of each scone. They are award winning. I put my second batch, cut and uncooked in the freezer for later this week.

    Reply
  • Pauline Rohrmann June 17, 2017, 12:21 pm

    Wow! You are my kind of cooks! Love, love, love scones, and these are terrific! Went to Ireland a few years ago and every day I had tea and scones. (YUM) Hands down the absolutely best ones I found were in Belleek. I wrote, and they very graciously sent me the recipe . . . which included a mug of flour, a knob of butter a heaping spoonful of sugar, etc. Well you get the idea. after lots of back and forth . . .they were very patient. I finally got something that worked, and these Blackberry Lemon Scones are also terrific!!! Thanks for all your hard work, Your devoted fan, Pauline P.S. Also love these with the lemon and fresh rosemary in place of the blackberries, a very comforting scone, if you know what I mean :- )

    Reply
  • Pauline Rohrmann June 17, 2017, 12:18 pm

    Wow! You are my kind of cooks! Love, love, love scones, and these are terrific! Went to Ireland a few years ago and every day I had tea and scones. Hands down the absolutely best ones were in Belleek. I wrote, and they very graciously sent me the recipe . . . which included a mug of flour, a knob of butter a heaping spoonful of sugar, etc. Well you get the idea. after lots of back and forth . . .they were very patient. i finally got something that worked, and these too are terrific!!! Thanks for all your hard work, Your devoted fan, Pauline P.S. Also love these with the lemon and fresh rosemary, a very comforting scone, if you know what I mean :- )

    Reply
  • Emily April 1, 2017, 4:32 am

    Wow, what a wonderful recipe, and the instructions/tips were incredibly helpful. I found a great deal on blackberries at the market today, and hadn’t ever tried a scone made with them- so glad I came across this site! After cutting my butter into small cubes, I popped it in the freezer for about 10 minutes while I got the rest of the ingredients together, which I think helped. I liked these so much that I made a second batch with a combo of fresh blueberries and diced, dried apricots with some vanilla extract in place of the lemon juice… A nice variation! I am freezing half of the dough to have on hand later, and look forward to seeing how they bake up from frozen. Thank you again for the fabulous recipe!

    Reply

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