Name: The Easiest Scone Recipe {one bowl, 3 ingredients, no chilling}
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: 3 cups self rising flour; 4 tablespoons sugar; 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Jump to Recipe·Print Recipe

I'm not sure how it happened, but I've kind of become known for scones. And muffins. But scones especially. Scones are one of those baked goods that many of you have said you've had bad luck making in the past and I guess I've sort of taken it upon myself to change that. Think of this easiest scone recipe as a beginner scone. Or a lazy scone. And definitely think of it as the easiest scone recipe you will ever make. I took my cream scone recipe and simplified it down to 3 main ingredients. If you want to add in flavorings those will obviously up the ingredient count, but the basic three ingredient scone will give you a soft, slightly sweet blank canvas perfect for butter, clotted cream, lemon curd, Crème Fraîche, jams and jellies.

A Scone for everyone

I have a handful of scone recipes on my blog; my Vanilla Bean Scones have been a hit for many years, and recently my Triple Berry Crème Fraîche Scones have seen a surge in popularity. Everyone is making them and having such great results which just makes me so darn happy! I think the reason is that I give super-detailed instructions. And my scones aren't great big, dried out hockey pucks like you find in so many bakeries. My plan is to go back and add some process shots to the posts to make them even more easy to follow but so far you all are loving the recipes and I thank you so much for your feedback, as always. I'll link to my other scone recipes below, but for now let's focus on these Simple, Easy, Three Ingredient Scones - The Easiest Scone Recipe you will ever make.

What you'll need for the easiest scone recipe

Self-Rising Flour
Sugar
Heavy Cream

Optional Add-ins

The sky is the limit here - these are just a few of my favorite add-ins:

Vanilla or Almond Extract
Berries
Chocolate Chips or Chunks
Dried Fruits
Citrus Zest
poppy seeds

Optional Toppings

Before baking, you could sprinkle your scones with coarse sugar after you brush them with cream.

After baking and cooling slightly they can be glazed, drizzled with caramel or dulce de leche, melted white or dark chocolate, melted peanut butter, sprinkles... really - let your imagination run wild. Make this YOUR easiest scone recipe.

How to make The Easiest Scones

stir sugar into flour. If using extracts, add to the cream and stir

stir gently with a fork while drizzling in cream

until you have a damp, clumpy mixture. This is the basic recipe.

and gently stir until you see no more dry flour and the dough is easily pinched together

form into a ball and make sure there are no dry patches

scoop dough using a ¼ cup cookie scoop or measuring cup

brush tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar if desired

bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes

Step 6 is where you would stop if you were keeping these basic. I added blueberries to show you the whole process, but these are so good plain if you are serving them with butter, clotted cream, crème fraîche, jam, berries, lemon curd, or even with a more savory breakfast/brunch spread. Hint, hint: Mother's Day is coming soon.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden on bottoms and just starting to get golden-brown on some of the little craggy edges. I like to cover mine with foil after the first 20 minutes to prevent too much browning on top - but this is up to you and your oven. Don't be afraid to check one by breaking it in half. You want it to be moist still, but not very wet and doughy. Much like a biscuit. Allow to cool, and if adding the optional glaze now is a good time to whip it up.

The simplest glaze for the easiest scones

This is the formula for the most basic glaze: Place 2 cups powdered sugar in a spouted measuring cup, add extract or flavoring of your choice and enough milk, cream, or juice to thin to a pourable consistency. Start with 2 tablespoons and work up very slowly if you need it thinner. If you make it too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar.

If you want some glaze variations, check out these posts:

Crème Fraîche Glaze

Blueberry Glaze - but you could use any freeze-dried fruit

Orange Cream Cheese Glaze

Vanilla Bean Glaze

close up of spoon with glaze and scones in background

See how easy? Because my easiest scone recipe requires just three ingredients and no chilling time, you can whip these up on a whim and totally at the last minute. My kind of recipe! I will always love my other scone recipes and will continue to create new flavors (can't stop, won't stop!) and share them here, but isn't it nice to have a quick, shortcut recipe up your sleeve when you're craving some scones on a lazy Sunday morning? Or when you want to make something special for your momma on Mother's Day? I think the answer is, "yes."

Happy baking, my friends! I hope you love this recipe. Let me know if you have any questions. If you do make this, it would mean the world if you'd leave a rating and a comment. Thanks so much for hanging out with me! xo - Anita

The Easiest Scone Recipe {one bowl, 3 ingredients, no chilling}

Author: Anita Parris Soule | Cook on a Whim
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 12 large scones 1x

Print Recipe

Description

The EASIEST Scone Recipe. One bowl, 3 ingredients, no chilling, rolling, or cutting. So easy to whip up last minute and so easy to customize with flavorings, add-ins, and toppings.

Scale

Ingredients

3 cups self rising flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 ½ cups heavy cream

Instructions

For the basic, easiest scones:

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour and sugar.
Slowly drizzle in cream while stirring gently with a fork. Continue drizzling and stirring until you have a damp, clumpy mixture that is easily pressed together. You don't want to see any more dry patches of flour, but you don't want a very wet mixture.
Scoop dough either with a large cookie scoop or ¼ cup measure onto parchment lined baking tray. These will spread ever so slightly but not much, so you can put them pretty close together. I fit all 12 onto my baking sheet.
Brush tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake in preheated 400 degree F oven for 25-30 minutes. Cover loosely with foil after 20 minutes if they are browning too quickly.
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before glazing or topping

For flavor variations:

if adding extracts, add them to the cream mixture before adding to flour.
If adding fruits, chocolate chips, etc, add them just as the dough is coming together when you still have a few dry patches of flour. Once you add the extra ingredients, continue to gently stir, adding a bit more cream as needed until you have a damp, clumpy mixture that hold together. See photos for reference.

Notes

My weapon of choice for stirring together scone dough is and always has been a fork. It really allows you to bring the dough together without over-working it. I just toss and stir as I'm drizzling in the cream and it works like a charm.

I've used half and halfÂ in place of cream and it works just fine. These would also be very good with buttermilk I imagine.