Buttermilk Scone Recipe

Perfect Buttermilk Scones made from scratch.

Recipe by Jessica Holmes on June 25, 2024

Prep time: PT1H

Cook time: PT16M

Total time: PT1H16M

Rating

4.8 stars ( reviews)

Scones, Easy Scones, Buttermilk Scones

480 grams (3 and 1/3 cups + 1 tablespoon) plain flour or all purpose flour
20 grams (4 level teaspoons) baking powder
80 grams (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) caster sugar or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
130 grams (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1 large egg, cold
300 ml (1 and 1/4 cup) full fat buttermilk, cold
1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash OR use a few tablespoons of leftover buttermilk

Line a large baking tray with baking or parchment paper. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Give it a quick mix.
Add cold butter. Use your fingers or a pastry cutter to squish the butter into the flour mixture. Try to flatten the cubes of butter using your fingertips. Work quickly until you have coarse crumbs and there are no more large lumps of butter.
In a separate bowl, add egg and buttermilk. Whisk with a fork for 20 seconds or so until combined.
Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and gently stir with a fork until shaggy. Turn mixture out onto bench. Use your hands to bring it together into a round disc. Gently divide into four.
Stack quarters of scone dough on top of each other. Then use the palm of your hand to gently press dough down to at least 3 cm / 1 inch thick.
Use a round 6 cm / 2.5 inch cookie cutter to cut out 8-9 scones. Don’t twist cutter. You can press leftover scone dough together once and cut out an extra scone or two.
Place scones on prepared baking tray, ensuring they’re not touching. Chill scones in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 220 C (430 F) standard / 200 C (390 F) fan-forced.
Brush top of scones with beaten egg or leftover buttermilk.
Bake scones for 15-16 minutes or until golden brown. Leave to cool completely.

Olivia Ostrin on 2026-05-11 (5 stars):
I made 2 batches of these for Mother's Day. I followed the excellent directions and they were simply delicious!! My kids and grandkids said that they are definitely a make again recipe! By the way, I am originally from South Africa so I have made scones dozens of times!!
Carol on 2026-05-11 (5 stars):
Hi Jessica, I made these for Mother's day and they were delicious but I did run into a few problems. My scone dough was super sticky and I had a hard time taking them out of the cutter (Next time I'll make sure I flour the cutter). And it did collapse in the oven. Any ideas what I did wrong? This didn't effect the taste of the scones because they did come out very fluffy. I like the addition of sugar to the dough but I think next time I'll reduce it down to 1/2 or 2/3 as we usually serve it with cream and jam.
Jules on 2026-07-25 (5 stars):
I have always made scones the traditional way and haven't used buttermilk before to make these so I thought I try. So lovely and great tips, easy to follow and make. Will have to make a double batch next time, quite the hit with the family.