These sweet, bakery-style cinnamon chip scones are buttery, crumbly, and drizzled with a madagascar bourbon vanilla glaze!
Okay okay. So because it is socially non-acceptable to drink raspberry ginger beer ice cream floats on a Saturday morning, I had to move on from my latest obsession . . . and right back to another childhood obsession. ๐
Cinnamon chip scones with a drizzle of vanilla glaze!
You know the “try me” box that every bakery has on its front counter? The one that forces you to decide between a little taster of harvest loaf or olive parmesan focaccia or oatmeal raisin cookie??? Without fail, I ALWAYS chose the cinnamon chip scone with vanilla glaze. Great Harvest Bread Co., Panera, did not matter which bakery. Cinnamon chip scone. Every time.
My mom was not above bribing us and, given the proximity of the Great Harvest Bread Co. to our orthodontist growing up, there were many scones enjoyed. (#headgear. #nojoke.)
How do you make cinnamon scones from scratch?
These buttery cinnamon scones are made with plenty of frozen butter and heavy cream. I prefer to freeze the butter for 30-60 minutes ahead of time. Just enough to keep it cold right up until it goes into the oven but not SO frozen that I nearly skin my fingers alive on the cheese grater. (Pretty sure every person alive has done this at least once and it is the WORST.)
The name of the game for getting buttery, crumbly scones with a good rise is COLD. Cold butter. Cold heavy cream. Moving quickly and handling the dough as little as possible. Chilling the scones before baking. These will all help you get a good rise on scones made from scratch.
I like using madagascar bourbon vanilla for the glaze, because I think it has a slightly heavier vanilla flavor. But maybe it’s all in my head and I’m just an excellent example of marketing success. ๐
If you like your cinnamon scones to have a little bit of crunch to the top, use either morena or turbinado sugar for sprinkling. Both of these are a little more coarse and will add that crunchy sugary crust on top.
What can I use in place of cinnamon chips?
Really, this cinnamon chip scone recipe is just a “sweet” scone recipe that can be adapted to whatever you fancy. Just drop the cinnamon from the dough and choose your mix-ins:
- chocolate chips (melt white chocolate chips for the drizzle!)
- toffee bits and either vanilla glaze or melted chocolate drizzle
- fresh whole blueberries (toss the blueberries with some flour before gently mixing them in with the heavy cream)
- white chocolate chips with a caramel drizzle (use the quick caramel recipe here)
mikaela | wyldflour
8 Scones
Serves 8
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup salted butter, cold
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 cup cinnamon chips
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, cold (+ 1 tablespoon for brushing)
- 1 large egg, cold
- 2 tablespoons morena or turbinado sugar
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon pure madagascar bourbon vanilla extract
- 2 - 2 1/2 teaspoons milk (any kind)
Instructions
- Place the butter in the freezer about 30-60 minutes before you start. (You want it frozen, but not overnight frozen - otherwise, it's a royal PITA to grate.)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- Grate the frozen butter straight out of the freezer and toss with the dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry ingredients, until there are no butter pieces larger than a pea. (Alternatively, use your fingers to "rub" in the butter to the same consistency. But avoid this if you can since you'll heat up the butter!) Stir the cinnamon chips into the dry ingredients/butter mixture.
- In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk the 1/2 cup heavy cream and egg together. Drizzle over the dry ingredient/butter mixture and use a fork to gently stir until all of the dough is moistened. It should be a VERY crumbly dough, but you shouldn't have sand at the bottom of the bowl. Use an additional tablespoon of heavy cream if you need a little more liquid to get everything to start gathering in small clumps.
- Very lightly flour your rolling surface and dump out your crumbly dough. (You'll have a pile of crumbles.) Use floured hands to gather the dough together, pressing the crumbles into the main dough. Pat/press the dough into a flat 8" disk that is about 3/4" tall. You can use a floured rolling pin to get a flat top. Slice the disk into 8 equal triangles (pizza cutter works great) and move the scone triangles to your baking sheet. Place in the refrigerator and chill for 20 minutes.
- While the scones are chilling, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Once the scones have chilled, quickly brush them with a little bit of cream and sprinkle them with a little morena or turbinado sugar. Bake the scones for 18-20 minutes until the edges are starting to brown. Remove from the oven and immediately transfer the scones to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- After the scones have cooled, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk in a small bowl. Add the milk slowly and stir well after the addition of each 1/2 teaspoon to get a drizzle-able consistency. Drizzle the scones and let the icing set. Store in an airtight container or a zip-top plastic bag for up to 3 days!
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