Layered Cinnamon Scones ~ all the buttery, cinnamon-sugar layers you love in a cinnamon roll, baked into a tender scone (but so much quicker and easier)
The best thing to have with morning coffee? Muffins are great. Cinnamon rolls, sure. Coffee cake is a nice choice, but when you really need to start your day off right, it has to be a scone.
These aren’t your average cinnamon scones. The dough is extra rich and buttery with the help of an egg, plus a splash of extra vanilla for deeper flavor. Sweet layers of cinnamon sugar flake apart with every bite, giving you all the cinnamon roll vibes.
The best part? They’re incredibly easy ~ made with melted butter and cold half & half, so you can skip the food processor and all that fussing with cold butter.
How to Make Layers in Cinnamon Scones
The layers of dough and cinnamon sugar look impressive, but they’re surprisingly easy to pull off: just fold and repeat!
- Pat your dough into a rectangle about 8 x 10 inches, more or less.
- Sprinkle half of the dough with cinnamon sugar, like the photo below.
- Fold the other half of the dough over the half with the cinnamon filling, and gently press.
- Repeat the process by patting the dough out into an 8×10 rectangle again, sprinkling 1/2 of the rectangle with cinnamon sugar, and folding.
- Gently nudge the dough into a circle without flattening it out too much more (it should be about 1.5″ thick), and cut the circle into 8 equal wedges.
That’s it! Chilling the dough in the fridge for at least an hour ensures that your scones keep their shape and rise nicely during baking, so don’t skip it!
the ultimate cinnamon scones experience
These scones are amazing while still warm, but you can get that fresh-from-the-oven vibe by reheating in a 300F oven, covered in foil. Check at 10 minutes. For a single scone you can microwave for 15-20 seconds.
The ultimate way to serve any scones is with clotted cream. I teach you how to make it three ways:
- The original oven method for making clotted cream.
- How to make clotted cream in the Instant Pot.
- Easy stove top clotted cream.
Add The View from Great Island as a Trusted Google Source
Cinnamon Scones
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup half and half
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 10 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add the half and half, egg, and vanilla to the melted, lukewarm butter. Whisk to combine, and then add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients.
- Fold everything together gently until the dough comes together. It will be fairly soft.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and gently pat it into a rectangle roughly the size of a sheet of paper, 8×10".
- Combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling in a small bowl. (Reserve a tablespoon aside for sprinkling over the scones just before baking.) Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar over 1/2 of the rectangle.
- Fold the side of the rectangle without filling on it over the other half, like closing a book.
- Press the dough into an 8×10 rectangle again.
- Repeat the process by sprinkling the rest of the cinnamon sugar over half of the rectangle, and folding the other half over it. Press together gently.
- Now, gently nudge the dough into a circular shape. You want it to be pretty tall (1-1.5 inches), so don't flatten it out too much at this stage.
- Cut the circle in half, and divide each half into 4 wedges.
- Place the wedges onto your prepared baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F.
- Sprinkle the reserved cinnamon sugar lightly over the top of the scones.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until risen and light golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature before storing.
Notes
Nutrition
store your cinnamon scones
- store your cinnamon scones on the counter for a couple of days covered with foil or a cake dome.
freeze them!
- freeze them baked or unbaked. For freezing unbaked cinnamon scones wrap each one individually, and bake straight from frozen, adding a few minutes to the baking time.
cinnamon recipes for cinnamon lovers!
I have been baking scones for 40 years! This recipe is absolutely delicious! Highly recommend!
Delicious scones, but I put a little cinnamon in the wet ingredients and I also chopped glazed sugared pecans and mixed them in the cinnamon sugar. I also put some on top of the scones before I baked them. Absolutely delicious!!
I am definitely planning to do the pecan thing with this recipe, so good!
Oh! One other thing, Sue…I am curious to know why you opted for melted butter in your scone recipe, instead of firm, cold butter? Thank you!
I love to experiment with different techniques for scones, and using melted butter not only makes the process a bit easier to assemble, but yields a tender cake-like scone that works in this recipe.
Hi Sue! I hope these can be made as gluten-free, too!!
I haven’t tried ~ please let us know if you do!
Excellent recipe! I made them as written, except I cut them into smaller scones. They were for a party with my workout group and got rave reviews. I even spoke too soon and offered to make more for one of my book clubs! Very, very good, especially right out of the oven.
Thanks so much Sally, I like the idea of mini scones!