Light and Airy Oat Scones are a wonderful treat on a cold morning, and they’re easy enough to throw together while the coffee brews. These classic British tea time pastries are made super tender with oat flour.
Homemade oat scones are so much better than Starbucks!
I consider myself to be an expert in scones, I’ve made them countless times and in countless variations. Scones have a unique texture that’s reminiscent of a biscuit, but sweeter. And the dough couldn’t be simpler to make. The combination makes them fabulous for breakfast or brunch, and so much more sophisticated than toast and muffins.
How to make scone dough
- The key to making scone dough is not to over work it. I like to use my food processor, I think it does the best job.
- Put your dry ingredients into the processor and pulse to combine.
- Drip in chunks of cold butter and pulse about 20 times until the mixture is crumbly.
- Drizzle in your wet ingredients (that could be cream, milk, or buttermilk, with or without egg) while the machine is running and let it run just until the dough comes together. This will only take a few seconds.
- Perfect scone dough in minutes!
These scones are quick to make and their simplicity lets the moist ‘oatty’ flavor and light texture shine through.
Why do I use oat flour in my oat scones?
Oat flour is naturally gluten free, and so makes baked goods more tender. In this case I love the oat flavor it brings to the scones, too.
Tip: Oat flour can be found in most supermarkets, but you can make your own quite easily by grinding regular rolled oats in a food processor or high speed blender. See my post on How to Make Oat Flour
Oat Scones
Ingredients
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1 cup oat flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 4 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter cut in pieces
- 1 large egg lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
garnish
- granulated sugar
- rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F
- Put the dry ingredients in the bowl of a processor and pulse to combine.
- Then drop in the butter pieces and pulse about 20 times till crumbly.
- With the processor going, pour in the egg and cream through the feed tube and process just until it comes together…probably about 15 seconds.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and form into a plump 6 inch disc. Cut the disk in half, and the each half into 3, for a total of 6 scones.
- Gently place the scones on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Sprinkle a little sugar and oats over the scones. Bake for about 15 minutes until lightly browned and firm. Cool a few minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a rack
Video
21 Comments
Brenda
February 6, 2021 at 10:25 amHere’s how GOOD this recipe is. I don’t have a food processor, so I just used my usual hand implement for cutting the butter into biscuits. The dough seemed dry so I tossed in a little more cream and mixed that in (mixing with a spatula…again, no food processor). I then realized that I had left out the baking powder (eep). So I mixed that with a couple tablespoons of flour and again mixed that in and then used my hands to knead the dough to incorporate the baking powder. Finally managed to get it onto my floured surface, kneaded a bit more to make sure everything was well mixed, and proceeded according to recipe. I was thinking at this point that I would probably have to dump the whole mess into the trash, but I went ahead and baked them up. Amazingly, still the most light and tender, delicious scones I have ever made! The oat flour is the trick, I really think. (and making sure you put in that baking powder with the dry ingredients helps as well, of course!)
This recipe is a keeper!
p.s. I also added a few salted caramel chips and some chopped pecans. So good!
Kristen
March 30, 2020 at 6:15 pmHi, Sue! I happen to have light cream and buttermilk in the house. Which do you think would be better in place of the heavy cream? Thanks so much.
Sue
March 30, 2020 at 6:20 pmEither one will be perfect, seriously, but I would probably go for the buttermilk.
Kristen
April 15, 2020 at 9:14 amI finally made these scones & they’re delicious!! One question…my dough was very sticky, so it didn’t cut cleanly. I added a tablespoon of flour, but that didn’t seem to help. Should I try more flour next time? Thanks, Sue!
Julie
November 12, 2013 at 7:12 amThese were great! I added some chopped dried apricots and oat bran to the dough, and they were awesome!
Sue
November 12, 2013 at 8:07 amGlad to hear it, Julie! I like your additions. I cook with oat bran a lot, and love it, too.
Sulpicia (III)
June 21, 2012 at 8:45 pmI made a half batch of these this morning. They were great! Kilian and my mother liked them too. Thanks for the recipe!
Tine
November 20, 2011 at 10:49 amThese look amazing!
Sue
November 18, 2011 at 8:04 pmLovley scones! 🙂
Sue/the view from great island
November 18, 2011 at 10:37 pmHungry Dog and Mary—I’ve been loving the Bob’s Red Mill Flours, they have them at a couple of our local stores, and they’ve come out with so many different ones, including oat, coconut, almond, graham, chick pea, etc. I’m obsessed with them. But the oat is the one I use the most. I just put it in everything now.
Monisia
November 18, 2011 at 12:07 pmMmmm delicious;)Love Your mug!
Magnolia Verandah
November 18, 2011 at 9:05 amThese look fabulous – perfect sustenance for catalogue sifting!
Mary
November 18, 2011 at 4:28 pmThese are beautiful, Sue! I love your scones each time you post a new recipe. Do you grind up regular oats to make oat flour? Or is this a special flour to buy?
Hungry Dog
November 18, 2011 at 3:56 pmThese are lovely! I’ve never baked with oat flour…but I can’t imagine it’s hard to find. Maybe I’ll make these over the weekend. Have a great one, Sue!
Stephanie
November 18, 2011 at 11:50 amThese look beautiful. I’ve never made scones!
Linda A. Thompson
November 18, 2011 at 2:55 amThose scones look wonderful–I’m hungry now! 🙂 I love catalogs, too. My favorites are the Signals and Wireless catalogs, and the Christmas LL Bean catalog. It’s just not the same getting the information in an e-mail.
Yasmeen
November 18, 2011 at 2:25 amI’m a massive fan of scones – yours look like they have the perfect crumb! Be proud, that’s quite the accomplishment 🙂
Jen @ Savory Simple
November 18, 2011 at 1:37 amThese look so delicate and delicious! I will definitely have to try making them.
Inside a British Mum's Kitchen
November 17, 2011 at 11:00 pmThese really do look light and airy – and I know that’s not easy with scones – so delicious and lovely, lovely pics
Mary x
yummychunklet
November 17, 2011 at 6:49 pmThese do look very light! Delicious!
Jacquelyn
November 17, 2011 at 5:19 pmThese look like a perfect compliment to an afternoon cup of tea! I love something cakey with my tea.