These American style Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze make perfect breakfast treat or afternoon guilty pleasure and they are vegan too! Delicate sweetness from blueberries and lemony tanginess from the icing - it doesn't get any better than this.
We absolutely adore scones in our house, both sweet and savoury.
These American style blueberry scones are very subtly sweet with a gentle tang from gorgeous lemon drizzle.
We love having them for weekend breakfast or as an afternoon snack with a cup of tea.
These being American scones, there is no need for butter, jam and clotted cream here (unless you want to).
They are simply perfect as they are especially with lemon drizzle on top.
Jump to:
✔️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Quick and easy summer bake.
- They use simple everyday ingredients.
- Perfect way of using up fresh blueberries.
- Egg, dairy and nut-free recipe.
- Great summer breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea offering.
- Moist and delicious.
- Freezer friendly.
📝 Ingredients and substitutes
Here's what you will need to make my American Style Blueberry Scones:
Self-Raising Flour - I use it here to make things simpler but if you don't have any to hand you can use Plain (All-Purpose) Flour with extra 2 teaspoon baking powder (so you will need 1 tablespoon in total).
Baking Powder - Raising agent. Even when using self-raising flour we still needs a little extra boost and will add one teaspoon of baking powder to the mix.
Vegan Butter - I like to use salted vegan butter here but you can use unsalted and add a small pinch of salt to the mix. I find it adds to the flavour.
Caster or Granulated Sugar - We don't add a lot, only couple of tablespoons as we don't want for the scones to be super sweet and we will have some sweetness from blueberries and of course our glaze.
***Quick Tip*** If you're not planning on making glaze you might want to increase sugar by 1-2 tablespoon to make up for it.
Plain Vegan Yogurt - Most American scone recipes use heavy cream. I substituted it with plain vegan yogurt (Greek style) which works really well. Feel free to use any plain vegan yogurt.
Fresh Blueberries - It goes without saying.
Lemon Zest - For extra flavour, you might want to add a zest of one lemon to your scones. Add it at the same time as blueberries.
Icing Sugar + Lemon Juice - To make a glaze. I love lemon flavoured glaze as it goes so well with blueberries.
However, you could use water instead of lemon juice and perhaps add a touch of vanilla extract for vanilla flavoured glaze if you prefer.
🔪 Instructions
Ingredient quantities & detailed instructions to be found in recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Preheat the oven to 180C/400F/Gas Mark 4.
Put flour, baking powder, sugar, butter and salt (if using unsalted butter) in a food processor and mix until the mixture resembles sand or breadcrumbs.
If you don't have food processor simply use your fingers and rub the butter and flour mixture together until you get that sandy consistency.
Transfer your mixture to the large bowl and gently fold in blueberries taking care so that they don't burst. Add lemon zest (if using) at this point as well.
Gently mix in the yogurt until the dough comes together. Make sure you don't work it too much though.
Sprinkle some flour on your worktop and gently tip the dough out of the bowl. Without kneading too much, try and bring it together with your hands (dough scraper comes really handy here) to make a shape of rectangle 30cm/12inch long, 9cm/3.5inch wide and roughly 2cm/1inch thick.
Using a knife or a dough scraper cut the long rectangle into 4 equal size squares/rectangles and then cut each one of them into 2 triangles.
Place your scones on a prepared baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven) until nicely brown. Take them out onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely before glazing.
Prepare lemon glaze by mixing icing sugar with lemon juice to reach desired consistency and drizzle or spoon over the scones once cool.
Enjoy!
🥡 Storing
Store: These scones are best eaten on the day they're made. That said, they will still taste nice the following day.
Baked and iced scones will keep in the airtight container, in room temperature for up to 2 days or up to 3-4 days in the fridge.
Reheat: If you store them for longer, you might want to reheat them very gently in the microwave to refresh them and bring them back to their former glory. Few seconds is all it takes just to warm them up a bit.
Freeze: You can freeze your blueberry scones before or after baking (without icing) for up to 3 months.
Defrosting:
Unbaked Scones - Bake from frozen as per recipe below allowing extra 2-3 minutes baking time or defrost in the fridge overnight and bake as per recipe below.
Baked Scones - Defrost them on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours or in the fridge overnight. Feel free to "refresh" them in the oven at 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2 for about 10 minutes or so.
You can also pop them in the microwave for a few seconds until warm.
Follow with lemon drizzle as per recipe.
💭 Pro Tips
- Use kitchen scales to measure out your ingredients. They're much more accurate than cup measurements.
- Use oven thermometer for consistent baking results as oven thermostats temperature vary a lot!
- Make sure you use really cold butter when making scones. You could even go as far as freezing it and grating it directly from the freezer.
- Don't overwork the dough to much as it will result in tougher scones.
- Cheap, plastic dough scraper works wonders when it comes to working with sticky, scone dough.
- Feel free to adjust consistency of your lemon glaze by adding more or less lemon juice depending on how thick you like it. Thicker glaze I provide quantities for below is perfect for when you'd like to spoon or brush it over the scones for that extra tangy flavour.
❓ FAQ
Yes you can. Make sure you use them straight from frozen and bear in mind that using frozen fruit might add couple of minutes of baking time.
You can skip glazing your scones altogether. As an alternative you might want to brush them gently with some plant milk and sprinkle over some Demerara sugar before baking.
Have you tried my American Style Blueberry Scones?
Please consider giving it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in recipe card below and share your views or tips in the comments.
😋 More fruity bakes
Easy Rhubarb Crumble (Rhubarb Crisp)
Sweet Blueberry Buns with Lemon Glaze
📋 Recipe
American Style Blueberry Scones (Vegan)
Equipment
Ingredients
Scones
- 250 g self-raising flour see notes
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 tablespoon caster (fine) or granulated sugar see notes
- 75 g salted vegan block butter cold or frozen, see notes (I use Flora Plant)
- 150 g fresh blueberries
- 240 g plain vegan yogurt
- zest of one lemon optional
Lemon Glaze
- 65 g icing sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/400F/Gas Mark 4.
- Put flour, baking powder, sugar, butter and salt (if using unsalted butter) in a food processor and mix until the mixture resembles sand or breadcrumbs. If you don't have food processor simply use your fingers and rub the butter and flour mixture together until you get that sandy consistency.250 g self-raising flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 2 tablespoon caster (fine) or granulated sugar, 75 g salted vegan block butter
- Transfer your mixture to the large bowl and gently fold in blueberries taking care so that they don't burst. Add lemon zest (if using) at this point as well.150 g fresh blueberries, zest of one lemon
- Gently mix in the yogurt until the dough comes together. Make sure you don't work it too much though.240 g plain vegan yogurt
- Sprinkle some flour on your worktop and gently tip the dough out of the bowl. Without kneading too much, try and bring it together with your hands (dough scraper comes really handy here) to make a shape of rectangle 30cm/12inch long, 9cm/3.5inch wide and roughly 2cm/1inch thick.
- Using a knife or a dough scraper cut the long rectangle into 4 equal size squares/rectangles and then cut each one of them into 2 triangles.
- Place your scones on a prepared baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven) until nicely brown. Take them out onto a cooling rack and let them cool completely before glazing.
- Prepare lemon glaze by mixing icing sugar with lemon juice to reach desired consistency and drizzle or spoon over the scones once cool.65 g icing sugar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Nutritional information is approximate, per scone and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
- Feel free to use plain (all-purpose) flour and adding extra 2 teaspoon of baking powder.
- If you decide not to glaze the scones you might want to increase the sugar a bit to make your scones that tiny bit sweeter (optional).
- Feel free to even freeze your butter and grate it just before use. If using unsalted butter you might want to add a pinch of salt to your dough.
- The quantities of icing sugar and lemon juice for lemon glaze in this recipe will give you quite a thick glaze. Feel free to play with quantities to achieve different thickness as per your liking. Thicker glaze is fine if you'd like to brush or spoon the icing over the entire scone. However, if you'd like to drizzle your icing over the scones instead, it will work better with slightly thinner consistency.
- Best eaten on the same day but can be stored in the airtight container, in room temperature for up to 2 days or 3-4 days in the fridge.
- Freezer friendly (details above).
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
I love the sound of these Jo, I must confess that I'm not a massive fan of scones but these look incredibly tempting and very tasty. I know my Mum would adore these too. Thankyou for sharing with #BakingCrumbs.
Angela x
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Angela! 🙂 I have always liked scones and their stodginess lol but have never had them too often as there have always been other, more desirable treats. These Blueberry Scones have become one of my desirable treats now lol 😉 x
Maria | passion fruit, paws and peonies says
These blueberry scones look fantastic, especially with the glaze! Heavenly! xx
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Maria ?? x
Karen, the next best thing to mummy says
I sometimes think that scones can be a bit dry, but the glaze in these would prevent this, must get baking #brillblogs@_karendennis
Mandy says
Ooh these look so good! Would love to give this a try. Pinning x
jenny walters says
These look yummy. I myself have been meaning to make scones in the American way for ages!So yet again you have inspired me Jo!Pinned x
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Jenny! They are so delicious and moreish definitely worth giving them a go! xx
Jenny Paulin says
yes please Jo! These look scrumptious and I am always looking at your blog when I am hungry, but I would love to eat one now with my cup of tea please (I have just been for a run so I think it is allowed!). thank you for sharing your yummy scones (flavours are GREAT too) with #Bakeoftheweek x
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Jenny! 🙂 These are allowed any time but especially justified after a good exercise. 🙂 xx
Kat (The Baking Explorer) says
They look absolutely gorgeous and I love lemon and blueberry together.
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Kat! 🙂
jacqui says
Blueberries and lemon is the flavour of the moment but Im not complaining and I love it as a combination. These scones look so tasty they are pinned and on my list to make. Thank you for linking to #CookBlogShare
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Jacqui! I have been obsessed with this combo recently but we have been all enjoying it so much! 🙂 x
Corina Blum says
Blueberry and lemon are such a good combination and these scones look delicious! I wish I could try one right now. Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice xx
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Corina! 🙂 These are simply lush and quick to make too which is a bonus. xx
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Karly! 🙂
Karly says
These look amazing! Can't wait to try!
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
I had no idea that American and British scones were different, but it makes sense to me now! I would eat these gorgeous scones as-is with that delicious, tangy glaze! I wish I had one right now!
joskitchenlarder says
Aw thanks Michelle! These definitely don't need anything else to make them desirable lol and this sticky lemon glaze simply makes them! I could do with one now too lol 🙂
Donna says
Blueberry and lemon is such as good combination. I've never made a scone, I might have to give it a go! #CookBlogShare
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Donna 🙂 I haven't made a classic scone as of yet even though love to favour them but this one was easy and really tasty.
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
Love blueberry and lemon together and like the glaze these have. I bet these didn't last long when you made them x
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Cat! 🙂 Blueberries and lemon are a perfect pair aren't they? These lasted barely day and a half (just) lol. x