Last updated on March 29th, 2018 at 01:36 pm
These Lemon Buttermilk Scones are light and fluffy are bursting with lemon flavor, then drizzled with the most incredible tangy lemon glaze.
There’s nothing more I love than a lazy Sunday morning, still in my pjs sitting by the fire with a soft and delicately crumbly scone and a good cup of coffee. Oh, and a good book. I could spend all mornings like that. These lemon buttermilk scones are exactly the perfect scones for such a morning, light and fluffy like a good scone should be with a lot of lemony flavor. And these scones are loaded with lemon flavor and drizzled with a delicious lemon glaze, then garnished with some more lemon zest. Yes, these scones are for the lemon flavor lovers out there.
These scones were so good, my friend and I ate 6 of them in one sitting. Yep, we did. It’s ok though, they’re little, and that was our brunch kind of thing. We also made these sugared lemon slices, as if we needed more lemon flavor, but they were to die for. And this is how you eat them. Take your scone, rip a piece off, drizzle some more glaze over them, put a sugared lemon slice over the scone piece then pop it in your mouth. I’m just saying, it’s heavenly!! Everything simply melts in your mouth, and you get a good burst of lemon flavor. Oh I used Meyer Lemons in these scones, only the best!
These scones are heavenly, buttery fluffy scones. However, there’s not a lot of butter in them, but the buttermilk makes them so perfectly crumbly and light. When you make scones you want to make sure you don’t over knead the dough, all you need to do is knead it 4 or 5 times, a gentle touch is all they need.
You have to try these scones, even if scones aren’t your thing, you just have to.
Here are some more citrusy delights for my lemon lovers out there:
Check out the video to see just how easy it is to make these lemon scones.
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #jocooks on Instagram so we can see it. I always love to see what you guys come up with!
Lemon Buttermilk Scones
Ingredients
For Scones
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup sugar granulated
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp lemon zest from about 2 lemons
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp butter unsalted
For Lemon Glaze
- 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar same as icing sugar or powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp corn syrup light
- 1 tbsp milk plus more as needed
- 2 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F degrees.
- In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and lemon zest. Whisk to combine everything.
- In a small bowl whisk the egg yolk, buttermilk and vanilla extract together.
- Add the butter to the flour bowl, and using a pastry blender, cut in the butter to make small pea sized pieces.
- Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir until the dough pulls together. Lightly flour a work surface and dust your hands with flour.
- Transfer the dough to the work surface and knead it gently about 5 time. Shape the dough into a ball, then flatten it into a disk that's about 3/4 of an inch thick and about 8 inches in diameter.
- Cut the disk into 8 wedges of equal size. Place the wedges onto a baking sheet.
- Bake them for about 20 minutes or until golden. Transfer the scones to a cooling rack.
- To make the lemon glaze, add the confectioners' sugar to a bowl. Add the corn syrup, milk, lemon juice, pinch of salt and start whisking until smooth. Add more milk until the glaze is runny but still thick.
- While the scones are cooling drizzle them generously with the glaze then garnish with more lemon zest.
Notes
★ Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to give it a star rating below!
Nutrition
Patti says
March 4, 2019 at 4:42 pmBest scone recipe I have ever made! Delicious, quick and easy.
Joanna Cismaru says
March 5, 2019 at 2:35 pmYes!
susan says
November 25, 2018 at 2:05 pmI made them, didn’t eat 6 cause my kids ate most of them before I had a chance. Next time I’m going to add white chocolate chunks, dried cranberries and this sliced almonds. The consistency was nice, resisted the urge to over kneed.
Grace says
April 25, 2018 at 11:31 amI just made this recipe and it is easy and delicious. I did add extra flour to my work surface.
Joanna Cismaru says
April 25, 2018 at 1:42 pmGlad you liked them!
Phyllis James says
April 1, 2018 at 4:43 pmI made your recipe today … did not have Meyer lemons to use and probably makes all the difference. They are good but a little bitey. Glaze did not seem sweet enough so I sprinkled some course natural sugar on top of the glaze,.. I am always trying to make a scone as good a Madison, WI bakery makes them..Lazy Jane’s are to die for. Thanks for the recipe.
Joanna Cismaru says
April 2, 2018 at 3:39 pmMy pleasure!
Susan says
February 19, 2018 at 8:01 amI tried this recipe to use up the liquid left after straining homemade yogurt. My dough was pretty wet also, but I added only a little extra flour while kneading, since you said not to work the dough too much. (I found that coating the knife with flour helped me to cut and move the pieces more easily.) We thought they were wonderful! The texture was just right, and the lemon glaze was delicious! I will definitely make them again.
Lisa Law says
September 3, 2017 at 10:59 amThese look and sound delicious. Going to make these tomorrow as a treat for my company’s move into a new space, along with some lemon curd. I would like to try the lemon slices but I don’t see a link for them. Do you have the recipe posted somewhere? Thanks!
Joanna Cismaru says
September 3, 2017 at 11:40 amNo recipe for them we basically took Meyer lemon slices dredged them through some sugar and then we froze them for about hour.
Sue says
May 12, 2017 at 12:25 pmI also found the batter very wet even though I followed the directions carefully. They’re baking now and smell wonderful, however.
Fenne Kieken says
May 12, 2017 at 2:47 pmWe love these scones, well we love anything lemon actually but these scones are a favorite and hope they are one of yours now that you made them….
Carrie says
June 10, 2017 at 12:59 pmMine was a little wet, but the flour on the counter helped to hold it together. Very good….light and crumbly. Perfect!
Rebecca says
May 5, 2017 at 3:28 pmIf i wanted to make an orange cranberry scone so that you can taste noth flavors. Would i use dryed of chopped fresh cranberries. Thank you
Joanna Cismaru says
May 5, 2017 at 5:23 pmOh, I would go with fresh cranberries, they’re juicier. 🙂
T Marie says
April 11, 2017 at 11:37 amHey there! They sure smell good.. but my dough was awfully wet, too. I probably could have added an extra cup of flour (like reviewer above), but I tried to add as little as possible.. likely ended up with 3/4 c extra though. I followed the recipe exactly, and am an experienced home baker. In the future, I would add the buttermilk mixture slowly *just* until the dough pulls together, and no more! Use discretion with the rest, as the dough may not need the full amount of liquid. I think I was able to salvage these, and I’m sure they will taste just as they smell (divine!) but I am confident the texture of mine is compromised. Oh well, I shall just have to try another batch! 😉 (twist my arm hehe)
Joanna Cismaru says
April 11, 2017 at 3:22 pmInteresting, not sure how this is happening, as you can see in the video the dough is not too wet at all. I agree with you with adding the buttermilk mixture slowly, give that a try. 🙂
lori says
February 28, 2017 at 7:59 amfound this batter very wet-had to add about a cup of flour to get it to form at all-about to bake-hoping for the best……
Fenne Kieken says
February 28, 2017 at 9:29 amSorry to hear that – dough has worked for this recipe and hopefully you measured everything carefully and followed the instructions as it should be okay. Hope your first try result was okay and certainly give them a try again as these scones are lovely and let us know how it goes
LaVerne says
January 15, 2017 at 12:18 pmMade the Lemon Buttermilk Scones this weekend for a brunch. My 6 year old grandson ate 2 of them before anyone else had a chance to dish up – he says they are the “best”. Thanks for all your recipes.
Fenne Kieken says
January 16, 2017 at 9:54 amOne of my favorite recipes and usually eat a few while making these.
sherry klusman says
November 21, 2016 at 3:38 amI have never made scones but have eaten hundreds! Are your recipes the traditional scones or are they more muffin like?
Fenne Kieken says
November 21, 2016 at 9:35 amThese are traditional scones and not like muffins
La Verne says
November 16, 2016 at 7:17 pmI left out the zest and glaze as I wanted a scone to go with potato soup. These were amazing. My little grandson loves lemon and this weekend I will make them as the recipe states. Thanks for all the awesome recipes you post Jo. I use many of them.
Fenne Kieken says
November 17, 2016 at 8:20 pmThank you so much and glad you tried them. Thanks for posting and look forward to hearing how you like them with the zest and glaze when you make them.
Donna says
November 13, 2016 at 12:51 pmHow much butter?
Joanna Cismaru says
November 13, 2016 at 2:53 pm3 tbsp…thanks for catching that. 🙂