Lavender Scones

A lavender scone on a China plate with a teacup in the background.

Lavender scones bring a touch of elegance to your next weekend brunch or afternoon tea. The subtle, floral flavor of lavender buds pair beautifully with a touch of lemon to create a scone that is buttery, flaky, and uniquely delicious.

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American, Canadian

Diet Gluten Free, Low Lactose

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Servings Scones

Calories 206kcal

Author Colleen Milne

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour Gluten-free if needed
½ cup sugar plus one tablespoon
3 tablespoon fresh lavender buds, divided or 2 teaspoon dried lavender buds
2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
⅓ cup cold butter cut into small cubes
½ cup milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, 2 tablespoons of lavender buds, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
Using a pastry blender, combine butter with dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Stir the lemon juice and vanilla into the milk.
Add milk to dry ingredients and combine.
In a small bowl, mix one tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of lavender buds.
Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead quickly until dough takes shape.
Pat dough into a rectangle shape, about one inch thick.
Cut the rectangle lengthwise and then each rectangle in half. Cut each piece diagonally in half so that you end up with eight triangles.
Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with the lavender sugar.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack.

Notes

Use cold ingredients. The key to flaky, high rising scones is having little pockets of butter throughout the dough, so we want to avoid having the butter soften. Keep the butter and milk in the fridge until just before using them. I recommend cutting the cold butter into small cubes as a first step, and returning it to the fridge until it's time to use it. You can also freeze your butter and grate it with a box grater. If your oven makes your kitchen very warm, don't preheat it until you have finished forming your scones. Put the baking sheet in the fridge to wait for the oven to preheat.
Don't overmix. If you're using regular flour, use a gentle touch and work quickly. This keeps the mixture from forming excess gluten, resulting in tough, dense scones. If you're using gluten-free flour, the same rule applies, for a different reason. Over mixing gluten free flour causes the starches to break down, also resulting in a dense, gummy scone.

Nutrition