Lemon Buttermilk Scones Recipe

While citrus flavors and scones are a classic combination (hello lemonade scones), this citrus scone recipe takes baking your scones to moist new heights. Enter: our lemon buttermilk scones that surprised even our testing team with their soft and chewy results.

What you’ll love about our Lemon Buttermilk Scones

Not only are these some of the lightest, fluffiest scones we’ve tried, but this lemon buttermilk scone recipe has a sweet lemon flavor that elevates this morning tea staple. Buttermilk helps create soft, chewy scones by acting as a tenderizer and breaking down the gluten in the flour for delicious results. Trust us, you may never go back! As with all scone recipes, it is important not to overmix the dough to ensure a light and fluffy texture.

We serve these scones with a creamy 2-ingredient lemon custard with lemon curd, which complements these scones beautifully.

These scones can be stored in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 3 days.

Key Ingredients in Our Lemon Buttermilk Scones Recipe

• Self-rising flour: For characteristic height, we use self-rising flour to create well-risen scones.
• Powdered sugar : a quarter cup of powdered sugar softens the scone dough.
• Baking powder: This clever leavening agent gives an extra touch to the airy texture of our scone recipe.
• Salt: a small amount of salt goes a long way in balancing the flavors here.
• Unsalted butter: For this recipe we use unsalted butter so we can control the salt level. The butter should be well chilled to mix with the flour for best results.
• Buttermilk: this helps lighten the scones and adds its signature flavor to the dough mixture.
• Finely grated lemon zest and fresh lemon juice: we used lemon zest and juice, but you can use orange zest and juice, if you like. We also add extra lemon zest for serving (which is optional, but is a nice visual flavor cue).
• Thickened cream: Light and fluffy whipped cream is the classic topping for scones.
• Icing sugar mixture: sprinkle with a little icing sugar mixture to finish.
• Lemon custard: To create lemon curd, we combine cream and lemon curd (equal parts). It goes ideally with this lemon buttermilk scone recipe!

Recipe and images from recipe developer Amber de Florio.