My boyfriend brought home a container of those super soft and tiny two-bite scones from the grocery store the other day (yeah, he’s an enabler) and as I was enjoying one I noted just how similar the texture was to my new favorite 5-ingredient freezer biscuits. They’re soft, deliciously light, and almost melt in your mouth. I knew instantly that I had to try to make those little two-bite scones myself.
To make them a bit sweeter than the regular biscuits I added some powdered sugar, which also helped give them that melt-in-your mouth texture. For the lemon flavor, I stuck to a hefty dose of fresh lemon zest, which gives a beautifully fresh lemon flavor without making them sour. I used the juice to make a simple lemon glaze, whose sweet-tart flavor provided a wonderful contrast to the rich scones.
And I’ve made two batches of these scones in the past week, so yeah, they’re dangerous!!
Yes, You MUST Use Heavy Cream.
And one more note. As with the 5-ingredient biscuits, you must use heavy cream for these. You absolutely need the high fat content (35-38%) of heavy cream to get the correct texture. So, no trying to substitute half-and-half, almond milk, or anything like that. Heavy cream or no go. (And if you need more information about the difference between half-and-half, light cream, and heavy cream, check out this article.)
Lemon Poppy Seed Two-Bite Scones
Servings 18 piecesIngredients
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.30)
- 1.25 cups all-purpose flour ($0.13)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided ($0.15)
- 2 tsp baking powder ($0.08)
- 2 tsp poppy seeds ($0.20)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream ($1.83)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Use a small-holed cheese grater or a zester to remove the zest from the lemon, then squeeze the juice into a separate bowl. You'll need about 1 tsp of zest and 1 Tbsp juice.
- In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, baking powder, poppy seeds, and 1 tsp lemon zest. Make sure these ingredients are well combined.
- Stir the cream into the dry ingredients until a shaggy ball of dough forms. The dough will be fairly sticky. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, divide it into three pieces, and shape each piece into a disc (about 3 inches diameter). Cut each disc into six triangles.
- Arrange the cut scones on the prepared baking sheet. Bake the scones for about 15 minutes, or until they just begin to barely turn golden brown on top.
- While the scones are baking, place the remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a bowl. Stir in about 1 Tbsp lemon juice, or just enough to form a thick glaze.
- When the scones have baked, remove them from the oven, let them cool, then drizzle with the prepared lemon glaze.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Lemon Poppy Seed Scones – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Zest and juice a lemon. In a large bowl stir together 1.25 cups all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp of the lemon zest, and 2 tsp poppy seeds. Stir the dry ingredients together very well.
Add one cup of heavy cream.
Stir them together until it forms a sticky biscuit-like dough.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, divide it into three pieces, and form each piece into a 3-inch diameter disc. Cut each disc into six pieces (I tried four at first, but they were too big). I used a bench scraper to cut them, but a large chef’s knife would also work.
Place the cut scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake for about 15 minutes, or just until they barely start to turn golden on top.
While the scones are baking, prepare the lemon glaze. Place the remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar in a bowl and add about 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice, or just enough to form a thick glaze.
A couple of mine got a little TOO brown, but they were still fantastic. The second batch was all more like the scone on the bottom left. They’re moister when they’re less brown.
Wait for the scones to cool, then drizzle the glaze over top. Enjoy! They’re REALLY good with coffee, BTW. ☕️
These scones are AMAZING! I have to limit how often I make this recipe because I have a tendency to pop them in my mouth constantly when they’re around 😂.
So tender! And I used my baking mix of about 2/3 unbleached to 1/3 white whole wheat flour. 3″ diameter discs seem so small to me, though. In the future, it would be so helpful if you would include something in the picture to show the scale. I tried the suggestion in the comments to pat out a 9″x12″ rectangle and cut 24 triangles, but they were much too thin at 9″x9″, baked in just 10 minutes. Oh, well, I’ll just have to bake another batch and adjust the size. :)
Really yummy! Just made these. Mine didn’t fluff as well as pictured but they are so soft and delicious that I don’t really mind. I put a little extra lemon zest in my icing and only added as much lemon juice as was needed to liquify my powdered sugar. Came out so well! I will definitely be making this again!
I just made 2 batches today…..1 exactly as the recipe said. I loved the texture but didn’t taste much lemon in the scone & weren’t quite as sweet as we like, so….for the 2nd batch I used 1 tsp of pure lemon extract rather than lemon zest, doubled the sugar & divide the dough into 4 rather than 3 portions. Once they were cut I sprinkled on a bit of sugar on top prior to baking. They came out great!!! I love the glaze & love the scones! If I can make these anyone can as I am not a baker…lol. Thanks for the recipe!!
These are literally TOO easy. Mix dry, add heavy cream, divide, and bake! I make these every time I find heavy cream on sale.
As I am sitting here with my tea (sore throat) I am actually taking a bite of the store bought scones😊!!!!!! My husband told me how much he liked the scones. I got my tablet out and was looking upmlemon poppyseed scone recipies and voila found your blog. 😊 Thank you for testing and providing this great recipie.
Hello, can I make these the night before and then bake them in the morning or make them and then freeze them and then bake them another day?
Thanks so much!
Made this today. It was really good. Instead of the icing sugar in the batter I put in instant lemon pudding powder instead. And while I don’t know how it’d compare with how it’d have turned out had I used the icing sugar instead of the pudding powder, mine was very soft, moist, lemony, and not very sweet (which is important because we have a diabetic in house. A third of our batch went without icing also for this reason which makes up most of its sweetness the way I made it). The instant pudding powder I use often in baking as it’s supposed to make things softer and moister and I often use it in place of sugar.
This has now become my staple Scone Recipe. So far this has always turned out for me. However, I don’t shape it into 3 circles. I make mine into a rectangle shape roughly 9″ x 12″ (maybe a bit smaller). Then I use my knife and cut it into 12 equal squares. Then those squares I cut diagonally so I have a total of 24 small scones. Perfect in size and always delicious. In fact I have even changed up the flavors at times. Sometimes using Blueberries, Raspberries, Apples, Raisins, Cranberries, Candied Pineapple or even Chocolate Chips.
I just always make sure I use either dried fruits or Fresh Frozen. (I prefer dried.)
Some of the spices are fun to change up too. Such as Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Pumpkin Pie Spice and my favorite… Cardamom.
Oh, and don’t forget to try making different flavored glazes by using milk instead of lemon juice and your favorite extract. Orange Glaze over Chocolate Chip Scones are my kids favorite. Have Fun and thank you for sharing this 5⭐ Recipe!
Quick, easy, and most definitely delicious!!!! Thank you for sharing your recipe. 😁
These came out perfectly! I did a double batch. However, I taste the baking powder. My husband doesn’t, we he doesn’t think he does. Is it just me? Like how people think cilantro tastes like soap? This has always happened to me with muffins… Am I alone? Please someone tell me you taste baking powder in muffins too…
I taste the baking powder too and was thinking about adjusting the amount to 1 1/2 tsp instead of 2 after reading a different recipe a friend used for maple pecan scones. Didn’t taste the baking powder in those and they were so good!
I wanted to try this today and realized I used up my last lemon :( Next week then!
Could do a cinnamon scone version of this, please? Those are my favorites but I’ve never tried making them, and store-bought ones are usually so dry. Thanks!!
Great idea!
Ok. So I nearly nearly never comment on recipes. I don’t know why. HOWEVER I must. Fantastic recipe. Seriously. Simple. Straightforward. Delicious. Goodbye dry “scone”recipes. Helllllloooooo scrumptious fluffy foolproof scones.
These are AMAZING AND SO SIMPLE! I made them for a bridal shower and the bride mentioned in her thank you note that she actually dreamt about them! I added some of the lemon zest to the glaze – so good!
Oh. My. God. These are stupidly simple, and beyond amazing.