Our made from scratch apple cinnamon scones recipe makes one of the most delicious fall scones that you will ever bake. Filled with chunks of fresh apple and plenty of sweet cinnamon chips, these cinnamon apple scones bake up golden brown with crisp, buttery edges and tender middles. If you've been craving something cozy and spice filled for fall mornings, this recipe is for you! This easy to make scone comes together quickly with simple ingredients and produced bakery quality scones each and every time.
This recipe is perfect for a weekend brunch by the fire, afternoon tea, or anytime that you want to fill your house with the cozy, warm smells of fall baking. In this post, I will walk you through how to make this perfect scone dough, which type of apples to use and how to store leftover scones (if you have any!). If you're looking for other delicious fall baking recipes, be sure to check out our decadent Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting or our light and fluffy Apple Cinnamon Pancakes.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Made with grated, frozen butter for perfectly flaky scones. We love grating frozen butter directly into our dry ingredients to create those bakery style layers and crisp, buttery edges. No special equipment or skills required!
Sweet apple in every bite. Chunks of fresh, crisp apple baked right into the scones add incredible texture and flavor to this recipe.
Triple cinnamon flavor. You'll find warm, cozy cinnamon in the scone dough, the cinnamon chips and the cinnamon apple cider glaze that covers the scones. Perfect for fall mornings!
Foolproof technique. Our step by step directions produce dough that comes together perfectly every single time. These scones keep their shape and bake up light and fluffy.
Apple cider glaze. The sweet, spice filled cider glaze adds extra fall flavor to your apple cinnamon scones.
Quick and easy to make. You can have fresh scones on the table in under an hour with this easy to make recipe. Perfect for weekend mornings when you want something special but don't want to spend all day making it!
Key Ingredients
unsalted butter - before you start baking, place ½ cup of unsalted butter into the freezer so that it is frozen when you begin baking. Freezing the butter and then grating it into the dry ingredients is one of the secrets to those flaky scones layers.
apples - you want a firm, tart apple for making these scones. Honeycrisp or Granny Smith both work well. Chop the apple into smaller cubes, about ¼ inch in size. You can leave the peel on or remove it. You will use about 1 medium about to get ¾ cup chopped.
cinnamon chips - cinnamon baking chips are similar to chocolate chips but flavored instead with cinnamon. You can find the in the baking aisle of your grocery store. I usually bake with the Hershey Cinnamon Chips because I can always find them. If you can't find cinnamon chips, you can substitute with chopped nuts or even some mini chocolate chips.
heavy cream - use heavy cream for that tender, flaky scone texture. You will use ½ cup of heavy cream in the scones and little bit more for brushing the tops before baking.
apple cider - use fresh apple cider to make the glaze for the tops of the scones. Be sure not to use apple cider vinegar!
Variations and Substitutions
Variations:
Gluten Free Apple Cinnamon Scones: Substitute the all purpose flour for your favorite gluten free flour blend. I use and love both Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free Flour or King Arthur Measure for Measure. No one will ever know that these scones are gluten free!
Maple Glaze: Instead of using apple cider, make a maple glaze using ½ cup of confectioners sugar, 1-2 tablespoons of maple syrup and ½ teaspoon of cinnamon. Yum!
Add Nuts: Fold in ½ cup pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts. I like to toast nuts at 290° for 10 minutes before adding them to a recipe. Be sure that the nuts are cool before adding them to your scone dough.
Apple Cranberry Scones: Swap the cinnamon chips out for dried cranberries. Add ½ cup dried cranberries along with the ¾ cup chopped apple. Perfect for holiday mornings!
Make Them Mini: Divide your scone dough into 2 smaller circles and cut each into 8 wedges for 16 mini scones. Bake the mini scones for 12-15 minutes and watch closely.
Substitutions:
Heavy Cream: You can use whole milk or buttermilk in place of the heavy cream. The results may be less tender but both work well as substitutes.
Apple Cider (for the glaze): If you don't have apple cider, apple juice or even heavy cream will work in a pinch.
how to make apple cinnamon scones
Be sure to see the recipe card for the full list of ingredients and detailed recipe instructions.
Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
Grate the frozen butter directly into the dry ingredients. Use a fork to mix the butter into the flour and sugar.
Whisk together the egg, heavy cream and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the flour and butter mixture. Mix until the dough just comes together.
Mix in the diced apple and cinnamon chips.
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Fold the dough over itself 4-5 times until all of the mix ins are incorporated. Form the dough into an 8 inch circle.
Cut the dough into 8 wedges.
Move the wedges of dough to a sheet pan and chill in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Arrange the chilled scone dough on a sheet pan for baking. Brush scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon and sugar. Bake scones at 400° for 18-20 minutes.
Allow scones to cool for 5-10 minutes. Drizzle baked scones with the apple cider glaze.
Expert Tips
Keep your ingredients cold. One of the secrets to light and fluffy scones is cold butter, heavy cream and eggs. Make sure that your butter is frozen solid before grating it into your dry ingredients. You can whisk together your heavy cream, eggs and vanilla ahead of time. Keep this in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
Chill your scone dough before baking. After cutting your scone dough into wedges, chill these wedges before baking. I like to give them at least 30 minutes in the freezer before baking. This prevents the scones from spreading too much in the oven.
Measure your flour correctly. If you have too much flour in your scone dough, the scones will be dry and it will be hard to mix your dough together. Use the spoon and level method - fluff the flour up and spoon it into your measuring cup. Level it off with a knife. For best results, use a kitchen scale (2 cups of flour = 260g)
Let the scones cool slightly before glazing. Allow your baked scones to cool for 5-10 minutes before drizzling them with the apple cider glaze. You want the scones to be warm, not too hot when adding the glaze.
How to Store Apple Cinnamon Scones
Room Temperature Storage - store baked scones in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Refrigerator Storage - store baked scones in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. To refresh your scones, warm individual scones in the oven for 7-10 minutes at 300°.
Freezer Storage (for baked scones) - freeze the scones and glaze separately in airtight containers or freezer bags for up to 2 months. When you are ready to enjoy your scones, allow them to thaw for 1-2 hours at room temperature. If you want to enjoy the scones warm, bake the at 300° for 7-10 minutes. Drizzle the apple cider glaze over the warm scones before serving.
Freezer Storage (for unbaked scones) 🌟My Favorite Option! - Arrange the uncooked scones on a parchment lined sheet pan. Transfer to the freezer for 1-2 hours or until frozen solid. Transfer the frozen, uncooked scones to an airtight container or freezer bag and arrange in a single layer. Label your storage bag or container with the recipe name and baking instructions. Store scone dough in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Pro Tip: Unbaked frozen scones are clutch for busy mornings or when you have company coming over. You can have fresh, warm scones without any prep work! Check out our post How To Freeze Scones for all of our best tips and tricks for freezing bad baking scones!
apple cinnamon scones FAQs
Yes! My favorite thing to do is to make the scone dough ahead of time. I like to freeze the dough and then pull the frozen dough out for baking any time that I want fresh scones.
Your scones will be flat if the dough is too warm when you are baking the scones. Warm dough spreads out too much leading to flat scones. Be sure that your butter and liquid ingredients are cold and don't skip the time in the freezer for the dough.
I strongly recommend that you do not skip the freezer time before baking. Cold dough ensures that the scones keep their shape and you end up with light, fluffy scones with plenty of height.
I prefer using a tart apple such as a Granny Smith or Honeycrisp. Any firm apple will work well for this recipe.
Yes! If you can't find or don't want to use cinnamon chips, you can use chocolate chips, toasted nuts or even dried cranberries in place of the cinnamon chips.
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Easy Apple Cinnamon Scones
Equipment
- large mixing bowl
- glass measuring cup (2 cups)
- cheese grater
- whisk
- fork
- knife
- baking pan
- pastry brush
Ingredients
For the Scones
- ½ cup unsalted butter frozen
- 2 cups (260g) all purpose flour
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¾ cup apple chopped
- ½ cup cinnamon chips
For the Apple Cider Glaze
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon apple cider
Instructions
- Place ½ cup of butter in the freezer. Freeze until solid.½ cup unsalted butter
- While the butter is freezing, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large mixing bowl.2 cups (260g) all purpose flour, ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Remove frozen butter from the freezer and use your cheese grater to grate the frozen butter directly into the dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter or fork to work the butter into the flour mixture.
- In a large glass measuring cup, whisk together egg, heavy cream and vanilla.½ cup heavy cream, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla
- Pour the heavy cream and eggs over the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Add the chopped apple and cinnamon chips to the scones dough. Gently fold into the dough. It's okay if they are not well combined.¾ cup apple, ½ cup cinnamon chips
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and fold the dough over itself and then flatten it to incorporate the mix-ins. Do this 4-5 times to be sure that the ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the dough. You want the dough to come together and look uniform with flecks of butter throughout.
- Form the dough into a 8-10 inch circle and use a bench scraper or sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 triangles.
- Arrange triangles on a quarter sheet pan and place scones into the freezer for 15-30 minutes before preheating the oven to 400°.
- After the 30 minutes of chilling, arrange the scones on a parchment lined, half sheet pan. Brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
- Bake at 400° for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown.
- While the scones are baking, make your apple cider glaze. Whisk together the confectioners sugar, cinnamon and apple cider.½ cup confectioners sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon apple cider
- Allow scones to cool for 5-10 minutes before drizzling with the apple cider glaze.
Rick Engerman says
Had these for breakfast over the holidays Oooooo so good 😊 Yum Yum !!!!
Britt says
These were delicious!