Raspberry and White Chocolate Scones, Light, Fluffy & Easy
Raspberry and white chocolate scones are one of those bakes that look far more complicated than they really are. They come out light and fluffy, studded with sweet raspberries and little pockets of white chocolate, and the whole batch takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, with 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes in the oven.
This recipe comes from Lou Carruthers at Crumbs and Corkscrews, and it is built for afternoon tea. Serve the scones warm with raspberry jam and clotted cream, and the table is set.
Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 27
Lou loves raspberries for the way their sweetness is balanced by a gentle tartness, and she uses them in other bakes too, including raspberry oat muffins, a raspberry Victoria cake and a chocolate raspberry roulade.
The recipe makes 16 scones, which is handy when you are feeding a crowd or planning a tea party. If you enjoy baking with fruit, these Fresh Cherry Scones follow a similar, friendly rhythm, and they are a lovely one to try next time you want something fruity alongside your tea.
Raspberry jam is a personal favorite here, and it is the kind of thing that gets eaten by the spoonful straight from the jar. So it made sense to put raspberries into the scones themselves as well, alongside white chocolate chips. The fruit then shows up twice on the tea table, baked into the crumb and spread generously on top.
Raspberries are a bit of a theme in this kitchen. They appear in raspberry oat muffins, a raspberry Victoria cake and a chocolate raspberry roulade, and they fold into a scone dough just as happily, as long as you stir them in gently and do not crush the berries.
Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 28
What’s the difference between American and English scones?
It helps to know which style you are baking, because the two are not the same thing at all.
English scones are simpler, made with fewer ingredients, and they are traditionally served with toppings such as cream, curd or jam. They are the ones you picture on a tiered stand, split open and loaded up.
American scones are denser and richer. They usually contain more butter and sugar, they are often larger, and they are frequently cut into triangles. A glaze is common, and they are just as often eaten on their own with a cup of coffee.
Feature
English scones
American scones
Ingredients
Fewer and simpler
More butter and sugar
Texture
Lighter
Denser
Shape
Round, cut with a cutter
Often larger, often triangular
How they are served
With cream, curd or jam
Often plain or glazed, eaten alone
Making scones the Mary Berry way
The method here follows the classic British approach that the article associates with Mary Berry, and it comes down to three habits: keep the butter cold, work quickly, and handle the dough as little as possible.
Cold, cubed butter goes into the dry ingredients and gets rubbed in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Buttermilk brings the dough together and gives the scones a lighter crumb than a heavy cream dough would.
Raspberries and white chocolate chips are folded through at the end, adding fruit and a little richness without weighing the texture down.
None of this is fussy, but it does reward a light touch. Warm butter, overworking, or a heavy hand with flour all push scones toward dense and doughy instead of tall and tender.
Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 29
How to make raspberry and white chocolate scones, step by step
Scones have a reputation for being tricky, as if you need years of practice before you can pull a decent batch out of the oven. In practice they are quick and straightforward, and the full measurements are listed with each stage below. Here is how the process runs, in three simple steps.
The Ingredients
You need flour, butter and sugar for the base dough, with the butter rubbed into the dry ingredients. Once those staples are in the cupboard, the scones can be on the table warm in less than 30 minutes.
350 g self raising flour, or cake flour
50 g caster sugar, or superfine sugar
1 tsp baking powder
85 g butter, cold from the fridge and cubed
150 ml buttermilk
50 g white chocolate chips
100 g raspberries
A little extra milk is useful for brushing the tops before baking.
The Dough
Rub the cold, cubed butter into the flour, sugar and baking powder by hand until the mixture resembles fine sand or breadcrumbs. If you are using raspberries and white chocolate, fold them in gently, taking care not to crush the berries, then make a well in the middle.
Add the buttermilk a tablespoon at a time and bring everything together with a table knife. You may not need all 150 ml, and a little more buttermilk can go in if the dough looks dry. The dough should be slightly sticky rather than dry and crumbly, so stop as soon as it holds together.
No buttermilk in the fridge? Mix 1 tablespoon of lemon juice with 100 ml of whole milk, leave it for 15 minutes until it looks slightly soured, and use that instead.
The Scones
Lightly flour the work surface and turn out the dough. Press it flat with your hands to about 2 to 3 cm, roughly 1 inch, thick, dusting your hands with flour if the dough sticks. Cut rounds with a floured 2 inch cutter and move them to the baking tray with a floured spatula, then brush the tops with milk.
Bake at 180C or 350F for 10 to 12 minutes, until the scones are lightly browned, and let them cool on a wire rack before serving. One batch makes about 16 scones, depending on the size of your cutter, and the prep takes around 10 minutes.
Per scone, as given by the source: about 155 calories, 22 g carbohydrate, 3 g protein, 6 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 1 g fiber, 6 g sugar, 51 mg sodium and 13 mg cholesterol.
Equipment you’ll need
Nothing specialist, which is part of the charm of this bake:
Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 30Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 31Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 32
A fluted cutter for classic shaped scones
A pastry cutter or dough cutter to help bring the dough together
A baking sheet lined with baking parchment
How to serve raspberry and white chocolate scones
Serve them warm, ideally fresh from the oven, when the outside is just set and the middle is still soft. The traditional topping is jam and clotted cream, and raspberry jam is the natural partner here because it echoes the fruit inside. Strawberry jam or cherry jam work just as well if that is what you have in the cupboard.
Jam or cream first is entirely a matter of preference, and at home there is no wrong answer. Lou goes jam first, then a generous spoonful of clotted cream on top.
If clotted cream is hard to find, whip 100 ml of double or heavy cream with a little vanilla bean paste and a pinch of caster sugar until it holds soft peaks. It is not quite the same thing, but it is lovely with a warm scone and a mug of tea.
If you are looking for a different style of bake, this Gluten Free Almond Flour Scones recipe is a separate scone with its own ingredient list, so treat it as another recipe to try rather than a straight swap in this one.
Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 33
Tips for light, fluffy raspberry and white chocolate scones every time
Most scone problems come down to temperature and handling. These are the details that make the biggest difference.
Start with cold butter. Butter that is cold from the fridge and cubed is easier to rub into the flour and helps stop the dough turning gooey.
Rub it in your way. Fingertips work beautifully, or you can blitz the flour and butter in a food processor or use a handheld pastry cutter.
Try frozen raspberries. Use them straight from the freezer rather than defrosted, because they keep the dough from becoming too sticky. Freeze dried raspberries are another option if you want an extra hit of fruit flavor.
Do not over handle the dough. The more you work it, the tougher and denser the scones become, so expect it to stay a little sticky and stop as soon as it comes together.
Go light on the flour. A very light dusting on the work surface is enough. Too much flour makes dry, heavy scones.
Keep the dough thick. Aim for about 1 inch, or 2 to 3 cm, so the scones rise tall instead of spreading flat.
Flip the scones. After cutting, turn each scone over on the baking tray so the base faces up. This helps them rise evenly and undoes some of the compression from the cutter.
One more thing worth knowing: the dough is meant to look slightly shaggy before it is shaped. If it feels like a firm, smooth cookie dough, you have probably added too much flour or worked it for too long.
Cold butter, a light hand and a thick dough are the three things that keep scones light and fluffy.
Raspberry And White Chocolate Scones: A Light And Fluffy Recipe For Afternoon Tea 34
Hi I’m Lou
Lou is a dessert focused baker who also works a busy 9 to 5 job, and she develops and photographs her own recipes. She lives in the Cotswolds in the UK, and this raspberry and white chocolate scone recipe is one of hers.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make raspberry and white chocolate scones from scratch?
Mix 350g self-raising flour, 50g caster sugar, and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Rub 85g cold cubed butter into the dry mix until it resembles breadcrumbs, then gently fold in 100g raspberries and 50g white chocolate chips. Add 150ml buttermilk slowly until a slightly sticky dough forms, flatten to 2-3cm thick, cut into rounds, brush with milk, and bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes.
Can you use frozen raspberries in white chocolate scones?
Yes, frozen raspberries work perfectly in white chocolate scones and are often preferred because they hold their shape better and are less likely to bleed into the dough. Use them straight from the freezer without defrosting, and gently fold them in to avoid crushing. This helps keep the scones light and visually appealing.
How do you keep scones light and fluffy?
To keep scones light and fluffy, use fridge-cold butter and handle the dough as little as possible-overworking develops gluten and creates a dense texture. Rub the butter into the dry mix only until it resembles fine crumbs, and add buttermilk gradually until the dough is just slightly sticky. Press the dough to 2-3cm thick, cut straight down without twisting the cutter, and bake immediately for optimal rise.
How long do homemade raspberry scones last and can you freeze them?
Homemade raspberry scones are best eaten the same day, but they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days. For longer storage, freeze the baked and cooled scones in a freezer-safe bag for up to three months. Reheat frozen scones directly in a 350°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes to restore their fresh texture.
Raspberry and White Chocolate Scones, Light, Fluffy & Easy Raspberry and white chocolate scones are one of those bakes that look far more complicated than they really are. They come out light and fluffy, studded with sweet raspberries and little pockets of white chocolate, and the whole batch takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, with 10 minutes of prep and 10 minutes in the oven.
Total Time:20 min
Yield:16 scones 1x
Ingredients
Scale
Ingredients 350 g Self-Raising Flour 50 g Caster sugar 1 tsp Baking Powder 85 g Butter, Fridge-cold and cubed 150 ml Buttermilk 50 g White Chocolate Chips 100 g Raspberries
Instructions
Instructions 1-Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F and line: Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F and line two baking sheets with baking parchment. 2-In a large bowl, add the self: In a large bowl, add the self raising flour, caster sugar and baking powder. Mix together. 3-Cube the cold butter and add into: Cube the cold butter and add into the mixing bowl. Rub the butter into the dry ingredients using fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. 4-Add the raspberries and white chocolate and: Add the raspberries and white chocolate and gently stir in. Be careful not to crush the raspberries. 5-Add the buttermilk a tablespoon at a: Add the buttermilk a tablespoon at a time, and gently mix together using a butter knife. If the dough is too dry, add a little more buttermilk to help it bind together. You might not need all the buttermilk. The dough should be a little sticky. 6-Lightly flour your work surface, and turn: Lightly flour your work surface, and turn out the dough. Using your hand, gently flatten the dough until about 2-3cm thick. You may need to dust your hands with flour, if the dough is too sticky. 7-Flour a 2 inch round pastry cutter: Flour a 2 inch round pastry cutter and cut out the individual scones. Use a floured spatula to transfer the scones to the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with milk. 8-Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly: Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Leave to cool on a wire rack before serving.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.
