Sweet crispy edges and soft tender centres make these Raspberry White Chocolate Scones just about the best thing ever.  Easy to make with fresh raspberries and creamy white chocolate chips these big fluffy scones are the perfect sweet snack or breakfast treat.

The secret to the crunchy, buttery, moist texture of these scones are the tiny pieces of cold butter mixed throughout the dough.  Normally, a scone recipe will tell you to cut cold butter into flour with a pastry cutter until butter is in “pea-size” pieces, which takes some time and can yield inconsistent results  Years ago, I stumbled upon a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated for biscuits that taught me a brilliant technique for achieving the perfect size pieces of butter for this type of recipe, and I’ve never looked back.  Instead of cutting the butter into the flour, Cook’s Illustrated teaches that you can get the same results (dare I say better results?) by stirring melted butter into ice cold buttermilk to instantly chill the butter into perfect size clumps.  Now, in this recipe we’re making scones, not biscuits, and we’re using cream instead of buttermilk, but the same technique applies – melted butter stirred into ice cold cream = a chunky mix of perfect-size butter pieces.  Scroll down to the Recipe Notes section below for more on this, including a photo of the butter and cream mixture, so you can see exactly what I’m talking about.  

Raspberry White Chocolate Scones

Time: 50 minutes total (20 minutes of prep time, 15 minutes of chill time and 18-20 minutes of baking time)

Yield: 8 large scones

INGREDIENTS

Scones

• 3/4 cup of heavy cream, plus 1 Tbsp for brushing tops
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of fresh raspberries

White Chocolate Glaze

• 2 Tbsp white chocolate chips
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 Tbsp crumbled freeze dried raspberries

INSTRUCTIONS

Measure 3/4 cup of heavy cream and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes to get really cold.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in the microwave and set aside to cool slightly while the cream chills.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Move an oven rack to the centre of the oven.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Crack the eggs into a small dish and beat with a fork until the yolks and whites are fully combined.  Add the vanilla and stir to blend.

Remove the cream from the freezer and immediately add the melted butter.  Stir with a fork until mixture thickens.  The cold cream should quickly chill the butter into little globs, turning the mixture into a chunky, clumpy mix of butter and cream that looks a little like the consistency of cottage cheese (see photo below)

Pour the cream mixture and the egg mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to combine.  Try not to use your hands to mix as it’s very important that the mixture stays very cold.

Tear each raspberry into 2 or 3 pieces and add them to the mixing bowl along with the white chocolate chips. Stir just to distribute the raspberry pieces and white chocolate chips evenly.    Scoop the batter onto the prepared baking sheet in 8 even portions, mounding it high and placing each scone at least 2″ apart on the sheet.  Don’t roll the dough or smooth the scones as the rough edges will become delightfully crispy as the scone bakes.  Place the baking sheet with the scones in the fridge to chill for at least 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400F.

Remove the baking sheet with the scones from the fridge and brush the tops of the scones with the remaining tablespoon of cream.  Transfer to the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden on the bottom and the tops are set.  Remove from the oven and all to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Set the baking sheet with the parchment paper aside to cool as you can use it again when you glaze the scones.

To make the glaze, place the white chocolate chips and the water in a small microwave safe dish, and microwave for about 20 seconds to warm.  Remove from the microwave and whisk with a fork to blend.  If the chocolate isn’t sufficiently melted, microwave for 10 more seconds and check again to see if the water and white chocolate will blend together.  Sift in the powdered sugar and stir until smooth.  Once the scones are cool, place the rack with the scones back on top of the parchment lined baking sheet.  Drizzle the glaze over the scones, letting the glaze drip down the sides.  (The parchment will catch the drips, making clean up easier).  Sprinkle the crushed freeze dried raspberries over top of the scones, pressing slightly to adhere to the glaze if necessary.  Serve immediately

RECIPE NOTES

• As I mentioned above the recipe, the key to the tender fluffy texture of these scones is the unusual technique of mixing melted butter into very cold cream to form tiny pieces of butter to mixed throughout the batter.  Here’s a photo of what that mixture will look like.  Pour the melted butter into the cold cream and stir for a moment or two until the mixture thickens and the butter solidifies into a million tiny pieces.  Don’t rush this step.  Leave the cream in the freezer for the full 15 minutes so it is very, very cold so it will chill the melted butter almost on contact.

• Why is it important to have small pieces of cold butter in the batter?  During the baking process, the little pieces of butter will melt and the water in the butter will create steam.  The steam will help the batter to puff up, and will create tiny steam pockets throughout the scone, resulting in fluffy, tender layers.
• Don’t be tempted to increase the fruit in this recipe.  While 1/2 cup of raspberries may not seem like much, I assure you that these scones are filled with delicious raspberry flavour.  Increasing the fruit will add too much moisture, resulting in soggy, heavy scones.
• Scones are quick and simple to make, in part because no kneading is required.  In fact, the less you work the dough, the more tender the results.  Just mix until everything is combined, and no traces of flour remain – then stop.
• These scones are best the day they are made.  You can make the batter a few hours in advance and scoop it onto your baking sheet.  Cover the scones and slide the whole tray into the fridge.  When ready to bake, brush the tops with cream and bake as directed, adding an extra minute or two to the bake time.
• To freeze:  Make the batter for these scones, then scoop them onto a parchment lined baking sheet and pop the whole tray into the freezer for about a couple of hours until firm.  Transfer the frozen scones to a resealable bag and store in the freezer for up to 2 months.  Whenever you feel like fresh scones, pull out the desired number  and bake from frozen, adding 3-5 minutes more to the baking time.  Mix up the white chocolate glaze to drizzle on after they’ve cooled, or serve without the glaze (also delicious, just less sweet).  You can also bake them in advance and then freeze, well wrapped, but they taste fresher if you freeze the dough and bake as needed.