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Sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb are the perfect spring flavor duo. Reunite this delicious combo in these strawberry rhubarb scones for an extra sweet treat to serve at Easter, Mother’s Day brunch, or just because! Perfect with your morning coffee or a cup of tea.
If you can’t get enough of strawberry season and have a pile of rhubarb to work through, try making this Strawberry Rhubarb Simple Syrup or this refreshing Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade. Perfect for special occasions!
Why you’ll love this Strawberry Rhubarb Scone Recipe
- Quick and easy method thanks to the food processor
- Soft, tender scones with little pops of strawberry and rhubarb in every bite
- Tested scone method that turns out great every time
- These are perfect scones – not dry and sandy like traditional ones
- Great way to celebrate rhubarb season
Ingredients
- All purpose flour – You don’t need anything fancy here. Regular AP will do just fine. Be sure to scoop and level into your measuring cup to avoid adding too much and making the scones crumbly or dry.
- Baking powder – For a nice rise and tall, fluffy scones.
- Kosher salt
- Sugar – I don’t always add sugar to my sweet scones, but I find it really helps bring out the flavor of the strawberries and rhubarb.
- Unsalted butter – You need very cold butter, ideally even frozen. Cold butter + a hot oven = the best rise and flakiest scones.
- Heavy cream – This is my ideal liquid for scones. You can use whole milk or buttermilk, but the extra fat in heavy cream makes them soft and tender.
- Vanilla extract – I always use my homemade Bourbon vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Fresh strawberries – Please only use fresh strawberries, not frozen.
- Fresh rhubarb – Slice the rhubarb stalks into small bites to help them spread evenly through the scone dough.
- Coarse sugar (optional) – To sprinkle on top before baking.
How to Make Strawberry Rhubarb Scones
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cubed butter.
- Pulse to combine. The butter pieces should look like coarse, sandy crumbs when ready.
- Add the heavy cream and pulse to incorporate. The mixture should begin to pull off from the sides of the food processor. Do not add extra liquid, even if it’s tempting. The strawberries will add plenty!
- Pour the scone dough into a large bowl or onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Add the strawberry and rhubarb pieces and incorporate. In a bowl, it helps to use a dough whisk. On a pan, I usually just use my hands. Knead the crumbly dough into a ball, pressing it together to hold in place. It will seem overly crumbly at first, but that’s how you get the very best, flakiest scones. Press down to form the dough ball into a large disc approximately 1 inch tall.
- Place the pan with the round of scone dough in the fridge and let it rest at least 25-30 minutes. This is essential to get the butter nice and cold again.
- While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400F.
- After the rest time, remove the pan from the fridge and cut scones into 8-10 pieces using a very sharp knife. Separate the scones on the pan, brush tops of the scones with heavy cream, and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes. The scones will be golden brown on the edges and feel quite soft to the touch. They’ll continue to firm up on the pan as they cool.
- If desired, drizzle with melted white chocolate or enjoy as is. The sugar makes them crunchy and sweet on top, yet they’re sweet, tender, and moist inside.
How to Make Old-Fashioned Cream Scones by Hand
If you want to make the scones by hand, you certainly can.
Simply add the dry ingredients, sugar, and butter to a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until the flour mixture appears sandy. Add the vanilla extract and heavy cream and stir together. I prefer to use a dough whisk at this stage and I find that I almost always need to add 2 tbs more heavy cream when making scones by hand.
Fold in the fruit, press the crumbly mixture into a ball in the bowl or work with it on a lightly floured surface. Follow the rest of the instructions like normal.
Storing Suggestions
Store leftover cooled scones in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 days. Scones are best within the first day.
You can also keep the unbaked scones in the fridge for 3-4 days. Just cover well and bake whenever you’re ready!
Tips & Variations
- The sugar in the dough will cause the strawberries to start releasing moisture, which can make these scones seem quite wet at first. Please do not add any extra cream! The kneading process will bring the crumbly dough together.
- Chill out. The chill time is essential, especially with the extra moisture from the fresh fruit. The scones will spread out if not fully chilled.
- Use the food processor. You can certainly make scones by hand in a bowl, but you will get the softest, flakiest texture with the food processor. I’ve tried both methods and rely on the food processor method time and time again. It’s truly the best!
- Knead in the bowl. Most recipes call for kneading the dough on a well-floured surface, but this adds more flour, which can dry out the scones. I knead the mixture into a ball on the sheet pan or in the bowl, which reduces clean up and keeps the scones lovely and tender.
- Feel free to be more generous with your scone portions and cut into 6-8 scones instead. You will need to extend the baking time by several minutes, so keep an eye on the color.
How to Serve
I find scones are best eaten hot from the pan while standing in the kitchen as a reward for a job well done. Fortunately, there are plenty in each batch so you can have a tester and serve the rest to your friends and family.
They’re great with a morning cup of coffee or tea, but are especially delightful with a glass of Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade or a small sip of Lavender Liqueur at a special Spring brunch or party.
More Scone Recipes
If you made this recipe, please leave a comment or ask a question below! I’d love to hear what you think or troubleshoot any issues.
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Strawberry Rhubarb Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 4 oz unsalted butter, very cold; one stick
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, very cold
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, minced
- 1/2 cup rhubarb, fresh or frozen; minced
For optional glaze
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 1 tbsp coarse sugar
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the all purpose flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cubed butter.2 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 4 oz unsalted butter
- Pulse to combine. The butter pieces should look like coarse, sandy crumbs when ready.
- Add the heavy cream and vanilla, then pulse to incorporate. The mixture should begin to pull off from the sides of the food processor. Do not add extra liquid, even if it's tempting. The strawberries will add plenty!1/2 cup heavy cream, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pour the scone dough into a large bowl or onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Add the strawberry and rhubarb pieces and incorporate. In a bowl, it helps to use a dough whisk. On a pan, I usually just use my hands. Knead the crumbly dough into a ball, pressing it together to hold in place. It will seem overly crumbly at first, but that’s how you get the very best, flakiest scones. Press down to form the dough ball into a large disc approximately 1 inch tall.1/2 cup fresh strawberries, 1/2 cup rhubarb
- Place the pan with the round of scone dough in the fridge and let it rest at least 25-30 minutes. This is essential to get the butter nice and cold again.
- While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 400F.
- After the rest time, remove the pan from the fridge and cut scones into 8-10 pieces using a very sharp knife. Separate the scones on the pan, brush tops of the scones with heavy cream, and sprinkle with coarse sugar.2 tbsp heavy cream, 1 tbsp coarse sugar
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes. The scones will be golden brown on the edges and feel quite soft to the touch. They’ll continue to firm up on the pan as they cool.
- If desired, drizzle with melted white chocolate or enjoy as is. The sugar makes them crunchy and sweet on top, yet they’re sweet, tender, and moist inside.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you try this recipe?
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I made these exactly as stated in the recipe for a bake sale and they were a hit! Lots of compliments!! The only thing is that the ingredient list says vanilla but I couldn’t find it in the instructions anywhere so I omitted! Delicious!!
Dana, So glad you enjoyed these! They tend to disappear pretty quickly here, too. 🙂 Thanks for pointing out the issue with the extract! I just added that to the recipe. Have a lovely day! Rachael