
What is it about cinnamon that just warms the tummy? They are the perfect treat to warm you up on a cold winter morning, accompanied with a hot cup of tea. This is a classic buttermilk scone recipe where each scone is covered in cinnamon (with a pinch of nutmeg for good measure) then layered on top of itself to create bursts of cinnamon swirls.
In the winter I find comfort in my kitchen with the oven on, mixing up batches of treats. For me the simple act of blending ingredients by hand, like kneading dough or rubbing butter and flour with my fingers, has a calming effect! There’s nothing more enjoyable than waking up to the smell of buttery cinnamon filling the air.

What Are Scones?
Scones are a type of ‘quick bread’ and are simple to make with not much time involved. Typically they are not sweet, and are paired with clotted cream and jam. These cinnamon scones are no exception to that! They are cinnamony, not sweet and take no time at all to make. They look more difficult than they actually are, promise! 😉
How to Cut Butter Into Flour
There are a few ways to cut butter into flour but the most important rule to remember is to cut your butter in smaller cubes first, approx. 1 inch x 1 inch. Then coat each piece in the flour before you start. You also want to make sure you are working with cold butter from the fridge.
- By Hand – You can use your hands by picking up the flour and butter in your finger tips and gently rubbing the butter and flour between your fingers and thumb. Continue to pick up flour and butter and rub between your fingers until you have small pea size crumbs or coarse crumbs.
- Two Knives – Using two butter knives, one knife in each hand, simply cut the butter into the flour to create little pieces/coarse crumbs.
- A Pastry Cutter – A pastry cutter is designed to roll back and forth to cut the butter into the flour. Use a knife to scrape any stuck on butter and continue to cut into the flour until you have small pea size crumbs or coarse crumbs.
You want to make sure to keep your butter cold, if you’ve worked your butter too much while making your scones you won’t get those beautiful layers. Simply place the pan of scones in the freezer for 5 minutes before baking. This is to help firm up the butter before baking and give you those layers that you look for in a scone.
Dough
The dough should be a little more on the ragged side and a touch dry. Be careful not to add more liquid, scones are meant to be a little dryer and denser. You just want the dough to come together when pressed but you may still have pieces that don’t stick (that means you’ve got it right).
How To Make Cinnamon Scones
Add cold butter cubes to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until small crumbs form.


Add liquid, using a fork mix together until dough becomes ragged.

Shape dough into an 8 x 10 rectangle, cover in the cinnamon mixture & fold over.

Shape into a circle, and cut into 8 equal pieces. Brush tops with whipping cream, sprinkle cinnamon on top.




Cinnamon Scones
These cinnamon scones are a classic buttermilk scone covered in cinnamon then layered on top of itself to create a swirl of cinnamon bursts. They are flaky, buttery and not sweet at all.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: Scottish
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- pinch of ground cloves
- pinch of salt
For the Top of the Scones
- 1/4 cup whipping cream (or full milk)
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400˚F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
- Add butter to flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a small bowl add buttermilk and egg, whisk together.
- In another small bowl add cinnamon and sugar, ground cloves and salt together, mix well and set aside.
- Create a well in the centre of the flour and butter mixture. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the well. Using a fork bring the mixture together just until the dough comes together and is ragged.
- Turn out onto a work surface; bring the dough together, folding it over itself a few times. (approx. 6-8 times, DO NOT OVERWORK IT).
- Pat out to an 8 x 10 inch rectangle. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture all over the top. Fold the rectangle in half and gently press out to another 8 x 10 inch rectangle. Sprinkle the rest of the cinnamon and sugar mixture on the top and fold over again.
- Now shape the rectangle into a circle (your dough should be approx. 1 inch in height). Using a large knife, cut into 8 triangles.
- Place each triangle on your prepared baking sheet 1-2 inches apart.
- Using your fingers press the tip of each triangle down to pinch them closed (this will help the scone stay together as it rises).
- Brush tops of scones with whipping cream, sprinkle with a little extra sugar and cinnamon.
- Place your baking sheet of scones in the freezer for 5 minutes (this will help firm up your butter).
- Bake for 15 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown and the middle is set.
- Enjoy warm.
Notes
Scones are best eaten the day of. Store in a tin for one day. Reheat as needed.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 scone
- Calories: 508
- Sugar: 5.3g
- Sodium: 141mg
- Fat: 10.1g
- Saturated Fat: 5.8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 91g
- Fiber: 3.3g
- Protein: 12.7g
- Cholesterol: 39mg
Keywords: Scones, Cinnamon, Breakfast, Treat, Buttermilk
FAQ’s
The secret to a flaky scone is cold butter! You don’t want to overwork the butter so that it melts down. You want pea-size butter crumbs throughout the dough that stay firm. A good trick to help your butter stay hard is to pop the dough into the freezer to firm the butter back up before baking.
No, scones and biscuits are different. Although they are both similar in style and in ingredients the outcomes are different. A biscuit is typically plain, soft on the inside and flaky whereas a scone will be more on the crumbly side and can have other ingredients added to it. It still may have flaky layers but the inside consistency will be denser than a biscuit.
Yes, if want to add fruit or nuts to cinnamon scones add them with each layer of cinnamon and gently press into the dough. Currants would make a great addition to these cinnamon scones.
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[…] Check out the recipe sent to us by Alie at http://www.BakingforFriends.com. […]
[…] Check out the recipe sent to us by Alie at http://www.BakingforFriends.com. […]
Absolutely awesome! So easy. The tender crumb and the cinnamon really have sold me on trying more recipes.
The perfect treat that is not too rich or too sweet. 5 stars.
★★★★★
Ohhh I’m so happy you like the scones! They are one of my favourites! Thank you for sharing and for the rating! Happy Baking!
Good heavens! These are RIDICULOUSLY delicious! I’ve never checked out https://www.bakingforfriends.com before, but I’ll be back.
★★★★★
Hi Jan, thanks for checking out the blog 🙂 These scones are one of my faves too! Hope you enjoy the recipes and happy baking!
My dough was super sticky, looked nothing like the picture ( ragged ), it was crazy sticky. Any advice on what I might have done wrong? But, they were delicious. Will definitely make again
Hi Yolie, thanks for taking the time to write. You are correct, the dough shouldn’t be sticky. I’m not exactly sure what happened but a few issues may have been the measurements of flour and liquid being a little off. Sounds like it may have been either too much liquid or not enough flour. Also make sure your butter is cold and not soft. Did you use the US or Metrics measurements on the recipe?
In the future if you find the dough is sticky while handing it, add a little more flour (approx. 1 Tbsp at a time). I’m glad to hear you still enjoyed the scones though. Let me know how it goes the next time you make the recipe. Happy baking 🙂
Good dough to work with, and the scones had a good texture. I found them too mild in flavor. I noticed immediately that there was no salt in the dough and that seemed strange. I put a pinch in, but it needed more. Next time, I will put at least a 1/4 teaspoon in. The dough could also probably use some vanilla and/or almond extract. I would also probably increase the filling amount a little. Still, I know some people like plain scones, and these are fine.
★★★★
Hey Peter, thanks for taking the time to write a review. I do have a small amount of salt written in the recipe but yes these scones are not sweet or salty. You can definitely add more salt and filling to up the flavour to your desire. Happy Baking and thanks for visiting the blog 🙂
These were SO good!!! Flaky like I’ve been wishing for for years. My new scone standard. I did tweak a bit. Added a 1/4 tsp cardamom to the filling and used brown instead of white sugar. Also added a TB of brown sugar to the dough. And 2 TB of shortening and 6 TB of butter (cause I ran out of butter). The dough was wet but a sprinkle of flour on the counter where I did the folding fixed that. Thanks so much for the recipe!
★★★★★
So glad to hear you enjoyed the scones Madeline. Love the addition of cardamom too!