Homemade Lemon Poppyseed Scones with a tangy lemon glaze are tender and flaky, made with fresh lemon juice and zest, and filled with plenty of nutty poppyseeds. One of the best lemon scones recipe for the spring.
Easy Lemon Poppyseed Scones
Lemon and poppyseed is one of my all time favorite flavor combinations. It’s a perfect pairing of tanginess and sweetness with a hint of nuttiness from the poppyseeds.
It’s a very classic flavor pairing, as it is often used in muffins and cakes, like this Lemon Poppyseed Bundt Cake recipe. I find it to be a bright, spring-like citrus flavor I am more than happy to have again and again. And, it’s a scone recipe I use over and over for brunch and holiday gatherings, like Easter and Mother’s Day.
Plus, you can turn this lemon poppy seed scone recipe into mini scones by cutting the dough into smaller triangles, which I often do when I’m serving a crowd. And you can freeze scones–either before baking or after (more instructions below), which makes this an easy make ahead recipe.
Nothing is better than a flaky scone so remember this easy Lemon Poppy Seed Scones recipe for your next brunch or afternoon tea gathering. They are topped with a simple lemon glaze that is sweet yet tangy and filled with lemony flavor! They’re so incredibly tender and flaky (think a flaky biscuit meets a tender muffin), and these lemon glazed lemon scones with poppy seeds are so easy to make! Due to the fresh lemon flavor and nutty poppy seeds, this is perhaps my favorite lemon scone recipe of all time.
What Makes These Easy Lemon Poppyseed Scones So Good?
- Texture: These Lemon Poppyseed Scones are flaky and moist. Scones are notoriously dry and crumbly, but these scones are perfectly moist with a soft, tender texture.
- Flavor: Lemon and poppyseed pair so well together. Poppyseeds are subtle in flavor, but they have a slight nuttiness and sweetness, which enhances the bright lemon flavor and overall tanginess fresh lemon adds to the scones. Plus the sweet lemon glaze adds so much additional flavor.
- Simple Ingredients: Scones are incredibly easy to make, and it’s difficult to mess them up! This particular recipe begins with my classic scone recipe base and has been given a citrus twist with fresh lemon, poppyseeds, and almond extract.
Ingredients:
These are a Lemon Glazed Poppyseed Scone so you need a lot of fresh lemon zest! Instead of using lemon extract, which I find to be too artificial in flavor, we use a lot of fresh zest. Zest imparts flavor without changing the structure of the dough.
- Granulated Sugar
- Lemon Zest: To make these poppyseed lemon scones lemony you need a lot of zest. It imparts so much flavor without altering the texture. About 2 Tbsp are needed. If you skimp, it won’t be as lemony.
- All Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Salt
- Poppyseeds
- Unsalted Butter: Use unsalted butter so you can control the overall salt content and make sure your butter is very cold. Cold butter is what makes the scones extra flaky.
- Egg
- Heavy Whipping Cream: You need heavy whipping cream because it’s very rich and thick. Milk or half & half cannot be substituted.
- Lemon Juice
- Almond Extract: Almond extract is an optional ingredient, but it adds a little something something to the overall flavor. If you omit almond extract, I would substitute with vanilla extract.
- Powdered Sugar
How To Make These Lemon Poppyseed Scones From Scratch:
- Sugar: Mix granulated sugar and lemon zest together in a large bowl. This is a very important step because rubbing the sugar and zest together releases the oils in the lemon zest, which adds more flavor.
- Dry Ingredients: Add flour, baking powder, salt, and poppyseeds to the sugar mixture.
- Butter: Next, add the cold butter into the mixture, cutting it in with your standing mixer, a fork, or a pastry cutter. Once the flour mixture resembles coarse crumbs and the butter is the size of peas, it’s ready.
- Pro Tip: Cut your butter into small squares and then store it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. This ensures it’s very cold!
- Wet Ingredients: Whisk the lemon juice, heavy cream, egg, and almond extract together. Drizzle the liquid into the scone mixture and mix until just combined.
- Pat: Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a circle, about 1/2” thick. Cut into 8 triangles with a sharp knife. (See troubleshooting tips down below if the the dough is too wet/too dry.)
- Bake: Brush the scones with heavy cream and bake on a prepared baking sheet until lightly golden brown.
- Cool: Transfer scones from the tray to a cooling rack.
- Glaze: Whisk powdered sugar, lemon juice, and zest together in a medium bowl. Drizzle over the tops of the scones.
How To Freeze Scones Baked and Unbaked:
Unbaked: This is my preferred method to freezing scones.
- To freeze these before baking, make the scone dough, cut the dough into triangles, and flash freeze on a baking tray for 1 hour. Then, store the scones in an airtight container until ready to bake.
- You can bake the scones frozen, but you will need to add a few minutes to the overall bake time.
Baked: Freeze baked scones unglazed. Allow the scones to cool completely before wrapping each scone individually in plastic wrap and then placing them in an airtight container or freezer safe bag. Or, flash freeze the baked scones and then store in an airtight container. To eat, either let them come to room temperature, or warm them in the microwave or oven and then glaze as directed in the recipe card below.
Storage Tips:
- Store leftover scones in an airtight container. You can store them at room temperature for a couple of days, or you can store them in the fridge.
Variations:
- Mini Scones: If you want to turn these into mini lemon scones, instead of patting the dough into a circle, form it into a square. Cut the dough into 9 equal squares, then cut the each square diagonally. This will give you 18 mini scones.
- Serving: You can serve these lemon poppyseed scones as is, since they are topped with a lemon icing. However, you could omit the lemon glaze and instead serve these scones with lemon curd, whipped cream, or a fruit jam.
Serve these scones for Easter brunch along with this Easy Lemon Bundt Cake, Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins, and Blackberry Coffee Cake!
If you love these scones, here are some other recipes to try:
- Lemon Rosemary Scones
- Lemon Blueberry Scones
- Orange Cream Scones
- Strawberry Cream Cheese Scones
- Cranberry Orange Scones
- Blackberry Lavender Scones
Here are some other Mother’s Day Recipes too:
Homemade Scones Troubleshooting Tips:
- Too Wet: If you feel like the scone dough is too wet (i.e., it’s sticking to your hands), add a little bit more flour until the dough can be patted into a circle. This can happen for varying reasons (the butter got too soft, the egg was really big, etc.).
- Too Dry: If the scone dough is too dry and doesn’t want to stick together, then add a little bit more heavy cream, about 1 Tbsp at a time. Like pie dough, sometimes the dough just needs a pinch more liquid to come together.
- Scones Spread While Baking: If you’re scones spread while they were baking, chances are the butter in the dough got a little bit too soft while you were making the dough. This can easily be remedied by putting the dough in the fridge or freezer for a bit.
- Pro Tip: I like to cut the dough into triangles, put them on my parchment lined baking tray, and then pop them in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. Then I pull them out, brush with cream, and bake.
Quick and Easy Lemon Poppyseed Scones Tips & Tricks:
- Cold Butter: Again, make sure you are working with very cold butter. It’s what makes the scones flaky and perfect.
- Lemon Sugar: Make sure you actually rub the sugar and lemon zest together. The sugar releases the oils in the lemon zest, which will yield for an extra lemony scone.
- Standing Mixer: If you have a standing mixer, you can 100% use it for making scones! It makes the “cutting” in of the butter a much quicker process, because instead of you working the butter into the dough, your mixer is doing all of the work.
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tbsp lemon zest*
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp poppyseeds
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream,* plus extra for brushing
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp almond extract, optional
- 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or coat the pan with baking spray).
- In a large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer), rub the lemon zest into the sugar. This releases the oils in the lemon zest.
- Add the flour, baking powder, poppyseeds, and salt to the sugar mixture. Mix until combined.
- Using a fork or a pastry cutter (or your standing mixer), work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (and the butter is about the size of peas).
- Whisk together the heavy cream, lemon juice, egg, and almond extract. Slowly mix the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, mixing until the dough comes together.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and form the dough into a flat circle, about 1/2” to 3/4” thick. Cut the dough into 8 equal triangles.
- Place the scones on the baking tray, and brush the tops with a bit of heavy cream.
- Bake for about 18-20 minutes, or until the tops are lightly golden brown.
- Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Whisk the powdered sugar, lemon zest, and 2 Tbsp of lemon juice together. If the glaze is too thick, add the remaining Tbsp of lemon juice. If it’s too thin, add in a bit more powdered sugar.
- Drizzle over the tops of each scone.
- Let the glaze set before serving.
*Don’t skimp on the lemon zest. While 2 Tbsp seems like a lot, it’s important to really enhance the lemon flavor. You will need about 3-4 large lemons for the zest.
**If the scone dough is too wet, add a bit more flour until the dough is manageable. If the dough is too dry, add in a little bit more heavy whipping cream until the dough comes together. Read the troubleshooting tips for more info.
Originally published in 2022. Updated 2024.
Here are some other recipes to try next:
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