Oat Scones | The Modern Proper (2024)

June 5, 2024

Buttery and made moist thanks to a secret ingredient, these oat scones are a Scottish-ish riff on everyone’s favorite breakfast treat.

Homemade Scones Don’t Say “I Love You”...

They say I love you SO MUCH. At least, these simple oat scones do. Moist and tender, with a nutty richness from the addition of quick oats, they're best enjoyed right out of the oven alongside a big jar of homemade raspberry jam and—if you're feeling really generous—a bowl of clotted cream.

What Is a Scone?

Oooooo boy. “What’s a scone?” you ask casually, not realizing that you’re asking a very loaded question. But don’t worry—you’re among friends here at TMP. Between you and me, we’re not exactly scone purists. We’re just scone lovers, and equal-opportunity scone lovers, at that. Without any sort of allegiance to any particular style of scone (American, British, Irish, etc.) we can give it to you straight: scones are basically just sweet biscuits. Beyond that, you’ll find a lot of variations recipe to recipe. In the U.K. scone recipes usually are made with less sugar and butter than our American scones. Brits tend to like their scones less-sweet so that they can load them up with jam after baking and not have them be overly sweet. Meanwhile, we Americans tend to like our scones sweeter and often studded with goodies—raisins, orange peel, currants, even chocolate chips, or in this case, the simple nutty flavor of quick oats.

Our Super Special Secret Scone Ingredient.

So, the time for honesty it upon us. The reason this is the best scone recipe ever is because it has a super special ingredient that ensures that the scones come out moist and super tender every time. Ours is not just a regular old scone recipe—ours is a scone recipe with YOGURT in it. Oh yes. Have you Heard? Yogurt is a baker’s best friend. Here are a few reasons that we love to bake with yogurt:

• Acidity! Yogurt is a bit acidic, and therefore it react with your chemical leaveners — in the case of this scone recipe, that means both the baking soda and baking powder. It actually increases their lift-giving, resulting in that fluffy, airy scone texture that we crave.

• Moisture! Adding dairy to baked goods is a tried-and-true way to add tenderness and moisture. Use full-fat yogurt, and don’t use Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt has been strained (meaning a lot of moisture has been strained out if it) and in this case you want all of the moisture of traditional American-style plain or vanilla yogurt.

How to Make Scones

Scones are easy to love. It just so happens that they can also be easy to make, if you’ve got the right recipe and a few useful tips. That’s where we come in! Our scone recipe is easy, but knowing a few things before you begin will make it even easier. You’ll begin—just as you would with biscuits—by cutting the butter into your dry ingredients. This is easily the most important step, and the place where you need to follow a few key baking rules. Here’s what you need to know:

1. COLD is your best friend. Cold butter, cold hands. If you’re someone with chronically icy-cold hands, guess what? In terms of scone-making, that’s a REALLY good thing! You can cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, but you can also use your hands. Not only is it fun to get your hands dirty, we find it to be the easiest way to ensure that you don’t accidentally over-mix your dough.
2. BUT. Allow us this one caveat—if you tend to run hot, and have warm hands, don’t use them to mix the dough! If you’re a warm-handed person, use a pastry cutter, a fork, or a couple of knives to mix the dough. The goal is to keep the butter as cold as you can during mixing.
3. Whichever method of butter-incorporation you choose, as you mix your scone dough just remember one key guiding rule—don’t over-mix. Every time you incorporate an ingredient—first folding in the yogurt, then the oats—remind yourself to have a light touch, and mix until just combined. That’s the real secret to perfectly-tender oatmeal scones.

Tools You’ll Need:

• Mixing bowl.
• A pastry cutter is really useful, but you can also use a fork, or two butter knives.
• Baking sheet.
• Parchment paper.

Other Breakfast Pastry Recipes We Love.

The ACTUAL best part of waking up is eating dessert and calling it breakfast.

• Cardamom Rolls with Almond Glaze
• Eggnog Pull-Apart Bread
• Mom's Zucchini Bread Muffins
• Dairy Free Cinnamon Rolls

Best Scone Recipe Ever?

We hope that our oat scone recipe was as big of a smash in your home as it always is in ours. Snap a photo of your scones, and maybe even a video of the beautiful people you shared them with. Tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper. Happy eating!