These light and fluffy lemon and white chocolate scones are flavoured with fresh lemon zest and juice, with bursts of sweet white chocolate chunks throughout. These simple scones are made with basic ingredients and are perfect for last minute baking – enjoy them in just 25 minutes!
With citrus season in full swing and the lemon tree covered in lemons, I am busy using them wherever possible! Classic lemon drizzle cake has been baked on repeat, as have these lemon and white chocolate cookies. The combination of white chocolate and lemon is a favourite of ours, and so I decided to use them together in scones. They were eaten in a matter of minutes, so I knew I had to share the recipe with you! Like my Caramilk scones these scones are sweetened with a couple of spoonfuls of icing sugar – the white chocolate provide all sweetness you need.
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Why we love this recipe
- Made in one bowl these white chocolate chip lemon scones are perfect for whipping up last minute for unexpected guests, hungry kids after school or sports, or for brunch or an afternoon or morning treat with a cup of tea or coffee.
- So simple and feel like a real treat, but much quicker and easier than making muffins or cupcakes.
- These lemon scones are a quick, easy and delicious lemon recipe that satisfy any sweet cravings.
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Ingredient notes and substitutions
Made with simple store cupboard ingredients, if you have a bar of white chocolate or bag of white chocolate chips and a fresh lemon, chances are you have everything you need to bake some scones!
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient quantities.
- Flour – plain flour or all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder – this provides the rise.
- Butter – use a good quality butter as this really makes a difference to both the texture and flavour of the scones. I prefer to use unsalted butter and add a pinch of salt, however if you prefer use salted butter and omit the pinch of salt.
- Icing sugar – also known as confectioners sugar. Use pure icing sugar (not soft icing sugar mixture). The white chocolate is very sweet, so you don’t need to add a lot of sugar to the scone dough itself.
- Lemon zest – finely grated lemon zest adds the majority of the lemon flavour.
- Lemon juice – using fresh lemon juice adds extra lemon flavour.
- Milk – I recommend using whole milk to make scones with. I find they have a more tender texture than those made with lower fat milk / half fat milk.
- Water – adding a little water creates a lighter scone.
- White chocolate – I use roughly chopped white chocolate bars, however you can use white chocolate chips instead.
How to make these white chocolate lemon scones from scratch
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for the full recipe.
- Combine the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt in a large bowl. Add the cold cubed butter and, using your fingertips, lightly rub the butter into the flour until it resembled breadcrumbs. Stir in the lemon zest.
- In a small bowl whisk the milk with the water and lemon juice then pour this into the flour and butter mixture. Gently bring the mixture together.
- Once it starts coming together, add the white chocolate chunks / chips and continue to combine. Use your hands to bring it all together. Place the dough on a lightly floured board and roll out with a floured rolling pin. Don’t roll out too much -otherwise your scones will end up being flat.
- Using a scone cutter, cookie cutter or glass with straight sides, cut out the scones.
- Place them on the lined baking tin almost touching (see the image below). This will help them to rise.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden on top.
FAQ
Overworking the dough creates heavy and dense scones. For this reason, I prefer to make my scones by hand rather than a food processor, as it is harder to overwork the dough.
The best way to tell if scones are cooked is to break one in half. If the centre is moist but not wet, then they are done. If they look doughy then place the scones back in the oven for a few more minutes.
My recipe tips
- Make sure your butter, milk and water are cold.
- Don’t overwork the scone dough – this can make the scones tough.
- Lemon juice – having tested these scones numerous times with varying degrees of lemon juice, I found that the texture of the scones was slightly gummy when the water was completely omitted and all lemon juice used. Whereas using half water and half lemon juice gave extra lemon flavour but kept that lovely light texture.
- Use a cookie cutter or straight edges glass if you don’t have a scone cutter.
- Positioning the scones so they are almost touching on the tray before baking ensures they rise well and keeps the sides of the scones soft and light.
- Preheated oven – it is important to heat the oven before as the scones need a high temperature to help them to rise.
- To reheat scones: Gently reheat the up in a medium oven until warmed through, or in an air fryer for 2-3 minutes at 160˚C / 320˚F. You can also give them a blast in the microwave, though don’t heat them for too long as they can become rubbery.
Serving Ideas
When fresh from the oven we eat these scones like they are muffins, with nothing; however scones can be split open and served spread with a little butter, or some whipped cream or lemon curd.
Make ahead/storage
These scones are best eaten the day they are made, however you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.
To freeze scones – you can freeze the unbaked scones for up to 2 months. Cook from frozen allowing an extra 5-10 minutes cooking time. Freeze baked scones for up to 2 months and defrost in the fridge overnight. Best warmed through before serving.
Variations
- Use orange zest instead of the lemon zest and add dark or milk chocolate in place of the white chocolate.
- Mix a handful of blueberries to the scone batter with – or instead of – the white chocolate.
Why not try…
You may also like these other easy lemon recipes:
Lemon And White Chocolate Scones
Author: Robyn
Equipment
- 1 square 20cm x 20cm / 8" x 8" baking tin
Ingredients
- 340g (2 ¼ c) plain flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 tablespoons icing sugar confectioners sugar
- pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 40g (1 ½ oz) butter cold, cut into cubes
- 150ml (⅔ c) milk
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 80g (3 oz) white chocolate roughly chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200˚C fan / 220˚C / 392˚F convection / 428˚F.
- Line a square 20cm x 20cm / 8" x 8" baking tin with baking paper.
- In a large mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, icing sugar / confectioners sugar and salt and stir to combine.
- Add the cubes of butter and lightly rub the butter in to the flour with your finger tips, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the lemon zest.
- Pour in the milk, water and lemon juice and mix until just starting to come together.
- Add the roughly chopped white chocolate and stir to combine, using your hands to bring it together.
- Roll out the scone dough on a lightly floured wooden board using a lightly floured rolling pin, to a thickness of 3 cm / 1.2".
- Using a 5 cm / 2" scone cutter or round cookie cutter, cut out circles and place on the lined baking tin.
- Gather the scraps of scone dough, lightly bring them to gather and roll out, then repeat until all the dough is used up.
- The scones should just about be touching in the tin – this helps them to rise.
- Place in the preheated oven and cook for 13-15 minutes until lightly golden.
- Cool on a wire rack.
- The scones are best served on the day they are made, however store any leftover scones in a container for up to 2-3 days.
Notes
- Make sure your butter, milk and water are cold.
- Don’t overwork the scone dough – this can make the scones tough.
- Lemon juice – having tested these scones numerous times with varying degrees of lemon juice, I found that the texture of the scones changed when the water was completely omitted and lemon juice used instead. The scones were slightly gummy, whereas using half water and half lemon juice gave extra lemon flavour but kept that lovely light texture.
- Use a cookie cutter or straight edges glass if you don’t have a scone cutter.
- Positioning the scones so they are almost touching on the tray before baking ensures they rise well and keeps the sides of the scones soft and light.
- Preheated oven – it is important to heat the oven before as the scones need a high temperature to help them to rise.
- To reheat scones: Gently reheat the up in a medium oven until warmed through, or in an air fryer for 2-3 minutes at 160˚C / 320˚F. You can also give them a blast in the microwave, though don’t heat them for too long as they can become rubbery.
Nutrition
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