Apple Pie Scones
Flaky, moist scones filled with tart apple slices and flavored with cinnamon and an apple reduction for the perfect apple pie taste.
Flaky, moist scones filled with tart apple slices and flavored with cinnamon and an apple reduction for the perfect apple pie taste.
Apple Pie Scones
Apple pie for breakfast anyone? My answer: hellayeah! I wish I could tell you I remembered how I got this idea but I don’t except that it’s fall and pie season is around the corner and I already have a ton of apples in my kitchen. Oh and also, I’m cider obsessed. I initially created this recipe with some reduced cider (which you’ll hear me talk about a lot on this blog) but found a way to make these taste just like apple pie without it, with all the apple pie components!
Making scones you actually want to eat
This recipe is more or less based on my babka scones (wildly popular, already!). Sometimes I make something, score success and then I get a little obsessed with it and make several different versions. Tbh, I have never been a huge scone person, but the base for my babka scone recipe was so good I have been using it and making scones about twice a week. A good scone is one that is both moist and has crunchy edges but also has a really good complex flavor (instead of merely dotting it with blueberries, ya know?).
Scones that taste like Apple Pie
And these, wow, these come in hard and fast with the flavor and the texture. There’s vanilla and there’s cinnamon but also we’re going to pull the flavor from the apples themselves and add it to the dough. I do this by macerating the apples in sugar, straining them then reducing the liquid into a syrup. Beyond just having apples and cinnamon, this is what truly makes these scones earn the ‘apple pie’ title.
I had initially flavored these with reduced cider (SO GOOD) but after letting the apples soften I saw the liquid that had gathered at the bottom and decided to use that instead for a few reasons, a. you don’t have to pull out another ingredient or add a step for the recipe, b. the liquid was already there so might as well make use of it, and c. not everyone has access to fresh apple cider so this would be a world-friendly recipe.
How to make scones that are both moist and flaky
To do this you need a balance of butter, heavy cream and eggs.
Flaky: Butter melts in the oven it puffs up and helps create those flaky layers that you find in biscuits, croissants and any laminated dough. A few notes about how to incorporate butter:
- Make sure it’s very cold when you add it to the dry ingredients. I remove mine from the fridge, cut it into cubes and then set it back in the fridge or freezer until the moment I need it.
- Use a pastry cutter to cut it into the flour and you don’t want giant chunks but you also don’t want it to disappear into the dough, pea sized is perfect.
- Layer the dough on top of itself a few times. I’ll ask you to roll it out, fold it over, then repeat twice more. This helps create more layers of butter which melt, puff up and make the scones flaky.
Moist: This is the work of the fat from the heavy cream and the egg(s). I used to make scones sans egg but found that while flaky, they were pretty dry within a few hours.
Apple Pie Filling: Soft or Crunchy Apples?
This is a debate isn’t it? Depending on how you like the apples in your filling that’s how long you will macerate the apples. I like to leave mine for a few hours so that I get just a little bit of crunch post-bake. Leaving them longer also releases more of the juice from the apples which we’ll concentrate into a syrup to add it to the dough. If you want them super crunch, leave them about an hour.
Also, how you cut the apples will have an effect on how long they take to soften and release juices. I use a mandolin for very thin slices.
Can I double the recipe?
Absolutely! In fact I recommend it. Since these need to freeze before they are baked, you can keep them in the container in the freezer for a month or more, and whenever you feel like having one – pop it into the oven!
Why should I freeze scone dough before baking?
Simply because they bake better! They’ll hold shape and this also goes back to the butter, very cold or frozen butter will melt in the oven rather than at room temp to create those flaky layers. In the case of this dough or my babka scones there’s another reason to freeze the log: clean cuts so you get that gorgeous, clean view of all the layers.
How to get crunchy tops on scones
This is pretty simple: while they are still frozen (so, when your oven is preheated and right when you remove them from the freezer), brush heavy cream on top of the dough and sprinkle the sugar. I use an organic sugar and sprinkle liberally to get a really crunchy matte look on the top. The heavy cream freezes quickly atop the frozen dough so brush a few, then sprinkle the sugar, and repeat.
How to make Apple Pie Scones
- Macerate the apples with sugar and flavorings
- Whisk dry ingredients together, cut in butter
- Add wet ingredients and form into a ball
- Roll out the dough, fold over and repeat
- Spread drained apples, roll up into a log.
- Freeze, slice. Freeze, bake.
Ingredient Information & Substituions:
- Apples: I used Granny Smith apples; most traditional to apple pie. I think a tart, firm apple is best for this recipe. Slice them really thin, a mandoline slicer does wonders.
- Brown Sugar: Light brown but dark could also work. Granulated would be fine too but you’ll miss the caramel, molasses taste you only get from brown.
- Heavy Cream: The fat from the heavy cream contributes to the moistness of these. You may substitute with light cream if necessary.
- Eggs: Add moisture to the dough. Guessing that a flax egg could work – have not tried it though.
- Butter: creates flavorful flaky scones. A signature ingredient. No substitutions.
- Baking powder: for leavening the scones. No substitutes.
- Reduced apple cider: fresh cider that has been boiled into a concentrated ‘syrup’. If you don’t have it, you can drain the liquid from the apples after they have macerated and cook it to remove some of the water.
Recipe for Apple Pie Scones
Glaze recipe: whisk together 1 cup organic powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon reduced cider, 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream or milk. Thicken as needed with powdered sugar, if it’s too thick add more heavy cream.
Apple Pie Scones
Ingredients
Filling
- Two small apples thinly sliced (210g of slices)
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- Sprinkle of salt squeeze of lemon, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Dough
- 2 1/2 cups flour 270g
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter 113g, very cold and cut into cubes
- 2 tablespoons reduced liquid (see instructions)
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon if desired
Method
- In a bowl, combine the apple slices and brown sugar. Add a sprinkle of salt, a squeeze of lemon and some cinnamon (½ tsp is what I use). Let the apple slices macerate for 2-6 hours, depending on how soft you want them (the longer they sit the softer they get).
- Once the apples are soft, you’ll see a liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Strain the apples and set them aside. Pour the liquid into a pan and cook on medium until it's reduced to a few tablespoons.
- Whisk together 2 tablespoons of the reduced juice, heavy cream, egg and vanilla.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon if using. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until you the butter is pea sized. Pour in the liquid ingredients and combine with a rubber spatula until the dough comes together in a ball. Use your hands to bring it together.
- Sprinkle flour onto your work surface and flatten the dough into a thick rectangle. Roll it out into a rectangle to about ½ inch thickness. Spread the drained apples all over the dough, leaving a border.
- Roll up the dough into a log from the shorter side, try not to have a too thick log otherwise it will take longer to bake in the oven and the bottoms will over-bake.
- Slice the log into V shapes, you’ll have about 9 scones. Set on the parchment paper with space between each scone. Return to freezer for at least an hour to completely freeze scones.
- Preheat oven to 400 F. Brush the top of the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle sugar on top, if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden on the bottom.
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These were so delicious and surprisingly easy! Will be making again.
I’ve made these multiple times – single and double batches, eating the same day and baking after weeks in the freezer. They are incredible each time. A labor of love but well worth the effort!!! Wish I had a stash in the freezer now!
I SO wanted to love this recipe. However, there were just a few minor things that could have been just a smidge better. Don’t get me wrong, though, these were still delicious! First of all, I feel like the dough itself could use some spices or something in it… it was a little bit bland for my taste. The apples were also a little hard even though I used baking apples. I have seen some people but them in a saucepan with spices, brown sugar, etc. and flash-cook them to make them a little softer. I baked these for 18 minutes and they were quite done and a bit dry- I’ll bake them for less next time. My last complaint is that quite a bit of the dough came off the apples while they were being baked. I’m not quite sure how to fix that. Also, I would probably add a cinnamon glaze to the top or something like that. The flavor just wasn’t as over-the-top as I usually find in these recipes. Anyway, despite the minor issues we still enjoyed these.
I LOVE these scones. They are so pretty and delicious. I kept them in the freezer and have been baking them off 1 or 2 at a time.
I ended up putting too much liquid in as I first thought you added both the reduced cider and the liquid from the macerated apples, but after rereading, it seems like you either boil down the macerating liquid or use already reduced cider.
Because of this, I was having difficulty getting the centers cooked without burning the bottoms. I finally found a solution… just froze doubled up cookie sheets while the oven was preheating and used both of them when cooking the scones.. In 25 min I had perfectly golden bottoms and cooked through interiors.
I also preferred these with a little salt sprinkled on top with the sugar.
Just to confirm: as with the babka scones, the dough is flattened, filled, rolled into a log, frozen as a log, then sliced into scones which are then frozen again before baking, correct? I really liked that method and I’m pretty sure we’re repeating it here but directions 6 through 7 don’t explicitly mention freezing the log first. Cheers!
You don’t need to freeze this one – I freeze the babka scones because the filling is soft and messy. With the apple it’s not =)
So delicious!!! Love the flaky scone and the layers of apple. The reduced apple cider is where it’s at. Yum!
I made a double batch of these scones, subbing kefir I needed to use up for the cream and also using half wheat flour and half GF flour blend and they still turned out wonderful and flaky. My (pretty picky) brother loves them as does the rest of my family, and the bag of them in the freezer will serve us well for an easy Christmas morning breakfast 😉
Delicious! I used the Silk Heavy Whipping Cream Alternative and regular butter and they turned out just fine!
How much cinnamon goes in the dough?
1-2 teaspoons, it’s optional!
Hi Sam,
The list of ingredients for the dough does not match the directions. Could you please clarify. The directions for the dough call for sugar and cinnamon. Both are not listed in the ingredients for the dough, and of course, I’m in the middle of preparing these yummy scones! Please help!
Hi Joan! The cinnamon is optional, you can add 1-2 teaspoons depending on how much you’d like. The sugar is listed in the ingredients (2 tablespoons!)
Hi! The directions state “In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and salt.” Does the sugar refer to the 2T brown sugar at the bottom of the ingredient list? Or is that brown sugar for the part that states “spread the drained apples along with a bit of sugar (a tablespoon is enough)?”
Hey sam! I made this recipe and loved it, but noticed that the second day they all got kinda soggy. Is it because i didnt bake them long enough? Or too much moisture? They were nice and crispy on the outside the day they were baked, so not sure what went wrong. Maybe it was the way they were stored? Lol idk they still tasted good but don’t want to make the same mistake next time!
Hi Maya! My guess is the apple filling seeped into the outer scone so I don’t think a different storage method would’ve helped here. Also, I wouldn’t make these ahead of time, since they are frozen I’d just bake off what I want for the day and keep the rest in the freezer.
These were so so good. All the best parts of a scone and apple pie that reminds you of coffee cake and a cinnamon roll. I may have hidden these from my family and had one (or two) with my coffee every morning.
You describe them so beautifully that now I want to make them again! Thank you =)
These are SO GOOD. I wanted scones fast so I almost didn’t make these (because of the time to let the apples macerate and the sit in the freezer) but I am so glad I did. Simultaneously crunchy/soft/flakey, and one of the few scone recipes I’ve found that actually still tastes good the next day. I’m going to try mixing up the filling – a bakery near me makes a great pecan frangipane scone, and I think this will work well as a base for something like that!
Isabella, so glad to hear they were worth the effort and the wait! The maceration is really key here, the longer you can leave them the more flavor you get into the dough. Also so funny you mentioned pecan as I was just telling my husband around thanksgiving that I’d like to do a pecan pie twist on these!
I LOVE SCONES. These are the best scones ever!
Hi there,
I was wondering what reduced cider is? And if I can use anything in its place?
Thanks,
Heather
😀 😀 So happy to hear it Gail!