Lemon Rosemary Scones (2024)

These flaky Lemon Rosemary Scones are made with fresh rosemary and lemons, and they’re topped with a tangy lemon glaze. They’re slightly buttery, tender, and so moist. One of my favorite scone recipes for brunch!

Christmas is just days away, and while I’m incredibly behind on my Christmas shopping, I have my Christmas menu planned to a T. #priorities

Usually we do a big Christmas morning brunch with all of the works, and we’re creature of habits so we often do our usual: eggs, bacon, cinnamon cake, french toast casserole, cinnamon rolls, etc.

This year though, I’m planning on changing things up just a bit. Instead of eggs we’ll do a frittata. My favorite classic cinnamon rolls might be switched up for these pumpkin butter ones. And I will 1000% for sure be adding these Lemon Rosemary Scones to the menu.

Who wants to join our family for Christmas morning breakfast?? 😂

Scones have been one of my favorite baked items for years—if they’re baked properly. 😉 If you’ve spent a little time around here, you know just how much I love these babies!

For those who don’t really like scones, the general consensus is that they’re dry, crumbly, and a little tasteless. To be fair, a lot of scone recipes are this way.

However, scones don’t have to be this way. With the right ratio of ingredients, homemade scones can be tender, flaky, and sweet. And these Rosemary Lemon Scones? They’re incredibly flavorful, have the perfect texture, and are perfectly moist.

Like my favorite Orange Cream Scones, Cranberry Orange Scones, and Raspberry Almond Scones, these are so easy to make, almost impossible to mess up, and would make the perfect addition to any Christmas table.

Lemon and rosemary is one of my favorite flavors. I love that these two flavors can be both sweet or savory, depending upon how much sugar you add to the recipe.

This recipe for these Lemon Rosemary Scones is sweet, not savory. Not only is there sugar in the dough, these are also topped with a sweet and tangy lemon glaze. The subtle sweetness makes these the perfect addition to brunch or afternoon tea.

If you love a lemon shortbread, I’m fairly confident you’ll love these lemon scones. With the addition of rosemary, these are perfectly festive for the holiday season! And if you don’t love rosemary? You can totally make these lemon scones with rosemary or without!

Ingredients

• Granulated Sugar
• Lemon Zest
• Rosemary
• All Purpose Flour
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Unsalted Butter: Unsalted butter lets you control the salt content in your baked goods. I use it almost every single time.
• Egg
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Lemon Juice
• Powdered Sugar

A lot of these ingredients you probably already have on hand, which is part of the reason why I love baking scones so much. They’re simple to make–both ingredients-wise and baking skills-wise.

How To Make From Scratch:

Step 1: Mix sugar, lemon zest, and rosemary together. The sugar brings out the oils from the lemon zest and rosemary, which adds extra flavor to the scones.

Step 2: Add flour, baking powder, and salt to the lemon rosemary sugar, and mix together.

Step 3: Cut in cold and cubed butter, and work it into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Step 4: Whisk together heavy cream and egg together.

Step 5: Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix until the dough just comes together.

Step 6: Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and pat into a circle. Cut into 8 triangles and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Step 7: Brush each lemon rosemary scone with heavy cream before baking.

Step 8: Bake the lemon rosemary scones until they’re golden brown.

Step 9: Whisk lemon juice, lemon zest, and powdered sugar together and drizzle the glaze over the top of each scone. Sprinkle with extra lemon zest and rosemary, if desired.

Storage Tips:

Store these in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple of days, or store them in the fridge in an airtight container.

If you plan to freeze, I suggest freezing them without the glaze. Let them thaw in the fridge overnight, or heat them in the microwave, or reheat them in the oven. Then add the lemon glaze.

Make Ahead Tips:

If you need to make this lemon rosemary scone recipe ahead of time, there are a couple of options:

• -Make the dough and cut it into triangles. Freeze the unbaked scones in an airtight container. Once ready to bake, you can bake them from frozen, or you can let them thaw in the fridge overnight and then bake.
• -Or, you can bake the scones and freeze them baked (like mentioned earlier). Once ready to eat, let them thaw and reheat in the oven or the microwave. Then top with the glaze.

Quick and Easy Tips for Making the Best Lemon Rosemary Scones:

• Sugar: Rub the lemon zest and rosemary into the sugar. You might be tempted to skip this step, but it really is important not to because it adds extra flavor. The sugar releases the oils of the lemon zest and rosemary, which will make the scones significantly more flavorful.
• Brush with Cream: Brushing the scones with cream will give them a nice color on top as they bake. You can use an egg wash instead, if you’d prefer.
• Lemon Glaze: You don’t have to top the rosemary lemon scones with lemon glaze, but I highly suggest it. It adds extra sweetness and it locks in the moisture of the scones.
• Shape: I like to pat the dough into a circle and cut into triangles, but you can cut the scones in squares, use a biscuit cutter to cut the scones into circles, or you can make them mini scones by cutting the scones into squares and then cutting those squares into triangles.
• Lemon Zest and Rosemary: Make sure you truly measure. Often times it feels like you’ve zested enough lemons, but you may not have enough. Additionally, you can definitely use more than what is stipulated in the recipe, if desired. However, you don’t want to overpower the flavors either.

In the words of Julia Child (with a couple liberties taken): Lemon Rosemary Scones – Bon Appetit!

Here are some other lemon recipes:

Lemon Bundt Cake

Lemon Donuts

Lemon Meringue Pie

Classic Lemon Bars