These carrot cake scones are buttery, soft and topped with a vanilla cream cheese glaze. With shredded carrots, pecans, and warming spices like cinnamon, they're the perfect Easter dessert!
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What are Scones?
Scones are a flaky English pastry very similar to American biscuits, however they have a slightly different texture and often have additions like fruits or nuts mixed in.
Scones can be either sweet or savory, but I love these sweet carrot cake scones served with breakfast or brunch!
You might also like these savory cheddar chive scones or these lemon scones!
Ingredient Notes
You just need a few ingredients to make these flaky carrot cake scones!
Pastry Flour - I always use pastry flour or cake flour when making scones so that they have a super light, tender texture. However, all purpose flour will work great if that's all you have!
Butter - I like using frozen grated butter for the flakiest scones!
Egg - Adding egg to scones is what makes them distinct from biscuits. It helps give scones that softer, fluffier texture.
Heavy Cream - Instead of cream you can substitute buttermilk if you have it on hand!
Carrots - It's important to grate fresh carrots yourself for these scones! Pre-grated carrots are very dry and won't add enough moisture to the dough. I use the small side of the box grater for super fine carrot pieces that distribute into the scones nicely.
Nuts - I love adding nuts like pecans or walnuts to carrot cake for added texture! But feel free to leave them. You could also add in ½ cup of raisins or shredded coconut if you prefer.
Warming Spices - These scones are lightly spiced with a combo of cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. You can also substitute 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice instead if you have it on hand!
Cream Cheese - I like to top these carrot cake scones with a simple cream cheese glaze.
The complete list of ingredients and amounts is located in the recipe card below.
How to Make Scones
Place the butter in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before grating. Use a box grater to carefully grate the butter into small pieces. Keep the grated butter in the freezer until you're ready to use it. [If you don't want to use grated butter, just cut the butter into small chunks and keep chilled until ready to use.]
In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, egg, and vanilla extract then set aside.
In a large bowl, add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, and finely chopped pecans and whisk together.
Using the small side of a box grater, finely grate the carrots until you have 1 lightly packed cup.
Add the grated carrots to the flour mixture and toss to coat.
Then add in the frozen grated butter and mix gently in until it's also fully coated in the flour.
Slowly drizzle the wet ingredients over top, combing as you go. Continue mixing until the dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky. If too dry, add in more cream 1 tablespoon at a time.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and gently press into an 8 inch round disc. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 triangles. [You could also form the dough into a metal scone pan instead.]
Place the scones a few inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Place the carrot cake scones in the freezer for at least 30-40 minutes before baking to firm up.
Lightly brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with a little granulated sugar if desired.
While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake at 400°F for 18-24 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
To make the glaze, whisk together the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Slowly add in cream until the glaze is a thick, but pourable consistency.
Drizzle the carrot cake scones with the cream cheese glaze and garnish with more chopped pecans.
Tips for Flaky Pastries
Use cold ingredients! For most baked goods you want to use room temperature ingredients, but for flaky pastries (like scones, biscuits, or pie crust) the ingredients need to be very cold! Keep any butter, eggs, milk, etc. in the fridge until right before you need to use them!
Chill before baking! Chilling the dough for at least 15-20 minutes before baking helps ensure the butter in the dough is nice and cold and helps the pastries hold their shape. Cold dough + hot oven = perfect flaky pastry!
Don't overwork the dough! You want to mix the ingredients until just combined so that there are still distinct pieces of butter in the dough. This is what gives you those buttery, flaky, air pockets!
Measure your flour correctly! It's most accurate to use a kitchen scale, but if you're measuring by volume you want to spoon and level! Fluff up the flour a bit with a spoon, and then spoon flour into the measuring cup. Once it's overflowing, use the back of a knife to level it off. Don't ever pack flour into the measuring cup or you'll end up with way too much! Improperly measured flour can lead to dry, dense baked goods. [Measure cocoa powder the same way!]
Make sure you baking powder is fresh! Baking powder is important for helping certain baked goods rise properly, but it has a relatively short shelf life once opened, so it's one of the few items I never buy in bulk! To test if your baking powder is still fresh, add a small amount to boiling water. If it bubbles it's still good to use, but if not it's time to toss it!
Use an oven thermometer! Just because your oven says it's 350, doesn't mean it is! If you oven hasn't been calibrated recently, it can be as much as 30 degrees off, which will negatively affect all baked goods from cakes to macarons! An oven thermometer is the easiest/cheapest way to ensure your oven is always at the proper temperature. Some ovens also take longer than the standard "preheat" time to actually come up to the proper temperature.
Recipe FAQ's
These carrot cake scones are best eaten the same day, but they'll keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also reheat scones in the oven at 350°F for 5-10 minutes.
Yes! After cutting the dough into triangles, place on a baking sheet and flash freeze them for 1 hour. Once firm, transfer to an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months (I love using vacuum seal bags for this). Remove the carrot cake scones from the freezer and place on a parchment lined baking sheet and let sit at room temperature while the oven preheats. Brush with cream and sprinkle with sugar before baking. You may need to increase the baking time to 22-25 minutes.
To make mini scones, divide the dough in half and form in to 2 5-inch discs. Cut the disks in to 6 small triangles to yield 12 mini carrot cake scones (you can also use a mini scone pan). Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
Tips for Success!
For best results I always recommend using weight measurements (especially when baking) because it's the most accurate. Kitchen scales are super affordable and also reduce the number of dishes you have to do! However, all my recipes also include US customary measurements for convince. Use this chart to convert measurements for common ingredients!
Substitutions: In all my recipes, I've included substitutions that I know will work, but I cannot guarantee results if you substitute ingredients that I have not recommended. [For example, granulated sugar and honey are indeed both sweeteners but they have very different properties so they can not always be swapped 1:1. Using honey in a cookie recipe that calls for granulated sugar will yield a giant mess.] In the recipe card you'll find links to the specific ingredients/brands that I use.
A note on salt: I almost exclusively use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt because it's the best all-purpose salt for cooking and baking. If you're not using kosher salt, consult this handy guide for a conversion chart! When in doubt, if you're using table salt just reduce the amount by half for baked goods. When cooking, I prefer to under-salt because you can always add more! If you've over-salted, adding a little bit of acid (like lemon juice) can help.
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Recipe Card
Carrot Cake Scones
Special Equipment
Ingredients
Scones
- ½ cup unsalted butter, frozen and grated
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups pastry flour, substitute all purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped
- 1 cup grated carrots
Cream Cheese Glaze
- 1 ounce cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed
Instructions
- Place the butter in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before grating. Use a box grater to carefully grate the butter into small pieces. Keep the grated butter in the freezer until you're ready to use it. [If you don't want to use grated butter, just cut the butter into small chunks and keep chilled until ready to use.]
- In a small bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, egg, and vanilla extract then set aside.
- In a large bowl, add in the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground ginger, and finely chopped pecans and whisk together.
- Using the small side of a box grater, finely grate the carrots until you have 1 lightly packed cup.
- Add the grated carrots to the flour mixture and toss to coat.
- Then add in the frozen grated butter and mix gently in until it's also fully coated in the flour.
- Slowly drizzle the wet ingredients over top, combing as you go. Continue mixing until the dough just comes together. The dough will be slightly sticky. If too dry, add in more cream 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and gently press into an 8 inch round disc. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 8 triangles. [You could also form the dough into a metal scone pan instead.]
- Place the scones a few inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Place the carrot cake scones in the freezer for at least 30-40 minutes before baking to firm up.
- Lightly brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with a little granulated sugar if desired.
- While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Bake at 400°F for 18-24 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
- To make the glaze, whisk together the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Slowly add in cream until the glaze is a thick, but pourable consistency.
- Drizzle the carrot cake scones with the cream cheese glaze and garnish with more chopped pecans.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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