Golden Maple Pecan Scones are flakey, buttery, and tender with a delicious nutty flavor from the toasty pecans and real maple syrup. A fun bake, perfect for special gatherings, and holiday mornings. With a video.
Holy scones, these are good! A bit too good if you ask me. 😉 These Maple Scones are meant for sharing because they are just too tempting to have around. One is perfect. More than one feels over-indulgent. So make a batch for a special gathering, or Christmas morning, or Mother’s Day brunch and if there are any left, send them home with people. But make sure you thoroughly enjoy at least one. A little indulgence is good for the soul.
My husband, Brian, literally begs for these- he loves them so much. The maple glaze truly elevates and brings them over the top. Don’t forget the maple extract for the best maple flavor.
The most common problem with scones is that they can often be heavy, chewy, and not flaky. Read through my chef’s tips for making the best light and flaky scones! Yes, there is a reason we don’t add eggs or use a food processor.
What is the secret to a good scone?
- Use high-quality ingredients: organic pastry flour and organic grass-fed butter. Yes, you can use all-purpose flour, but pastry flour is finer and produces a beautiful texture.
- Don’t use a food processor. You want un-uniform, bigger pieces of butter (some the size of a pea), which is hard to attain with a food processor.
- Use ice-cold butter. You want the butter pieces to stay intact, so they create flaky layers.
- Skip the egg. According to chef Thomas Keller, scones without eggs are lighter, flakier, and rise higher. We gave it a try here and concur- we love the consistency!
- Add the perfect amount of liquid– not too dry, not too wet.
- Don’t overmix them! Overmixing will activate the gluten, making them chewy rather than flaky.
Maple Scone Recipe Ingredients
- Pastry Flour or sub all-purpose Flour (or try mixing in a little spelt, einkorn, etc.)
- Cold butter
- Salt
- Baking soda and Baking powder
- Pecans – lightly toasted
- Full-fat Yogurt, sour cream, or buttermilk
- Half and half – or cream
- vanilla extract
- Maple syrup is used for both the scones and the glaze.
- Maple Extract and powdered sugar for the glaze.
How to make Maple Scones
Preheat the oven to 350F
- Mix dry ingredeints. In a large bowl, stir the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. Slice the cold butter and add it to the bowl. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut the flour into pieces.
Work it with your fingers, so butter is no bigger than the size of a pea. It is good to have different-sized clumps of butter- that’s why I don’t use a food processor here.
Add the toasted pecans and stir (set aside a few pecans for the top.)
3. Stir the wet ingredients together: sour cream or yogurt, half and half, maple syrup, vanilla.
4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients.
Stir to combine.
5. Add a tablespoon of half and half at a time until the mixture just clumps together. Be careful here. Too much cream will make the scone chewy. So add just enough to barely moisten all the flour.
6. Place on a floured surface, and knead just a few times- do not over-knead! Pat into a ball, then flatten into a 7-8″ disk or a 6×9″ rectangle, roughly 1 1/2- 1-3/4 inches high. TIP: Press in a few more pecans into the top to make it pretty.
7. Shore up the edges with a dough scraper or chef’s knife, so the edges are nice and straight, and the disk is the same height from center to edges.
Note: So my dough here has a few cracks in the edges- a sign of slight dryness. Ultimately, you want the dough not to have these, but without being overly wet. It is a fine balance… I get it right about every other time. The dough is forgiving, though.
8. Cut into 8-12 equal pieces.
9. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan, 2-3 inches apart.
10. Bake at 350 until puffed, golden and the internal temp reaches 200-205F. I highly recommend checking the temp- they often look done, when they are not!
Make the Maple Glaze
Mix powdered sugar and maple syrup over heat until just combined. Add maple extract to taste.
Once the scones have cooled 15 minutes, pour, drizzle, or spoon the glaze over top. It will harden as it cools.
And there you have it. Fresh-baked Maple Pecan Scones! Such a treat….. and oh so gratifying to make.
Serving suggestions
Serve with afternoon tea or masala chai for a delicious treat, or make them for a special brunch with coffee or London fog lattes.
Storing Maple Scones
Scones are best served the day they are made! Store leftover scones covered on the counter for 2 days, or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to a week. Scones can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Enjoy them, friends! Have a happy Sunday morning!
xoxo
More Baked Treats!
Watch how to make Maple Scones
Maple Scones Recipe
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: 12
- Category: Baked
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: American
Description
Golden Maple Pecan Scones are flakey, buttery, and tender with a delicious nutty flavor from the toasty pecans and real maple syrup. A fun bake, perfect for special gatherings, and holiday mornings.
Ingredients
- 3 cups pastry flour (or sub-AP flour), spooned and leveled
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup cold butter (12 tablespoons, 1 1/2 sticks, or 6 ounces)
- 1 cup toasted pecans
- 1/2 cup half and half, more as needed
- 1/2 cup sour cream (or buttermilk, kefir or full-fat yogurt)
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Maple glaze:
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon maple extract (or to taste), optional, but delicious!
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven 350 F oven
- In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Cut cold butter into thin slices and add to flour. ( You could also freeze and grate). Using a pastry cutter, or two knives, begin cutting butter into smaller pieces into the flour. Feel free to use your fingers, breaking apart the butter into pieces no bigger than a pea. Having ununiform pieces is nice here. Add the pecans.
- Whisk half and half, sour cream, maple syrup, and vanilla in a small bowl. Stir this into the flour mixture. Give it a few extra stirs, and if needed, add a few splashes of cream ( a tablespoon at a time) until the mixture forms a shaggy ball and all the loose flour is incorporated.
- Place on a floured surface. Give the dough just a few kneads (15 seconds), then form a ball.
- Flatten into a 7-8 inch disk or 6×9 inch rectangle, and shore up the edges, using a dough scraper or chef’s knife- so edges are straight up and down, and the disk is the same thickness throughout. Feel free to tuck more pecans into the top (just for looks).
- Cut into 8-12 equal pieces. Place on a parchment-lined sheet pan, 2-3 inches apart.
- Bake until beautifully golden, puffed and internal temp reaches 200F ( I highly recommend checking). Larger scones may take 30-35 minutes, smaller scones may take 20 minutes. So watch like a hawk!
- While the scones are baking, make the Maple Glaze: in a little pot, heat the maple syrup. When warm, whisk in the powdered sugar until smooth. Add the maple extract and a pinch of salt. Turn off heat, leave on stove.
- When the scones are done, let them cool for 15-20 minutes, then reheat the glaze and spoon a little over each one.
Notes
These are best baked the day of serving, but the dough can be made ahead, shaped into the disk and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Store scones covered on the counter for 2 days, or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to a week. Scones can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
The scones are not sweet- so don’t leave off the glaze- they need it! If you prefer a sweeter scone, feel free to add 2-4 tablespoons of sugar to the flour mixture.
Maple extract really elevates these scones. Use it in the glaze and for even more maple flavor add ¼ teaspoon to the dough as well.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 scone
- Calories: 373
- Sugar: 13.2 g
- Sodium: 188.4 mg
- Fat: 21.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 9.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 42.7 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 4.3 g
- Cholesterol: 39.7 mg
I really wanted to like these scones, but instead of a maple flavor, all there is is an overwhelming sweetness. The texture is great, and the pecans marry well with the sweetness, but I wonder if using maple extract instead of maple syrup in the dough would have been better. The glaze fell short – I added a touch of maple extract but it was very very sweet, with none of the dark amber taste of maple. Not sure what to tweak, except to use buttermilk instead of sour cream to add a little tang to the sweet.
Hi Kate, sorry this didn’t work for you. I always add the optional maple extract in the glaze to bump up the maple flavor. The salt in the glaze matters too. You could try adding some maple extract to the dough too, perhaps ½ teaspoon and cut back on the maple syrup, compensating with more half and half.
I love the scones, however, I am not a fan of too sweet bakes, so left out the maple glaze. Instead, I added your maple-glazed pecans. It adds extra maple flavour and a little crunch.
Perfect, glad you enjoyed these Kazza!
I love the blackberry scone recipe using left over sour dough starter. Now I want to make Maple pecan scones with sour dough starter. Do I substitute the sour cream and 1/2 and half with the same amount of starter ?
any other way you would alter it?
That is what I would do Martha. I haven’t tested it though.
Just made this terrific recipe with some adjustments, turned out beautiful and yummy. Thank you for posting! Adjustments: used 1 cup buttermilk therefore adjusted the b. soda and b. powder to 1 tsp each. Used ~1/3 whole wheat (non-pastry) flour. Cut salt to 1/2-3/4 tsp and used salted butter (what I had on hand). Skipped the maple glaze, instead added ~2 Tbls cane sugar to batter. Did not need parchment paper, did not stick to pan, but does need to be 2-3” apart. Cooked for 25 minutes.
Glad you enjoyed this!
Very very good! Flaky with excellent flavor, and not too sweet. The glaze is a must. I used AP flour and they came out fine.
Glad you enjoyed Lyn!
Hi there, can someone say what a cup is in grams? Thanks!
Lena, it is roughly 120 grams
Amazing scones! I did add an egg as a binder. Used the maple extract in the glaze- took them over the top. Tasted amazing and very tender.
Thanks Denise!
These were amazing. Went perfect with a cup of tea…… not too sweet. Will keep this recipe for the future:)
So glad you enjoyed Teri!
Wow! This recipe is wonderful. I normally make Irish scones but don’t do that very often as I have a heavy hand when it comes to pastry making!
This recipe is easy to follow and delicious. I didn’t have pecans so used toasted walnuts instead. I also added a little grated orange zest to the maple icing.
I used local Vermont maple syrup made by friends up the road. I hope my tea time guests will like this tasty treat.
Thanks Fiona- I like you improvised with walnuts and orange- YUM- and happy you enjoyed! That local maple syrup sounds divine.
These are good but better if you add a farm fresh egg to the wet ingredients. Reduce the cream and yogurt to 1/3 cup each.
Thanks Jane! I’ve done it with the egg too. Tell me, just out of curiosity why you like it with the egg better?
Another amazing recipe!! Beyond delicious! Made theses Christmas morning and everyone truly loved them. Received rave reviews! Great pecan flavor without being too sweet. As always, the directions are perfect and easy to follow. Cannot recommend enough. Thank you!!!
Thanks Susan! So happy you enjoyed these!
Hi Sylvia, would love to try these. Any suggestions for a sub for 1/2 &1/2 or cream that are plant-based please?
Hi Stacy, you could try a plant-based cream? Or make a thick cashew cream? Coconut milk? I’ve tried these with almond milk- and they got chewy. It really needs the “fat” here.
Wow these scones rock. Probably the best scones I’ve had. Awesome recipe
Thanks Eric. I like them too. 😉 enjoy!
Perfect scones. Add the maple extract to the glaze- delish.
Thanks so much!