These lovely lemon poppyseed St. Patrick’s Day scones are light, flaky, and absolutely delightful with shamrock-shaped honey butter that’s so easy to make! With a sweet-tart lemon glaze, they’re a perfect recipe for an enchanting St. Patrick’s Day breakfast with family or friends.
St. Patrick’s Day Scones
These scones are part of my St. Patrick’s Day brunch menu every year! I serve them with crispy cauliflower and kale potato hash, sautéed herbed mushrooms, eggs, bacon and seared tomatoes. I also love to include an emerald green “4 Leaf Clover Mimosa” made with ginger, cucumber, green apple and mint!
The shamrock honey butter is so easy to make too! All you need is a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter, butter, honey, and a freezer. They take just 10 minutes to make!
Ingredients
How to Make These Scones Step-by-Step
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. (200 C.),line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat, and chop 1 cold stick (4 oz.) of unsalted butter into smaller pieces so it can warm slightly while you prepare your other ingredients.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2½ cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. kosher (or flake) salt, ⅓ cup sugar, 1 tsp. poppy seeds and ½ tsp. lemon zest. Mix gently. Set aside.
3. In a separate small mixing bowl, combine 1 beaten egg, ⅓ cup lemon juice, ¼ cup heavy cream and 1 tsp. real vanilla extract. Set aside. (You’ll add these ingredients to your dough after you’ve mixed in the butter.)
4. Add your semi-softened butter to the large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix it into the flour until you have a crumbly mixture, allowing a few bits of butter to stay unmixed. This allows nice pockets of butter to form in your scones.
5. Add the contents of your small mixing bowl to the large one, and mix with a spoon until thoroughly combined into a sticky dough.
6. Get your hands nice and floury to make it easier to pick up and roll dough with your hands.
7. You can either loosely roll the scones into a gently flattened ball with 2 heaping tablespoons of dough, or make a larger ball and use a round cookie cutter (or wine glass like I’ve done) to cut them perfectly into thick disks.
8. Place on the baking sheet about an inch apart, and bake scones for 15–20 minutes on the bottom rack. When done, cool for 10 minutes before serving.
To Make the Lemon Glaze
1. In a small mixing bowl, combine ½ cup confectioners sugar, ½ tsp. lemon zest and 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice.
2. Brush glaze onto cool scones with a pastry brush. Refrigerate them for about 5-10 minutes to help the glaze set, and serve.
To Make Shamrock-Shaped Honey Butter
1. In a small bowl, allow 4 oz. salted butter to soften. Add 1 tsp. honey and stir.
2. Place shamrock-shaped cookie cutters on a glass plate or parchment paper, and spoon honey butter into the cookie cutters. Place them in the freezer for about 10 minutes, and they will slide out perfectly!
Common Questions
I used the smallest cookie cutter in this set from Amazon.
You can, but they’ll be a little lackluster. If you don’t want to make a glaze, I highly suggest brushing the scones with a beaten egg and sprinkling them with a little sugar before baking.
They’ll stay perfectly tasty for at least a week. I suggest refrigerating them in a sealed container to keep the glaze from getting sticky, but you can also store them at room temperature.
Either your baking soda or baking powder (or both) is too old, your oven wasn’t hot enough, or you didn’t place them on the top rack – but most likely, it’s an issue with that baking powder or baking soda, in my experience. If they’re older than 18 months, or if they’re in containers that aren’t sealed completely, it’s time toss them.
A Few Tips
1. Use a quality, salted butter.
Even though these scones are flavored with fresh lemon juice, poppy seeds and vanilla, butter is really the star of the show. So make sure to use a quality organic butter or Irish Kerry Gold. I have no affiliation with Kerry Gold, but I’ll sing its praises from the rooftops! I use it 100% of the time for baking. It really makes all the difference.
2. These scones are best-served warm.
If you’re not serving them straight away, simply toast them in an oven at 350 F. (175 C.) for 5-7 minutes to toast them back up again.
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More St. Patrick’s Day Recipes
St. Patrick’s Day Scones
Equipment
- sharp knife
- large mixing bowl
- small mixing bowl
- whisk
- mixing spoon
- large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or Silpat
- pastry brush
- lemon zester
Ingredients
For the Scones
- 1 egg – beaten
- 2½ cups flour – and 2 tbsp. for coating hands
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 4 oz. unsalted butter – softened
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp. real vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. kosher salt – or flake salt
- ⅓ cup white granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. poppy seeds
- ⅓ cup lemon juice – about 3 lemons
- ½ tsp lemon zest
For the Lemon Glaze
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice – about ½ lemon
- ½ tsp. lemon zest
For the Shamrock-Shaped Honey Butter
- 4 oz. salted butter – softened
- 1 tsp. honey
Instructions
For the Scones
- Preheat oven to 400 F. (200 C.), line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat, and chop 1 cold stick (4 oz.) of unsalted butter into smaller pieces so it can warm slightly while you prepare your other ingredients.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine 2½ cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. kosher (or flake) salt, ⅓ cup sugar, 1 tsp. poppy seeds and ½ tsp. lemon zest. Mix gently. Set aside.
- In a separate small mixing bowl, combine 1 beaten egg, ⅓ cup lemon juice, ¼ cup heavy cream and 1 tsp. real vanilla extract. Set aside. (You’ll add these ingredients to your dough after you’ve mixed in the butter.)
- Add your semi-softened butter to the large mixing bowl. Use your hands to mix it into the flour until you have a crumbly mixture, allowing a few bits of butter to stay unmixed. This allows nice pockets of butter to form in your scones.
- Add the contents of your small mixing bowl to the large one, and mix with a spoon until thoroughly combined into a sticky dough.
- Get your hands nice and floury to make it easier to pick up and roll dough with your hands. You can either loosely roll the scones into a gently flattened ball with 2 heaping tablespoons of dough, or make a larger ball and use a round cookie cutter (or wine glass like I’ve done) to cut them perfectly into thick disks.
- Place on the baking sheet about an inch apart, and bake scones for 15–20 minutes on the bottom rack. When done, cool for 10 minutes before serving.
To Make the Lemon Glaze
- In a small mixing bowl, combine ½ cup confectioners sugar, ½ tsp. lemon zest and 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice. Brush glaze onto cool scones with a pastry brush. Refrigerate them for about 5-10 minutes to help the glaze set, and serve.
To Make Shamrock-Shaped Honey Butter
- In a small bowl, allow 4 oz. salted butter to soften. Add 1 tsp. honey and stir. Place shamrock-shaped cookie cutters on a glass plate, and spoon honey butter into the cookie cutters. Place them in the freezer for about 10 minutes, and they will slide out perfectly!
Maureen
Which flour do you use (plain or self raising)
Genevieve Morrison
Just plain flour 🙂