St. Patrick’s Day Scones

2 scones on a plate beside shamrock-shaped butter and a knife.

5 from 2 votes

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 an optional lemon glaze, they’re perfect for an enchanting St. Patrick’s Day lunch with family or friends.

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Cooling Time20

Total Time1

Course: Pastry

Cuisine: Irish

Diet: Kosher

Servings: scones

Calories: 240kcal

Author: Genevieve Morrison

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
1½ inch shamrock-shaped cookie cutter

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!

Notes

You can find the shamrock-shaped cookie cutters I used on Amazon.

These scones will 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.

They're 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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