Search
These Bakery-Style Eggnog Scones are flaky, buttery, and loaded with eggnog flavor! Topped with a sweet eggnog glaze, they’re perfect for Christmas morning! Best served warm, with a cup of coffee or tea!
Eggnog Scone Recipe
Are you an eggnog lover? I have to admit… it’s not my favorite drink. Never has been, and at this point, probably never will be. But I LOVE baking with it!!! It has such a warm, decadent, festive flavor! So during the holiday months, I always stock up so I can create tons of new eggnog recipes for you!
In the past I’ve made eggnog cheesecake, eggnog gingerbread cookies, eggnog French toast, and even eggnog pound cake! And that’s just to name a few!
But my favorite eggnog treat to date has to be these simple eggnog scones. These golden brown beauties are richly spiced and loaded with eggnog flavor. And made with simple ingredients like flour, sugar, baking powder, cold butter, spices, and egg nog.
Cold Butter is KING
If you’ve made my other scone recipes, you already know how I feel about this!
But I’ll say it again because it’s worth repeating: when it comes to making flaky scones, cold butter is your best friend!
And when I say cold, I mean really really COLD!!! Room temperature butter will not do! In fact, I actually suggest you pop your butter in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes before you plan on working it into the scone dough. Especially if your house is very warm or you live in a warm climate. This extra step reduces the risk of the butter softening too much as it’s worked into the dough.
But keep your other ingredients cold too…
In addition, I recommend keeping all of your other ingredients chilled until they’re needed. This includes your eggs, cream, and even your dry ingredients and flour mixture! The colder your ingredients are, the flakier your scones will be! Sometimes I’ll even grate my butter into the dough using the coarse side of a cheese grater!
Don’t skimp on the Baking Powder
This recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of baking powder. Yes, TABLESPOON! This ensures TALL and tender scones! Baking powder should not be substituted for baking soda!
The best way to work the butter in…
In terms of how you work the butter into the dough, you have options! You can use two forks, a pastry cutter, your hands, or a cheese grater. For the last option, you would literally grate the frozen butter into the dry ingredient the larger holes on a box grater. It might feel strange at first, but this is actually my preferred method! It ensure lots and lots of flaky lakers!
The dough will be DRY and shaggy!
The dough will look VERY shaggy and dry when you dump it out. But knead it together for a minute or two and you’ll see quickly it’ll come together. If your mixture won’t come together, you can add a few more tablespoons of eggnog. But this most likely means you packed your flour. Which is why more liquid is needed. To ensure your flour is measure correctly, fluff it up in the bag. Then gently spoon the flour into the measuring cup until it’s heaped over, then use the back of a knife to level it off. Or use a kitchen scale!
Eggnog Scones in 5 Easy Steps:
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees (F). Then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Make sure you preheat your oven about 30 minutes before you plan on baking, so it has time to warm up sufficiently!
- In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. Work the COLD butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
- In a small bowl whisk together the eggnog, egg, vanilla, and bourbon. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until a shaggy dough has been created.
- Pour dough out onto a lightly floured surface and work into a disc. Be patient! This will take a little elbow grease. Once you have your disc, cut into 8 wedges and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown!
Can I make these Gluten Free?
Although I tested these with all-purpose flour, I think a GF cup for cup flour substitute would work well! I’ve had good experience with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour and have heard good things about this Cup for Cup Gluten Free Flour. If you try either, let us know how it goes in the comment section!
More Holiday Eggnog Recipes:
- One-Bowl Eggnog Cupcakes
- Eggnog Pancakes
- Brown Butter Eggnog Snickerdoodle Donuts
- Eggnog Tiramisu Cinnamon Rolls
- Cranberry Eggnog Muffins
Bakery-Style Eggnog Scones
Ingredients
For the Eggnog Scones:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (*not packed)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, VERY cold and cut into tiny pieces
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup eggnog
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons sparkling sugar, optional
For the Glaze:
- 1 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 2 and 1/2 tablespoons eggnog
- 2 teaspoons bourbon (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt, optional but recommended to cut the sweetness
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
For the Eggnog Scones:
- Preheat oven to 425°(F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, mix well to combine.
- Cut the butter into small cubes then, using your fingers, two forks, or a pastry cutter, work it into the dough until it resembles a coarse meal. The chunks of butter should be about the size of peas.
- In a glass measuring cup whisk together the egg, eggnog, and vanilla exact.
- Pour the liquid mixture into the center of the flour mixture. Use a spatula to stir everything together until just moistened. Don't worry if the dough looks dry and shaggy!
- Empty the loose dough out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough together until it's cohesive, then shape it into an 8-inch disc.
- Using a large knife, cut the disc into 8 even wedges and carefully transfer them to the prepared sheet, placing them 2" apart.
- Lightly brush the top of each scone with a little eggnog, then sprinkle with sparkling sugar, if using.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until light golden brown. Allow scones to cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle with glaze (if using), and serve warm!
For the Glaze:
- In a small bowl combine the confectioners' sugar, eggnog, bourbon (if using), vanilla extract, and spices. Whisk until completely smooth. Drizzle over scones.
I made this but subbed the flour out for 1/2 bobs red mill one-to-one gluten-free flour and 1/2 almond flour (the Costco brand). The flavour was subtle, but good. I was a bit disappointed in the texture, though, although it might’ve been because of my swap on the flour. It was just a little too soft and cakey for me / missing that slightly more dense chew that scones often have. But then, I tightly wrapped The leftovers in Saran Wrap then put them in a freezer bag and froze to enjoy in the future. Well, today was the day that I pulled one out and let me just tell you, it was way better frozen! The freezer fixed the texture issue, and the flavours developed way more. Who knew? Just thought I would share as an option for anyone who wants to enjoy these gluten-free what worked for me.
Loved the spice flavors in this scone. Since egg nog has a long shelf life stored in the fridge, I made these with the leftovers. A really nice treat post holiday season.
I was wondering if the recipe is right? The dough was too wet. They turned into flat disks. Good flavor, but not scones. Any help?
Keep adding flour, a tsp at a time, until the dough doesn’t stick. I’m really humid days, I’ve added anywhere up to an additional 1/4 cup of flour. Another trick is to put the dough in the fridge, before you roll it out.
Omg, made these today and they are amazing!! They will be all gone today. Yum!