Triple Cinnamon Scones

With cinnamon filling and cinnamon chips inside, and cinnamon-scented glaze (or cinnamon-sugar) outside, these moist, aromatic scones are a cinnamon-lover's dream come true.
Ingredients
Scones
- 2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into pats
- 1 cup cinnamon sweet bits or cinnamon chips
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup half & half or evaporated milk
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Filling
- 3/4 cup Baker's Cinnamon Filling*
- 3 tablespoons water
- *for an alternative to Baker's Cinnamon Filling, see tips from our bakers below
Glaze
- 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 7 tablespoons water
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Work in the butter just until the mixture is unevenly crumbly; it's OK for some larger chunks of butter to remain unincorporated. Stir in the cinnamon chips or bits.
- Whisk together 1/2 cup of the half & half or milk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together. Add up to 3 additional tablespoons half & half or milk, if necessary, to bring the dough together.
- Scrape the dough onto a well-floured work surface. Pat/roll it into a rough 9" square, a scant 3/4" thick. Make sure the surface underneath the dough is very well floured. If necessary, use a giant spatula (or the biggest spatula you have) to lift the square, and sprinkle more flour underneath.
- Spread the filling over the dough. Fold one edge into the center and over the filling, as though you were folding a letter. Fold the remaining edge over the center to complete the three-fold. You'll now have a rectangle that's stretched to about 4" x 12". Gently pat/roll it to lengthen it into a 3" x 18" rectangle; it'll be between 3/4" and 1" thick.
- Cut the rectangle into six 3" squares. Transfer the squares to a lightly greased (or parchment-lined) baking sheet. Now you have a choice. For large scones, cut each square in half diagonally to make a triangle; you'll have 12 scones. For medium scones, cut each square in half diagonally again, making four triangular scones from each square. Separate the scones just enough to break contact between them.
- You may also choose to make scone strips, or tiny squares. Cut each 3" square into three 1" x 3" rectangles, for a total of 18 scone strips. Or cut each 3" square into nine 1" squares, to make 54 bite-sized mini scones.
- For best texture and highest rise, place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. While the scones are chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Bake the scones for 16 to 20 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven, and allow the scones to cool right on the pan. Once they're cool, cut the scones along their demarcation lines and separate them.
- Make the glaze by stirring together the sugar, cinnamon, and water. If the sugar seems particularly lumpy, sift it first, for an extra-smooth glaze.
- Now you're going to coat each scone with glaze. You can dip each one individually, which is quite time-consuming. Or line a baking sheet (with sides) with parchment, and pour about half the glaze atop the parchment. Set the scones atop the glaze, swirling them around a bit to coat their bottoms. Then drizzle the remaining glaze over the top. Use a pastry brush to brush the glaze over each scone, to coat it entirely. The glaze is very thin, so this is easily done.
- Transfer the scones to a rack set over parchment, to catch any drips. As you pick each scone up, run its sides over the glaze in the bottom of the pan, both to use up some of the extra glaze, and to make sure all sides are coated. Allow the glaze to set before serving the scones.
- Yield: one dozen triangles, 5" x 3"; 2 dozen triangles, 2 1/2" x 3"; 18 strips, 4" x 1 1/2"; or 54 mini (1 1/2") squares.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size 127g
- Servings Per Batch 12
Amount Per Serving:
- Calories 440
- Calories from Fat 130
- Total Fat 14g
- Saturated Fat 9g
- Trans Fat 1g
- Cholesterol 25mg
- Sodium 280mg
- Total Carbohydrate 76g
- Dietary Fiber 1g
- Sugars 53g
- Protein 4g
* The nutrition information provided for this recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information.
Tips from our bakers
- For a thicker, spreadable icing, mix together 3 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 3 to 4 tablespoons milk. Spread/drizzle over the scones.
- To substitute for our baker's cinnamon filling, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar with 2 tablespoons cinnamon and 3 tablespoons cornstarch, and sprinkle the mixture over the dough. You may finish the scones according to the recipe instructions, but we recommend cutting them into 12 larger (rather than medium or bite-sized) triangles. Cutting the scones any smaller will result in a lot of the sugary filling falling out of them.
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Reviews
I've baked these scones many times now and love, love, love this recipe! I make larger scones and do not have a problem with the sugar staying inside the scone. I also add 2 drops of YL Cinnamon essential oil to my milk & egg mixture which gives the scones an extra zap of cinnamon. I make the dough ahead of time, freeze them, and bake however many I need. Always fresh scones!
I printed this recipe a year ago, but I couldn't find cinnamon chips in the store. finally found them and tried this recipe.. I can't tell you how good this recipe is. It is easy to make, the directions are so clear on the how to make them. I like these scones better than the ones I get from Panara Bread. They are fantastic. As a matter of fact, any recipe from King Arthur flour that I have tried has been fantastic. King Arthur is the only brand of flour that I buy, because of it being a non gmo product. I get the organic when I can find it. I do have trouble getting the self rising flour though. I have to go across town to fresh market to find it in the store. (I make the recipe for King Arthur biscuits as much as my diet allows me to). Another great recipe. I was never able to make a descent biscuit until I tried King Arthurs recipe from the flour bag. Anyway, Love the scones. Thanks King Arthur, I am branching out to try new and exciting recipes because of you.
I love making these scones. Lots of fun to make and they are always enjoyed! When I pulled up the recipe tonight to make them, the alternate for the bakers cinnamon filling is no longer available. How disappointing! While I would usually give this recipe 5 stars, I am giving it one star to protest not being able to make it without the specialized ingredient.We're glad you shared your concern with us, Karen. We're happy to make the information for the DIY version of the cinnamon filling available here, but we'd also like to take a minute to explain why it was removed. We've heard from a handful of bakers who had trouble with the cinnamon-sugar filling running out of their scone dough and making a big mess on the baking sheet (essentially burning in the oven). The Baker's Cinnamon Filling has other ingredients added to it to make it a more stable filling, which ensures better results. We want you to have the best baking experience with this recipe, so we therefore recommend using the Baker's Cinnamon Filling. However, if you've had success with the make-your-own-filling in the past, here are the instructions: substitute 4 tablespoons softened butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon. Omit the water. We hope that helps! Kye@KAF
Had to throw them away. Filling melted and burned in pan, burning bottoms of scones.We're sorry to hear that you had such a disappointing bake! In response to your feedback and that of other bakers, we have made a few revisions to this recipe to help bakers avoid this potential pitfall. For one thing, we highly suggest using the Baker's Cinnamon Filling for the "filling", as it has thickening properties that can't be achieved with butter, sugar, and cinnamon alone. We've also adjusted the wording to "separate the scones just enough to break contact between them", rather than pulling them fully apart. This should help to contain the filling a bit as well while they bake. Hope this makes for some happier baking! Mollie@KAF
Have made this recipe multiple times. With KA chips and with other brands. I've never used KA filling, but will this time. Every time, they've been raved about and don't last even 48 hours. I do add some extra cinnamon here an there. I leave some scones naked, do some with a drizzle of the icing, some with the icing just on top, some completely covered with icing, and some with a cinnamon sugar coating. All of them disappear way too fast.
I made these this morning, with a few adjustments, and they were so good! I didn't have cinnamon chips so I added about 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon to the dry ingredients. I also didn't have the baker's filling and made half the amount of the suggested filling WITHOUT the water as per others' comments. I froze the shaped scones overnight and baked for 12 minutes and they turned out perfect. Will make these again but with cinnamon chips or even chocolate added in :)
These taste quite good, like a cinnamon roll, but had some issues. I froze the prepared scones for the recommended 30 min but the substitute filling melted out all over the pan and over-saturated the bottom half of the scone. My feeling is that there is far too much butter in the substitute filling. Next time I will try brushing about 1T of melted butter onto the square of dough and then sprinkling the cinnamon & brown sugar mixture on top. I also got almost no rise in the scone and the layers ended up quite thin.Though it looked nearly identical to the image, it was dense and close textured. I made it to recipe but I normally substitute buttermilk for cream when making scones and I think I'll try that with this recipe next time. I will also try a single layer of filling in the center between two thicker layers of scone. A final issue, the thicker glaze for spreading had almost no flavor, I added 1/2 t of vanilla and it made all the difference.Hi California baker, we're sorry to hear your butter leaked all over your baking sheet. This tends to happen when your oven is a bit too low--in these instances, the butter melts and seeps out of the dough instead of creating steam to help the scone rise and the structure set. Next time try pre-heating your oven for 15 minutes longer to ensure it's nice and hot, and you can also try your suggestion of using a simpler filling with less butter. Additionally, we recommend checking out the article on our blog called "Filled scones: the easiest way to stuff a scone." It includes some tips about preparing the dough that might give you a better overall texture next time. We hope this helps! Kye@KAF
After finally understanding scones by watching the KA scones and biscuit video, I took on this recipe. My store was out of KA AP flour and I refused to buy another brand, so I used KA cake flour gram for gram. I made the cinnamon filling recipe just substituting coconut sugar for the brown sugar, because I like the flavor...again gram for gram. I felt the dough was a bit dry and took a while to pat out to shape and of course folding it was a crumbling mess but the end result worked out just fine. I brushed the tops with cream and egg wash and kept the scones close together for additional moisture. Now thanks to another reviewer, I knew not to add the water if I was making the filling recipe. It turned out crumb like and I just sprinkled it evenly on top of the dough once in the square shape and patted it in the dough. That being said there was a lot of filling oozing out even though I kept the scones close together. I did find however, that once cooled on the pan, it was easy to clean up the scones with my bench knife and I had some crisp edged triangles which held together easily and I put them on a fork and dipped them into the glaze for coating with only one breaking in half (oh well, that was the tester lol). They were moist and flakey (thanks to the video!)...a bit too sweet for me but I still thought they were fantastic. I might try the next batch with just a drizzle of glaze instead of dipping but I would be concerned if they would stay moist without the coating of glaze. All in all a great recipe and a keeper. If you have any issues making scones I highly recommend the video available on craftsy dot com.
These are amazing! I will definitely make them again. Several reviewers said the filling was too runny and I think it is because the alternate filling recipe looks like it's cinnamon, brown sugar, butter and water, but the water is only for the original filling. I made this mistake and it was runny so I added about a tablespoon of cornstarch and that helped it to firm up in the oven. Next time, I will omit the water.
I'm famous for making these, having done so for at least 10 years! The only change I make is to add finely chopped pecans to the cinnamon layer. Then I roll them as directed and cut into 24 pieces, place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze. For gifts, I put the frozen, uncooked scones in a freezer zip lok bag with baking directions. That way, recipients have the option of taking out only a few to bake or the entire batch and it's as if they made them theirselves! Oh, btw, I use my food processor to make these and it only takes about 15 minutes total time! That way, I can make up several batches (separately!) at once.