Date Scones

These Date Scones are incredibly fluffy and packed full of sweet dates! Perfect with butter or some jam and cream.

Scones are the perfect match to a slow weekend at home. Whether you’re whipping up a batch of these date scones to enjoy for brunch or to serve to guests with coffee, this is the only recipe you need!

Easy Date Scones

There are good scones and there are bad scones, this recipe will definitely make you the good kind! You can also find my English Scone and Cheese Scone recipe here.

There are a few tips and tricks to follow to make sure you don’t end up with hard rocks, like folding the dough but it’s super simple and easy I promise!

Why these are the BEST Date Scones

• Light, fluffy, and flakey
• Never dry!
• Simple and easy recipe to follow
• Packed with Dates

What are Dates?

Dates are a sweet dried fruit. They have become super popular in recent years in bliss balls and other products, as they are super sweet and have an almost caramel like flavour.

If you’re looking for other recipes using dates try out my Sticky Date Pudding Recipe with Butterscotch Sauce, one of most favourite dessert recipes!

What is the Secret to Making Good Scones?

• Cold Butter – The cold butter gets worked into the flour, creating a kind of barrier around it so when the scones bake in the oven the butter melts, creating the perfect light flaky texture.
• Cold Milk – Scones are kind of similar to pastry or pie dough and what do you do when you make pie dough? Use ice water and keep everything as cold as possible, the same goes for these scones.
• Folding the Scone Dough – When you mix dough or knead it you create gluten in the flour which turns it chewy like bread. Being careful to not over mix and folding the scone dough over itself creates all these beautiful layers, kind of like laminating pastry while also giving the ingredients a bit more of a mix together.
• Hot Oven – These scones are baked in a really hot oven making them puff up super quickly so they get all the soft pockets of air created by the cold butter.

Date Scones NZ

Date Scones are very popular in New Zealand. You can usually find them in almost every cafe, sitting on the counter under a glass dome. Perfect as a mid morning snack, with coffee of course, warmed up with a little butter.

This recipe makes about 6 cafe sized date scones but you can make them smaller to get 8 or 12 out of the recipe.

Variations

Date and Orange Scones

Add the zest of half an orange to these scones for a citrus hit, the dates and orange pair really well together! Serve with butter or orange marmalade.

Lemonade Date Scone

Lemonade Scones are a super quick and easy scone recipe consisting of self raising flour, lemonade and cream. You can find a recipe for my lemonade scones here, add 1 1/2 cups of dates to the recipe to get lemonade date scones.

Buttermilk Date Scones

The milk in this recipe can be switched out for buttermilk to make buttermilk date scones. The buttermilk will give the scones a hint of tanginess and make them super soft. I will only do this if I have buttermilk that needs using up.

Date Scone Ingredients

• 3 Cups / 375g Flour
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 5 Tbsp / 75g Butter
• 1 1/2 Cups Pitted Dates
• 1 Cup / 250ml Milk

How to Make Date Scones

Preheat the oven to 220C / 420F and line a baking sheet with non stick paper.

In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Give it a quick mix together with a wooden spoon.

Cut the cold butter cubes. Add it to the dry ingredients and use a pastry cutter or your finger tips to work the butter into the flour.

What we’re doing here is getting all of the flour coated in the butter, this creates the kind of fluffiness and flakiness that makes a really good scone. It also slows down the flour from forming gluten as we don’t want a chewy bread like texture to them.

Cut the dates in half and add to the bowl. Mix to combine.

Pour in the milk and use the wooden spoon to form a dough.

When a dough has formed, make sure not to over mix here, turn it out on to a floured work surface. Using a dough scraper or your hands fold it over itself a few times, this is really easy with a dough scraper, incorporating any of the dry bits. We don’t want to knead it as that will make the scones tough.

Roughly shape the dough into a rectangle, about 20cm or 8″ long and 10cm or 4″ wide. It doesn’t need to be exact. Use a dough scraper or a knife to cut the dough into 6 or 8 scones.

Place on the lined tray and brush the tops of the date scones with milk. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until puffed up and golden brown.

Cool on the baking sheet for 20-30 minutes before serving.

How to Serve Date Scones

• Simple with a little butter
• Jam and Whipped Cream
• Marmalade

FAQ

How do you know when scones a fully baked?

The date scones are fully baked after about 20-25 minutes. They should have puffed up and turned a golden brown on top.

If you make 8 or 12 smaller scones instead of 6 they will need less time in the oven, only about 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on them and take them out of the oven when they’re golden brown.

How to Store Scones

These Date Scones will keep fresh for 2-3 days but they are best served the day you make them. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature and warm up in the oven or microwave to freshen them up before serving.

Should you put egg in scones?

You can add egg to scones but they really don’t need it. The base recipe for these scones are english which don’t contain eggs. This makes the dough more flakey and less cake like.

How do I get my scones to rise and be fluffy?

Follow the tips and tricks above to get the best scones! Make sure to measure all the ingredients well, don’t overwork the dough and cook them in a hot oven!

Do I have to use Dates?

If you don’t like dates you can leave them out of this recipe! Other options are my Best Ever Cheese Scones or my English Scones.

More Scone Recipes

• English Scones
• Best Ever Cheese Scones