I'm a cinnamon lover, so I'm obsessed with these easy cinnamon chip scones (Starbucks recipe copycat)! And we're adding an incredible spice orange glaze to make these the best cinnamon chip scones! Hershey cinnamon chips add the perfect bit of sugar and spice in each bite! And I've also included instructions to make cinnamon scones without cinnamon chips! And for more cinnamon treats, try my Cinnamon Palmiers, my Apple Chips, and my Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream!
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Best Cinnamon Chip Scones - Starbucks Recipe Copycat
If you're like me, when you go to coffee shops you love to order cinnamon chip scones -- the tender, crumbly texture dotted with little bursts of cinnamon is such a special treat! Well when you want something just like your favorite cinnamon scones from your local café, only better, try this cinnamon chip scones Starbucks recipe copycat! These easy cinnamon chip scones are buttery, crumbly, and soft, with those great little pockets of sweet cinnamon goodness. But these come drizzled with the most luscious spiced orange glaze that complements all those flavors perfectly!
Easy Cinnamon Chip Scones - Hershey Chips
Best of all, these cinnamon chip scones are so easy! You might think that homemade cinnamon scones are a complicated endeavor, but they're really not! If you've got a cheese grater, you're very close to achieving that tender crumb yourself. These scones are so simple to make, and they're perfect for a morning treat!
What is the secret of making good scones?
Here are a few of my favorite tips for the best easy cinnamon chip scones!
- Make sure your butter is cold. In this recipe, we're actually grating frozen butter to make sure it stays cold. Colder butter allows your scones to rise higher in the oven.
- To reinforce the chilled butter, we're placing our whole baking sheet into the freezer to chill while we preheat our oven.
- Be sure not to over-mix the dough. For this cinnamon chip scones recipe, we want the dough to just be coming together in pea-sized crumbs when we begin to shape it.
How do you make scones rise higher?
One trick to make your scones rise even higher is to place them on the baking sheet closer together, just barely touching. This way they'll force each other to rise higher. You may just need to add an additional minute or two to the baking time.
Cinnamon Scones Without Cinnamon Chips
I sometimes have trouble finding cinnamon chips on store shelves! So if you can't get your hands on the Hershey cinnamon chips, you can make these cinnamon scones without cinnamon chips! Just add 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients and increase the brown sugar to ½ cup, and follow the rest of the recipe as usual!
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour - it's important to measure your flour accurately, so I would recommend weighing it with a food scale. For this recipe, you'll need 256 grams. Alternatively, you can measure two cups of flour using the spoon-and-level method.
- light brown sugar - in this cinnamon scones recipe, we're using brown sugar instead of the typical granulated sugar. Brown sugar brings out the warm flavors of cinnamon and gives a slight caramel flavor to our dough.
- baking soda and baking powder - these learners help to give us the lift and texture we want.
- salted butter - the butter should be frozen. I just toss it in the fridge for about an hour before making the dough, or you can freeze it overnight if you're making these cinnamon chip scones in the morning!
- full-fat sour cream - this adds the perfect texture and complex flavor!
- egg - your egg should be room temperature. This also will help to make sure the texture of our scones is perfect!
- pure vanilla extract - this adds delicious vanilla flavor to complement the cinnamon and brown sugar in these scones. Make sure you use a good-quality vanilla extract.
- cinnamon chips - I make these cinnamon chip scones with Hershey's Cinnamon Chips. They are perfect little bites of cinnamon flavor, and you can just toss them in like chocolate chips so they're so easy! You can also make these cinnamon scones without cinnamon chips -- just add 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients and increase the brown sugar to ½ cup.
So that's what you need to make the best cinnamon chip scones! But if you want to go the extra mile and make this incredible spiced orange glaze, here's what you'll need:
- powdered sugar - this is what gives icings and frostings their texture and allows them to set. Like the flour above, I recommend using a food scale to measure out 230 grams of powdered sugar.
- freshly squeezed orange juice - fresh orange juice brightens up these cinnamon scones so well!
- orange zest - the zest from that same orange bumps up the intensity of the orange flavor in this icing, and makes it so delicious!
- nutmeg and cardamom - I love the combination of nutmeg and cardamom -- the nutmeg works so well with the cinnamon in the scones, and orange and cardamom are a classic combination. If you prefer, you can omit one of them or substitute other spices, or just leave the spices out altogether!
- pure vanilla extract - balances out the sharp orange flavor in this icing.
- pinch of salt - just a bit of salt helps to bring out the flavors in our icing, and adds so much to our scones!
Equipment
To make these cinnamon chip scones, you'll only need a few typical kitchen tools, and no electric mixer or food processor! Here's what I recommend:
Tips and F.A.Q.
Tough, dry scones can be caused by over-mixing the dough, or by inadvertently adding too much flour. Make sure you're measuring your flour correctly!
Adding an egg to this easy cinnamon chip scones recipe helps to bind the dough together, and adds a richer, fluffier texture.
Yes, definitely! For these easy cinnamon chip scones, we're chilling our scones in the freezer for 10-15 minutes while we preheat our oven, but you can also leave your scones in the fridge overnight, covered on a baking sheet, before baking them in the morning! Resting your scone dough helps the gluten to relax so that they can rise higher and have a more tender texture.
My advice would be to freeze the dough before baking, not after -- your scones will taste best the day they're baked. You can just freeze them solid uncovered on a baking sheet, then wrap them well in plastic wrap and place in heavy-duty freezer bags. You can then freeze them up to one month. Bake them from frozen, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time. 
If you try this recipe, I would love it if you could leave a star review rating and comment below! It’s so wonderful hearing your feedback! And don’t forget to share your creations with me by tagging @chenee_today on Instagram!
More Brunch Recipes You'll Love
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- Mango Overnight Oats
- White Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins
📖 Recipe
Equipment you may need
- pastry cutter
- cheese grater
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour - measured by weight with a kitchen scale, or using the spoon-and-level method
- ⅓ cup (73 g) light brown sugar - packed
- ¼ teaspoon (1 g) baking soda
- 2 teaspoon (8 g) baking powder
- 1 cup (237 g) cinnamon chips
- ½ cup (114 g) salted butter - frozen (1 stick)
- ¾ cup (173 g) full-fat sour cream - cold
- 1 large egg - beaten
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
Spiced Orange Glaze
- 2 cups (240 g) powdered sugar
- ¼ cup (59 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice
- 1 teaspoon (2 g) orange zest
- ⅛ teaspoon (0.3 g) ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon (0.3 g) ground cardamom
- ½ teaspoon (2 ml) pure vanilla extract
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- At least one hour before preparing dough (or the night before), place butter in freezer.½ cup salted butter
- Whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.2 cups all-purpose flour, ⅓ cup light brown sugar, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Grate in frozen butter and combine with dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender or a fork, blend butter into flour mixture.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg, and vanilla.¾ cup full-fat sour cream, 1 large egg, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Fold sour cream mixture and cinnamon chips into dry ingredients with a rubber spatula until just combined.1 cup cinnamon chips
- Using floured hands and a pastry blender, form dough mixture into a square and then fold the square in half over itself top to bottom. Flatten out into another square and repeat, folding left to right.
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and dust top of dough ball with a little more flour. Gently shape into a 7-inch round flattened disk and cut into 8 wedges. Place wedges about 1-inch apart on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking liner.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and place baking sheet with scones in the freezer to chill while it heats up.
- Bake for 16-20 minutes or until scones are lightly golden on top and golden brown on bottom. Let cool before adding glaze.
Spiced Orange Glaze
- Whisk glaze ingredients together until smooth.2 cups powdered sugar, ¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice, 1 teaspoon orange zest, ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ⅛ teaspoon ground cardamom, ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract, Pinch salt
- Place scones on cooling rack over parchment paper or paper towels to catch drips. Drizzle glaze over cooled scones and allow to set.
Notes
Nutrition
Last Updated on July 15, 2022 by Chenée Lewis
Alison Saalbach Corey
These cinnamon chip scones are a delicious and indulgent breakfast or brunch treat. Sweet and satisfying because of the unique twist that you made. Can't wait to try it very soon. Thanks!