Earl Grey Scones with Vanilla Bean Glaze

These vanilla Earl Grey scones with vanilla bean glaze are the perfect morning treat! Try these bergamot scones and you won’t need any other Earl Grey scones recipes! And if you like these, you'll love my Lemon Poppyseed Scones, my Cinnamon Scones with Spiced Orange Glaze, and my Earl Grey Lavender Cake with Honey-Lemon Glaze!

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Earl Grey Scones with Vanilla Bean Glaze

If you've had the petite vanilla bean scone from Starbucks, you'll love these vanilla bergamot scones! They've got a moist, buttery texture and bright Earl Grey tea flavor that is so lovely. And that amazing vanilla bean glaze brings it all together so perfectly! These scones are amazing for a tea party or weekend brunch -- or save them for a quick weekday breakfast! Anytime you want the comforting flavor of Earl Grey tea in a fluffy scone!

What exactly is a scone?

Scones are a baked treat that are leavened with baking powder, are slightly sweet, and have a moist, crumbly texture. They're often made with fruit, nuts, or chocolate mixed in or topped with a glaze, and they're usually enjoyed as a breakfast or snack with tea or coffee. American scones (like these vanilla Earl Grey scones) are often a bit drier and more crumbly than English scones, whereas English-style scones are closer in texture to what we in the U.S. would call biscuits.

What gives earl grey tea its distinctive flavor?

Earl Grey is a black tea with the oil of bergamot added. Bergamot is a citrus fruit that tastes like a cross between orange, lime, and grapefruit. The combination of the two creates a lovely flavor that adds so much to baked goods like these easy Earl Grey scones!

What is the secret to a good scone?

Many who bake scones have one main question: How do I get my scones to rise and be fluffy? There are a couple of important tips I've learned:

First, keep everything cold. Make sure your butter is frozen and your sour cream is cold straight from the fridge. Other baking recipes call for room temperature ingredients, but keeping the dough cold for these scones helps them to bake up fluffy and have the best texture. You'll even want to pop your sheet pan in the freezer for a few minutes while your oven preheats.

Second, let your scones stay cozy. Baking scones while they're slightly touching each other helps them to bake higher and straighter. One way to achieve this is just cut your dough into 8 wedges, and bake them without separating them from each other.

How to Make Earl Grey Scones - What You'll Need

Here's what you'll need to gather together for these easy Earl Grey bergamot scones:

• all-purpose flour - be sure to use a kitchen scale to measure your flour by weight, or use the spoon-and-level method to measure by volume.
• granulated sugar - to give our scones just the right amount of sweetness!
• earl grey tea leaves - you can use either regular tea bags or whole leaf tea -- if you use whole leaf, just crush or chop the tea into fine bits. I usually use Twinings for these Earl Grey scones.
• baking soda & baking powder - giving these scones a nice amount of lift!
• salted butter - I like to use salted butter to add flavor to this earl grey scones recipes, but if you prefer to use unsalted butter, just add ¼ teaspoon of salt in with your dry ingredients. We'll be freezing our butter and using a box grater to grate our frozen butter into our dry ingredients.
• sour cream - we'll use room temperature sour cream for these Earl Grey Scones! No buttermilk in this recipe, but sour cream gives us the same tang with a bit more moisture.
• egg - one major difference between scones and biscuits is the addition of an egg, making these scones a bit richer and providing more structure.
• vanilla bean paste - you can use either vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. I just used vanilla bean paste since I was already using some for the glaze!

And now for my favorite part -- the vanilla bean glaze!

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoon milk, plus more as needed
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or one whole vanilla bean pod
• pinch of salt

Equipment

There are a few great tools that I recommend to make these scones the best they can be! First of all, You'll need a box grater to grate your butter, a mixing spoon and mixing bowl, and a sheet pan to bake your scones! Here are a few more tools I love for this recipe:

Tips and F.A.Q.

If you try this recipe, I would love it if you could leave a 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 Treats You'll Love

• Air Fryer Hash Browns
• Cinnamon Rolls with Apple Pie Filling
• Cherry Coffee Cake
• Mango Overnight Oats with Coconut
• Cinnamon Scones with Spiced Orange Glaze
• Dairy Free Banana Bread

PIN these bergamot scones for later!