Carrot Cake Scones

These carrot cake scones have a tender scone texture with all the flavor of carrot cake down to the cream cheese glaze!

These scones are the total package! That perfect tender and moist scone texture, studded with carrots, walnuts and raisins, all topped with a generous coating of cream cheese glaze! You even get a little crunch from the walnuts and a little sweetness from the raisins. 

Carrot cake scones bring you a continuation of my signature never-cakey scone experience. They join their pals chocolate chip scones, blueberry scones, and so many others to satisfy your craving for something just indulgent enough for breakfast. Later, you can continue what I can only imagine will become a cream cheese frosting addiction with some stunning red velvet cookies for dessert!

Professional Tips

• Cut the butter into the dry ingredients completely! I know this goes against what all the other people say, but years of testing and making giant batches at the restaurants has proven to me that this makes the most tender and moist scones. It means you need fewer wet ingredients to make a cohesive dough, which means less gluten! No tough, sad scones here!
• Shred and squeeze your own carrots. Avoid gummy pockets in your scones! Thoroughly squeeze out your carrots prior to adding them. I recommend the same for my best carrot cake recipe.
• Whisk together all the wet ingredients. In large batches I use an immersion blender but a whisk does the job just fine here! Because you have whisked the eggs into the cream, it means you don’t have to mix your dough while the eggs incorporate. Less mixing after the addition of wet ingredients means more tender baked goods!

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour: All-purpose flour has just the right amount of gluten to make a flaky texture that is not tough.
• Baking Powder: Double acting baking powder reacts instantly when mixed with an acid. It reacts a second time when heated. Because the baking powder is double acting, it has a slower, more stable rise than baking soda alone. This will also allow you to make the scones ahead and freeze.
• Cinnamon
• Kosher Salt
• Sugar: I use granulated sugar because of flavor, but also because it retains moisture, improves texture, and maintains stability.
• Light Brown Sugar
• Butter: I use unsalted butter for baking, because you want to control the amount of salt you are adding. Butter is integral because it shortens the gluten strands as it coats them during the mixing process. This keeps them from forming a strong network that would lead to overly tough scones.
• Whole Egg: The large eggs are here to add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the scones moist. Eggs are one of the primary liquid ingredients, which help hold the scones together without developing too much gluten in the flour.
• Heavy Cream: Heavy cream adds just enough liquid to make a moist, tender scone. It also comes with fat to add to the flavor and texture. Heavy cream and eggs provide the only real moisture for the dough.
• Grated Carrots: I use freshly peeled, grated and squeezed medium carrots. I also use horse carrots if I can find them. They are bigger, juicier, and more flavorful than the skinny ones in the bags! If your grocery store has loose fresh carrots, chances are they are horse carrots. Use a box grater or food processor for even sizes!
• Walnuts: Walnuts are optional here. When I use them I lightly toast them first to bring out their best flavor.
• Raisins
• Cream Cheese: I use original Philadelphia Cream Cheese for all my baked goods, including buttercreams and the glazes for glazed scones. I also use full fat though reduced fat can be substituted.
• Confectioners’ Sugar: Confectioners’ sugar is useful for toppings because it is a fine powder, so it creates a smooth glaze without the application of heat.
• Milk
• Vanilla Extract

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations

• Experiment with mix-ins! You can omit the raisins and walnuts. Or, substitute them for another dried fruit or nut of your choosing. Pecans would be perfect in this. You could even add cranberry or a little pineapple, like I have in my hummingbird cake!
• Use different spices. You could add cloves, a teaspoon ground nutmeg or a teaspoon ground ginger for extra warmth, homemade apple pie spice, or pumpkin spice mix like I sometimes do for my easy carrot cake recipe.
• Make a different glaze: You could add some cinnamon to your glaze, inspired by my cinnamon scones. Or, you could make a bourbon glaze, using the simple syrup from my carrot cake roll!

How to Serve

• These scones pair beautifully with coffee or tea for a morning treat!
• Sprinkle with walnuts after glazing, for added texture.
• Serve with homemade maple butter or a smear of cream cheese.

How to Make Carrot Cake Scones

Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below!

Make the scones

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325°F.

Step 2: In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the flour, sugars, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Mix with paddle (by hand) just to distribute ingredients. Add butter. Mix on low to cut in the butter until the butter is no longer visible and it resembles wet sand.

Step 3: While this is mixing, combine the vanilla, eggs and cream with an immersion blender or whisk in a medium bowl and blend until smooth and pale with no visible streaks of egg or cream.

Step 4: With the mixer running on low, slowly pour in the cream mixture and mix until almost incorporated.

Don’t overmix! If you think it’s done, it probably is. Overmixing leads to tough scones.

Step 5: Dump out mixture on a dry surface (not necessarily a floured surface) and knead dough together gently. Do this until no visible dry spots remain.

Step 6: Be sure you’ve squeezed out your carrots before you add them! Add the carrots, walnuts, and raisins and gently fold them in.

Step 7: Roll to about an inch thick. With a sharp knife, cut into 3.5in strips. Then cut each strip into squares and each square in half on a diagonal to form a triangle. Place wedges onto parchment paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes

You want them cold and firm to the touch before baking. If you have time, chill them for 1–2 hours or overnight. Cold dough leads to tall, flaky scones.

Step 8: Brush scones with heavy cream to lock in the moisture.

Step 9: Bake in a preheated oven on a HIGH fan for 18-20 minutes (for 3 1/2-inch scones) or until golden brown and puffed.

They should feel lightly firm with a little spring when you press the center gently.

Step 10: Cool completely on baking sheets.

Make the glaze and assemble

Step 11: Whisk all ingredients together, cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.

If the glaze sits too long, give it another stir before using to smooth it back out.

Step 12: Glaze your (mostly) cooled scones with your newly made glaze and enjoy! I only say ‘mostly’ because I have a lack of self control around these scones!

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, chef-developed scones recipes, or head straight over to my favorite strawberry scones!