Sourdough vanilla bean scones are flavorful, flaky, bakery-style scones topped with delicious browned butter vanilla bean glaze.

These sourdough vanilla bean scones bring a warm coziness to everyday baking at home.

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Tips for Making Sourdough Vanilla Bean Scones

• Keep things cold! Frozen butter grated in is key to the flaky bakery-style texture of these scones. If I remember beforehand, I like to stick my bowl in the freezer 30 minutes before mixing these up but the results don’t disappoint if you miss this step. 
• Don’t overwork the dough. To avoid your scones becoming fluffy and bread-like, don’t overwork the dough. Use your hands to do the shaping just enough to achieve a shaggy dough that doesn’t have dry spots. Overworking the dough will result in the gluten developing too much and your scones will turn out less flaky. 
• Shape, stack, shape, cut. Adding this extra shaping and stacking step creates a layered, flaky scone that will give you bakery-style results. The shaping needs to be rough as to not overwork the dough but just enough to get the buttery layers nicely distributed throughout. 

How to Brown Butter

To brown butter, add your butter to a small saucepan and place over the stove on medium heat.

Then, melt the butter, allowing it to heat and begin bubbling and foaming. You’ll notice the milk solids start to separate and sink to the bottom. These bits are going to get brown and add that depth of flavor to the icing so make sure to not strain them out.

Stir the butter occasionally to prevent burning. Once the foaming subsides, you’ll smell a toasty aroma and see the butter turn a light golden-brown—this is your cue to remove it from the heat and let it cool. Browned butter will remain liquid for about 3 hours.

Be sure to use quality butter for browning—not all butter is created equal! My favorite brands are Tillamook salted cream butter, Kirkland grass-fed, Land O’ Lakes salted butter, and Kerrygold. Others may work, including homemade butter, but these have been my go-to grocery store options.

What You’ll Need

Equipment

• Large mixing bowl
• Kitchen scale
• Wooden spoon or Dough whisk 
• Pastry cutter or Food processor
• Measuring cups and measuring spoons
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Cheese grater
• Sifter or sieve 
• Plastic wrap or beeswax wrap

Ingredients for Sourdough Vanilla Bean Scones

Dry Ingredients

• 2¼ cups all-purpose flour (289g) + some for dusting your working surface
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar (43g)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder 
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 4 tablespoons salted butter, frozen, grated (56g)

If using unsalted butter, I recommend adding ⅛ teaspoon extra salt to the recipe. (Optional)

Wet Ingredients

• ⅓ cup sourdough starter, active or discard (75g)
• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean, scraped (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
• 2 tablespoons buttermilk (30g)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Browned Butter Vanilla Bean Glaze

• 2 tablespoons salted butter, browned (32g before browning)
• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar (100g)
• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream (15g)
• ¼ cup maple syrup (72g)

Directions for Sourdough Vanilla Bean Scones

Mix Dry Ingredients
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Grate in the Butter
Coat your frozen stick of butter in a little flour, this will help grip the butter while grating.

Then grate the butter into the dry mixture. Mix together so the butter is incorporated throughout and coated with flour.

Add the Wet Ingredients
Next, stir in the sourdough starter, vanilla bean seeds, buttermilk, egg, and vanilla extract. Mix just until a shaggy dough forms- avoid overworking the dough.

Shape & Stack
Then, lightly flour a smooth working surface (I like to use a pastry mat). 

Turn the dough onto your floured surface, pat into a rough 6-inch round. Then, divide the dough into quarters. Stack the 4 quarters one on top of the other. After stacking, gently press the pieces into a larger 8-inch round. 

Chill Again
Wrap the disc with plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut & Bake
After 10 minutes, remove the scone dough from the freezer.

Using a bench cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough in half. Divide each half into two more halves giving you 4 quarters. Cut each of these quarters in half one more time to give you 8 even scone wedges.

Place the sourdough vanilla bean scones on a parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. 

Bake at 400°F for 16-18 minutes until the scones are lightly golden on top. Oven performance can vary. To avoid dry scones, remove scones from the oven once you see a slightly golden brown on the tops.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven to a wire cooling rack. Allow the scones to cool completely before adding the glaze. 

Cool & Add Glaze

While the scones are cooling, whisk together browned butter, confectioner’s sugar, vanilla bean, heavy cream, and maple syrup until smooth. Drizzle the glaze generously over the cooled scones and let it set until hard.

Storing Sourdough Vanilla Bean Scones

Store on the counter for up to 3 days in an air tight container or up to 1 week in the refrigerator. 

Enjoy with a cup of hot coffee or tea! 

Freezer Friendly

These sourdough vanilla bean scones are easy to mix up and freeze the dough ahead of time. Remove from the freezer and bake from frozen as directed.

More Sourdough Scone Recipes

• Maple Sourdough Discard Scones
• Maple Bacon Sourdough Scones
• Blueberry Sourdough Scones
• Chocolate Chip Sourdough Scones