High Altitude Almond Cream Cheese Scones

My love of almond pastries runs deep, and if you love sweet almond breakfast treats as much as I do, you’ll adore these high altitude almond scones. They’re incredibly soft and tender, made with cream cheese and sweetened with almond paste. A drizzle of almond icing is the perfect sweet finish, and chopped almonds add crunch and more almond flavor. These scones are so easy to make, and simply fantastic with a cup of coffee. And be sure to see the recipe variations section below for adding chocolate chips or strawberries to today’s almond scone recipe.

You might also love this almond biscotti, flourless almond cake, and almond poppy seed muffins.

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Why You’ll Love These Scones

• Soft, moist and tender. Scones have a reputation for being dry, crumbly and tasteless, but not these. The cream cheese and almond paste in the biscuit dough keeps them so moist and soft.
• Almond paste. If you love almond desserts and breakfast pastries, you’ll probably agree with me that almond paste is one of the most delicious ingredients there is.
• Easy to make. The biscuit dough comes together quickly and easily, and then you simply need to pat it out onto a baking sheet to bake. If you have a scone pan, you can use that with this recipe, too.
• High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.

Ingredients

Scones

• All-Purpose Flour. Gives the dough strength and structure.
• Baking Powder. Leavens the scones so they’re light and fluffy.
• Coarse Kosher Salt. Balances the sweetness.
• Cream Cheese. Adds fat and richness, for a soft, tender scone.
• Almond Paste. Contributes sweetness, as well as a strong almond flavor. But sure to use almond paste, not almond pastry filling.
• Vanilla Extract. Flavor.
• Milk. Moistens the dough and binds it together.

Icing

• Powdered Sugar. Sweetens and thickens the icing.
• Almond Extract. Flavor.
• Milk. Thins the icing to desired consistency.
• Chopped Almonds. Crunch and texture.

Instructions

Make the dough.

• Preheat the oven to 375 F, and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
• In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Scatter the chunks of cream cheese over the flour, and use your hands to crumble the almond paste over the flour. Drizzle with the vanilla. Use a pastry cutter to combine everything into a crumbly mixture, and the pieces of cream cheese and almond paste are no bigger than 1/4 inch. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, just use your hands to rub the cream cheese and almond paste into the flour mixture.
• Add the milk, and stir just until moistened into a soft, sticky dough.

Shape and cut the scones.

• Lightly dust the parchment paper with flour, and scrape the dough onto the paper. Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour, and use your hands to gently pat and shape the dough into a thick disk about 8 inches in diameter.
• Using a bench scraper or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 8 wedges, but don’t separate the wedges. The dough is sticky, and you’ll need to dip the knife in flour in between cuts.

Bake.

• Bake the scones on the center oven rack for 20 minutes.
• Remove the pan from the oven, and cut the scones again, then nudge them apart. While cutting the scones in this step, the center of the dough can still be a bit sticky since it’s not cooked through yet. It’s easiest to cut the scones with something nonstick, like a silicone spatula.
• Return the pan to the oven and bake the scones for 5 more minutes, until cooked through. Set aside while you make the icing.

Drizzle with the icing.

• Whisk together the powdered sugar, almond extract and milk until you have a smooth, thick drizzling consistency.
• Drizzle the icing over the hot scones. Immediately, before the icing sets, sprinkle with the chopped almonds.
• Cool for several minutes, then serve warm.

Recipe Variations

Almond Chocolate Chip Scones

• These almond scones are so good with chocolate chips! I suggest using semi sweet or dark chocolate chips, rather than milk chocolate.
• Add about 1/2 cup chocolate chips to the dough, right before you stir in the milk. After drizzling the icing over the scones, immediately sprinkle with a few more chocolate chips for decoration.

Strawberry Almond Scones

• To make almond scones with strawberries, you don’t want to use fresh or frozen strawberries. Fresh or frozen berries contain too much water, and will add excessive moisture to the biscuit dough. The berries can also turn mushy and pale when baked, and will make your scones soggy. So the key to making perfect strawberry scones is to use freeze-dried strawberries. These add tart bits of strawberry flavor all throughout the scones, without any additional liquid. Target has a great selection of freeze dried fruit, and you could even use raspberries instead of strawberries.
• Add about 1 ounce freeze dried strawberries (roughly chopped or broken) to the dough, right before you stir in the milk. After drizzling the icing over the scones, immediately decorate the top of the scones with more freeze dried strawberries, before the icing sets. (Note that you should not decorate the top of the scones with freeze dried strawberries before baking, as they will turn brown or burn.)

Frequently Asked Questions

Are scones the same as biscuits?

Depending on where you’re from, scones and biscuits can mean different things. In American English, what we know as biscuits (the fluffy, flaky, and usually savory quick bread that’s made of flour, baking powder, butter, salt and milk) are actually called scones in British English. And what we call cookies would be known in the UK as biscuits. In the US, though, scones refer to a sweet version of a biscuit, sometimes containing fruit, and usually drizzled with icing.

Is almond paste the same thing as almond pastry filling?

Not at all. While both contain finely chopped almonds and sugar, they have very different textures and uses. Almond paste is very thick and crumbly, best used in crumb toppings, doughs and cookies. Almond cake and pastry filling is thinner in consistency, and spreadable like jam, used as a filling, like in my apricot almond cake, or in this chocolate almond tart.

What if I can’t find almond paste?

You could try making your own! It’s a simple mixture of finely ground almonds, sugar and water.

Can I bake these in a scone pan?

Yes, you can bake these almond scones in a scone pan for a perfectly uniform shape.

Can I add chopped almonds to the dough?

Of course, you can stir some chopped almonds into the dough mixture before stirring in the milk. I’ve also added chocolate chips to these, for some delicious chocolate chip almond scones.

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