Name: Rum Raisin Scones
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 8 h 28 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup raisins; 1/2 cup spiced rum; 3 cups All-Purpose Flour, plus more for the work surface; 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar; 1 tablespoon Baking Powder; 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt; 1/2 cup Butter, Cold; 1 cup Buttermilk; 1 Egg; 1 tablespoon Water; 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar; 2 tablespoons of the reserved rum

Jump to Recipe

Rum Raisin Scones are buttery, tender, warm, and fruity. They are perfect with tea or coffee, ideal for gift baskets, holidays, and brunching!

Y’all. I did a thing and it was REALLY GREAT.

Raisin haters look away. I have lots of other scone recipes you’ll dig, I promise.

I had rum on the brain (shocking, I know), and I was thinking about rum raisin pie specifically. I’ve never made it, but I love boozy sweets so I feel like it’s probably amazing and one day I will DEFINITELY make it. Not everyone loves raisins though, so the thought of a whole pie with raisins feels daunting, know what I mean?

Scones are like the bread version of cookies though. You can sneak in some raisins and they aren’t so overwhelming.

The thing I did? It was to soak raisins in spiced rum overnight so they soaked it almost all the way up, and then I folded those rum-plumped raisins into the buttery flour base I use for scones to make these Rum Raisin Scones, and they are like one of my favorite things I have baked in a very long time!

a half cup of grated butter in a bowl of flour ready to be cut together into coarse crumbles for making perfect scones

What makes the perfect scones?

I’ve made loadssssss of scone recipes over the course of writing this food blog. All of the recipes I have shared have different flavor profiles, toppings, and add-ins, but they all share the same basic base recipe, and a few tricks that help keep my scone recipes consistently successful.

Keep your ingredients cold. If you don’t take any other tips away with you, this one is the most important. I typically refrigerate between each step, just to be sure that the heat from my hands or the friction of cutting the butter isn’t warming up my ingredients too much. Cold ingredients equal more tender, fluffy scones.
Don’t over mix! After you add the buttermilk (or milk), you want to mix things until they are JUST incorporated. Over mixing makes for tough scones.
Use real butter. There will be no successful fake butter scones happening here. It’ll change the outcome, trust me. There IS a place in my heart for shortening in baking (just ask these Peppermint Hot Chocolate Brownie Cookies), but scones are not that place.

Raisins are soaking in rum overnight making them plump and juicy and perfect for these fruity delicious Rum Raisin Scones

How long do I soak the raisins?

This is mostly up to you. If you want to mimic my recipe EXACTLY, you will soak 1 cup of raisins in 1/2 cup of spiced rum for 24 hours. Overnight also works.

If you’re pressed for time you might try soaking them for as long as you can manage, and then swapping out a tablespoon of the buttermilk or milk for a tablespoon of rum. That would give you a bit more of that rum flavor without needing to prep the day before.

For best results, soak the raisins overnight, at least.

Rum Raisin Scones straight from the oven on a parchment lined baking sheet for cooling. They are brushed with an egg wash before baking giving the tops a pretty golden brown color.

Can I Make Scones Ahead?

Yes! But I wouldn’t necessarily BAKE them ahead.

You can get all the way through the soaking of the raisins and the forming of the dough, and cutting the scones into the pretty triangles you plan to bake up.

THIS IS THE POINT WHERE YOU FREEZE THEM.

I like to just line a baking sheet with parchment paper, lay out my cut scones at least an inch apart so they don’t accidentally freeze together, and then place the baking sheet in the freezer. Once they are frozen you can put them in a freezer bag until you are ready to bake.

There’s no need to thaw your frozen scones before baking! You’ll just preheat the oven to 375°F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper, brush them with the egg wash, and then bake your scones for about 25 minutes.

How do you make glaze?

I use the same glaze or sweet drizzle on a lot of my baked goods – I love the finish it adds to things. The un-glazed scones are still great, don’t get me wrong. But adding glaze makes them feel more complete and they definitely LOOK fancier.

To make glaze you need 1/2 cup powdered sugar + 2 tablespoons of liquid (milk or juice or rum, etc). Whisk together until smooth. For thicker glaze you can add 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar at a time.

For Rum Raisin Scones I used 1/2 cup powdered sugar + 2 tablespoons of the spiced rum that I soaked the raisins in. I strained the raisins before adding them to the scone batter, and I reserved the rum.

Don’t skip the boozy glaze. Trust me on that.

Rum Raisin Scones turned out to be so buttery, tender, and the perfect balance of sweet – you will LOVE THEM.

Raisin haters, you might try currants? Maybe dried cranberries? I feel like either would work well here, but raisin lovers rejoice! We have a good treat that’s not an oatmeal cookie or a pie ?

Makes 8 large scones