Brace yourself for the best cardamom fig scones recipe around! These fig and cardamom scones are moist and tender with crispy, crumbly edges. They are perfect for breakfast, brunch, or to serve with fig leaf tea and orange curd when entertaining friends.
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Fall has always been my favorite season. When I bake these Fig Scones, it always reminds me that summer is coming to an end. Not only that, but that glorious fall is close at hand.
In San Diego, figs ripen at the end of summer, and when they do, look out! You will find yourself with an abundance of figs all at once. That's where this recipe comes in handy!
However, now that I live in Montana, I can no longer grow figs. I've had to adjust this recipe by using dried figs. I've also started making lemon blueberry scones, which I often make with huckleberries. Both scone recipes are loaded with flavor and should be tried by all scone lovers out there!
If you love cardamom, and I assume you do, make sure to try my new kardemummabullar recipe! It's like being punched in the face with cardamom, but in a good way.
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🔖 Ingredients & Substitutions
- Figs: Use Calimyrna, black mission figs, or your favorite fig variety. If you don't have fresh figs, you can use frozen figs or dried figs.
- Flour: If you have pastry flour, I highly recommend using it. Otherwise, substitute with all-purpose flour.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar, but you can use a mixture of brown sugar and granulated.
- Butter: Make sure to use frozen butter. If using unsalted butter, increase the salt to ½ teaspoon.
- Orange zest: You'll need one orange, which you will zest and juice. If you have to, you can replace the orange juice and zest with lemon.
- Spices: Besides cardamom powder, you can try cinnamon, nutmeg, or anise.
- Milk: I prefer using buttermilk. You can make it at home by mixing ½ teaspoon of vinegar or lemon juice with ½ cup of whole milk. You can also use heavy cream if you prefer.
- Glaze: A simple glaze is made with powdered sugar, vanilla extract, lemon or orange juice, and zest.
*For a full list of ingredients, see the recipe card below.
🔪 Helpful Tools
- bench scraper
- spatula
- cookie sheet
- parchment paper
🥐 How to Make Cardamom Fig Scones
Preheat oven to 400°F (375℉ convection oven)
Step 1: If using dried figs, soak them in warm water until plump, then strain and chop them into pieces. Be sure to discard the tough stems.
Pro Tip: If using frozen figs, defrost first, then strain the excess liquid.
Step 2: In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cardamom, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Cube or shred the frozen butter into the bowl, then use a pastry cutter to blend the flour mixture until crumbly.
Step 3: Fold chopped walnuts or pecans into the flour mixture until evenly coated. Next, fold in the chopped figs.
Pro Tip: Folding the walnuts and figs into the flour mixture keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the scones.
Step 4: In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk, orange juice, vanilla, and egg. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, then pour the wet ingredients into the well.
Step 5: Use a fork to gradually incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Don't overwork the dough. If the dough is still crumbly, add 1 tablespoon of buttermilk at a time until you have a shaggy dough.
Step 6: Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and gently shape it into an 8" disc. Divide the dough into 8 to 12 wedges using a bench scraper. If using fresh figs, you can press a fig slice into each wedge.
Pro Tip: If the dough sticks to the bench scraper, dip the scraper into flour. It's also helpful to slide the scraper out when slicing the scones instead of lifting it up.
Step 7: Transfer scones to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Leave plenty of room in between the scones, as they will expand. Brush scones with half and half. Optionally, sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown.
Step 8: Cool scones on a wire rack while you make the glaze.
Prepare Glaze
Step 9. Whisk powdered sugar, vanilla extract, orange juice, and zest until smooth in consistency. Drizzle over cooled scones, and enjoy!
👩🏼🍳 Recipe FAQs
The secret to a good scone is shredding frozen butter into the mix and not overhandling the dough.
Fresh figs can be enjoyed in salads, as a topping to pizza, used to make fig jam, candied figs, fig bread, and fig newtons.
Scone dough does not need to be kneaded. As a matter of fact, as soon as the dough comes together, you need to stop mixing it and gently form it into a disc, which you can then slice into wedges.
🥮 More Fig Recipes
If you have a fig tree and are looking for other fig recipes, you're in luck! You need to try one of my readers' favorite recipes, fig bread. Then you can try this cardamom fig preserves, fig syrup, and fig pizza!
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- Scones are best when freshly baked. For this reason, I like to bake only the amount I will be eating (or serving) and freeze the rest for another time.
- To freeze, slice the disc into wedges and wrap each wedge individually in foil, then store in freezer bags.
- You don't need to defrost frozen scones before baking them.
- Scones can be stored in ziplock bags or an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
🍋 Related Recipes
If you enjoy this fig cardamom scone recipe, be sure to check out these related recipes!
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📖 Recipe
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Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 400°F (375℉ convection oven)
- If using dried figs, soak in warm water until plump, then strain and chop into pieces. Discard the tough stems.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cardamom, baking powder, salt, and orange zest. Cube or shred the frozen butter into the bowl, then use a pastry cutter to blend the flour mixture until crumbly.
- Fold chopped walnuts or pecans into the flour mixture until evenly coated. Next, fold in the chopped figs.
- In a small bowl, whisk buttermilk, orange juice, vanilla, and egg. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture then pour the wet ingredients into the well.
- Use a fork to gradually incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Don't overwork the dough. If the dough still has crumbly, dry dough, add 1 tablespoon of buttermilk at a time until you have a shaggy dough.
- Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and gently shape into an 8" disc. Divide dough into 8 to 12 wedges using a bench scraper. If using fresh figs, you can press a fig slice into each wedge.
- Transfer scones to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Leave plenty of room in between the scones, as they will expand. Brush scones with half and half. Optionally, sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the scones are golden brown.
- Cool scones on a wire rack while you make the glaze.
- Whisk powdered sugar, vanilla extract, orange juice, and zest until smooth in consistency. Drizzle over cooled scones, and enjoy!
Nutrition
Notes
- If using frozen figs, defrost first, then strain the excess liquid.
- Folding the pecans and figs into the flour mixture keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the scones.
- If the dough sticks to the bench scraper, dip the scraper into flour. It's also helpful to slide the scraper out when slicing the scones instead of lifting it up.
- Scones are best when freshly baked. For this reason, I like to bake only the amount I will be eating (or serving) and freezing the rest for another time.
- To freeze, slice the disc into wedges and wrap each wedge individually in foil then store in freezer bags.
- You don't need to defrost frozen scones before baking them.
- Scones can be stored in ziplock bags or an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
Lisa Nielsen says
Inexperienced scone baker, my scones came out light and delicate. Grating the butter is genius!
Substituted lemon juice with some sugar for orange juice. My scones could have been a little sweeter, next time I will sprinkle sugar on top.
I used fresh figs, toasted pistachios. King Arthur flour: half bread, half all purpose.
Hilda Sterner says
Thanks, Lisa, I appreciate the comment and the feedback!
Diane says
these sound amazing! I would like them to make them gluten-free and dairy-free, and wondering how to make them dairy-free. What would you replace the buttermilk with?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Diane, I've never tried making a gluten-free or dairy-free version so I can't comment on that, but if you wanted to give it a go, you can substitute almond milk or oat milk. For every cup of milk, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar and stir and allow to curdle before using. Good luck!
Kathy F. says
Hilda:
Your recipe for Cardamom Fig Scones recommended Pastry flour. Didn’t have it, looked up substitutions On Line, which said “7/8 c. all purpose flour plus 2 Tab cornstarch = 1 c. pastry flour”. Thus, your 2 ½ cups pastry flour became 2 cups + 3 Tab all purpose flour, mixed with 1/4 cup + 1 Tab. cornstarch.
I’m a ‘senior citizen’ having done plenty of baking, including scones and yeast breads. I have to say your recipe produced one of the wet-ist, sticky-ist, most annoying doughs I’ve ever worked with. Yet, your ‘Tips” only said what to do if the dough was too dry.
Needless to say, I wouldn’t have made a second batch a few weeks later, if the first batch didn’t taste so good. This time, the butter was grated straight out of the freezer (worked great!) And the all-purpose flour was store-brand, not the name brand I used the first time. Heavily floured the cutting board, and my hands. If anything, this dough was a bit stickier. Still tasted great, and I waited for the scones to be cooler this time, before glazing.
The only Pastry flour the grocery store had was Whole Wheat Pastry flour. Any suggestions you could give me at this point would be most appreciated.
PS: If you use cardamom on a fairly regular basis, it pays to seek out an Indian/Pakistani grocery, or supermarket, in your area.
Kathy
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Kathy, I'm not sure if you looked at the ingredients list in the post, but it did say that if you don't have pastry flour just use all-purpose flour. I've made these scones with pastry flour (because I didn't have all-purpose flour on hand) and with all-purpose flour. Both ways the dough was not sticky at all (as seen in the step by step photos). Perhaps the substitutions you made caused this issue? Another cause would be using defrosted frozen figs and not straining the excess liquid. As for the frozen butter, yes you want to keep it frozen until you use it, otherwise it starts to defrost and you want it as cold as possible. Thanks for the tip regarding cardamom. Hopefully it will help some of the readers. I don't have such markets where I live in Montana so I have my sisters ship the spices I need from Chicago.
Stephanie says
wondering if these can be easily made with gluten-free flour?
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Stephanie, I've never tried making a gluten-free version, so I can't say for sure. You may want to stick to a gluten-free recipe. Good luck!
Kelly Methey says
I love scones and these are wonderful! They are so delicious, I just love the unique flavor they have. Thanks for another winning recipe, Hilda, I enjoyed them so much.
Hilda Sterner says
Thank you, always glad to bake scones for friends. Especially those who leave reviews! 😘
SK Hideaways says
I made these today (before you updated the recipe) and they are wonderful. I used just over 1/3 cup buttermilk and chilled the dough for about 10 minutes before shaping to reduce spreading, which worked well. After dicing the figs, I put them in the freezer for about 7 minutes to help keep them firmer and less like jam after baking. I also reduced the cardamom to 1/2 teaspoon and added 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, and used Fiori di Sicilia to amp up the orange flavor instead of plain vanilla -- both of these changes were just a matter of personal taste. I'd like to make them again with your changes -- I've never made scones with pastry flour, so would like very much to understand why you made that change (always learning!).
Hilda Sterner says
Hi Sharon, thank you for your comment! This is one of my oldest recipes that needed an update desperately. Some of the older posts get buried in all the other content and sometimes when I find them I'm shocked! So, since I didn't even have step by step photos, I knew it was time for an update but this time, with dried figs. I had some pastry flour on hand and decided I would make that substitute and a few other changes. Pastry flour has less protein than all-purpose flour. It's excellent when you want your final product to be light and flaky, especially in pie crusts, pastries, and biscuits. Since nobody likes a dense, hard scone, I though why not, let's try it! The end result was incredible. I actually considered adding cinnamon, but in the end I didn't. I'm sure that was a great addition. Also, smart move on chilling the figs!
Caroline C says
Our fig tree was loaded with tons of figs this year. Thanks for your recipe that I was able to use the figs to make delicious scone for family and friends. ♡♡♡
HildaSterner says
Thanks, Caroline, I'm glad you liked it! My fig tree had a late start, but it's doing pretty well now. Just froze some today, as a matter of fact! I'm going to need them when I make the final move from San Diego to Montana!