Soft, crispy, flaky and delicious scones made with your sourdough discard. The nostalgic flavor of this homemade pastry is all things simple and sweet.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Sourdough Discard Nutella Scones
I’m always so impressed with how homemade scones come out. They are a pastry that I don’t normally get at a coffee shop – I’d rather reach for a muffin. But at home, I’ll make scones before I make a muffin. There is just nothing like it. And if you have a basic scone recipe, it only takes a couple of tweaks to turn it into whatever flavor you like! Hence, these Nutella scones. Nutella is our hyper fixation snack right now, however unhealthy that may be. We’re dipping graham crackers in Nutella, spreading it on toast, and now putting it in scones. And it is DELICIOUS!
🍲 Ingredients
Sourdough Discard – Unfed, inactive sourdough starter that’s being stored on the counter, or preferably from the fridge.
Butter – Cold, even frozen butter, is essential to achieving a flaky, tender scone.
Flour – We use Kirkland’s organic, all-purpose flour for all of our recipes, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Organic isn’t always necessary, but I do recommend using unbleached flour.
Yogurt – One, personal sized container of yogurt. I use Chobani Zero Sugar Vanilla yogurt. But you can also use 1/2 a cup of Greek yogurt.
Baking powder – This is the leavening agent for the scones, and what gives them their tender texture.
Nutella – Any kind of hazelnut spread works! I used good & gather from Target and would recommend!
👩🍳 How to Make Nutella Scones
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Grate your cold butter directly into the dry ingredients and mix together until all the butter is coated in flour. Make sure you leave the butter chunks intact, because this will turn into the flaky layers of the scone.
- Add in the sourdough discard and yogurt and mix until it comes together.
- Transfer your scone dough onto a clean workspace and work together with your hands. The dough will be a bit crumbly at first but as you work it together with your hands it will begin to come together.
- Once your batter is in a round shape, divide it into 3 equal sized portions.
- Roll each piece out into a small circle. (about 8 inches)
- Take one portion of the dough and lay it flat, spread the top with 1-2 tablespoons of Nutella. Take the second layer of the dough and place it directly on top, spread with another 1 – 2 tablespoons of Nutella. Place the last layer of dough on top and make sure all of the layers are even on the sides. It’s okay if some Nutella is peaking out of the sides, it will still bake up perfect.
- Using your bench scraper. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and transfer them to a small cast iron pan in a circle, or onto a baking sheet.
- Brush the top with heavy cream and place into the freezer for 15 – 20 minutes. (Placing your scone dough in the freezer will firm the butter back up since it probably softened a bit during the cutting and layering process)
- While the scones are in the freezer, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- When your scones are ready, take them directly from the freezer and into the oven to bake for 22-25 minutes.
- When the scones are done baking, transfer them to a wire cooling rack and drizzle with more Nutella if you like! Enjoy with a cup of coffee or an after – dinner snack 🙂
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- The key to beautiful, flaky scones is to use COLD butter. If you’re butter is not cold enough the scones will essentially “melt” and spread, rather than rise and become flaky. Since this recipe uses a little bit more time with the rolling and layering, I like to freeze them before I bake them, so the butter is sure to be cold. I recommend NOT skipping this step.
- Every oven is different, if your oven runs warmer and you see that the scones are turning dark too fast, adjust accordingly!
- I use a cheese grater to grate my butter. It’s a simple method using a versatile tool, but you can also use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour if you prefer.
- Try not to over work the dough with your hands, once it’s together, it’s good to go! This ensures it remains extra tender after baking.
🗒 Variations
I LOVE making scones and have so many unique variations for you to try if you like these!
🗒 Substitutions
Yogurt seems to be the number one substitution people ask about. You can either use heavy cream or sour cream as a substitution in the scones.
- Yogurt – heavy cream
🗒 Best served with
- Breakfast and a cup of coffee.
- Brunch spread
- After dinner treat.
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store your leftover scones in an airtight container on the counter for 2 – 3 days. Warm them up slightly before eating so they taste fresh.
Scones are also SO easy the freeze. Make a double batch of scones and while you’re freezing them for 15 minutes, bake one batch and transfer the other into a Ziplock bag and store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Bake them exactly as instructed, straight from the freezer!
🤔 Common Questions
The scone dough usually comes together after being worked with your hands. But if it’s still not coming together, add one tablespoon of cold water to the dough until it turns into a cohesive ball.
Sourdough Discard Nutella Scones
Equipment
- Cheese grater
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tbs baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 8 tbs cold butter grated
- 1 personal size container of Greek yogurt
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- ¼ cup Nutella hazelnut spread
- ¼ cup heavy cream for brushing on top
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Grate your cold butter directly into the dry ingredients and mix together until all the butter is coated in flour. Make sure you leave the butter chunks intact, because this will turn into the flaky layers of the scone.
- Add in the sourdough discard and yogurt and mix until it comes together.
- Transfer your scone dough onto a clean workspace and work together with your hands. The dough will be a bit crumbly at first but as you work it together with your hands it will begin to come together.
- Once your batter is in a round shape, divide it into 3 equal sized portions.
- Roll each piece out into a small circle. (about 8 inches)
- Take one portion of the dough and lay it flat, spread the top with 1-2 tablespoons of Nutella. Take the second layer of the dough and place it directly on top, spread with another 1 – 2 tablespoons of Nutella. Place the last layer of dough on top and make sure all of the layers are even on the sides. It's okay if some Nutella is peaking out of the sides, it will still bake up perfect.
- Using your bench scraper. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and transfer them to a small cast iron pan in a circle, or onto a baking sheet.
- Brush the top with heavy cream and place into the freezer for 15 – 20 minutes.
- (Placing your scone dough in the freezer will firm the butter back up since it probably softened a bit during the cutting and layering process)
- While the scones are in the freezer, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- When your scones are ready, take them directly from the freezer and into the oven to bake for 22-25 minutes.
- When the scones are done baking, transfer them to a wire cooling rack and drizzle with more Nutella if you like! Enjoy with a cup of coffee or an after – dinner snack 🙂
Container of Greek yogurt? 4.3 oz or large container
A small container or 1/2 cup of a large container. I use a personal size Chobani 0 sugar vanilla Greek yogurt.
How much sugar? It says sugar in the directions but I don’t see the measurements
1/4 cup granulated sugar 🙂
When you say brush the top with cream, do you mean heavy cream?
Yes, heavy cream. 🙂
Great recipe. I even added a little more Nutella 🤗
Sorry I’m a little confused….so 1/2 cup of yogurt total?
Yes, if you’re scooping from a large container. I use Chobani 0 sugar Greek yogurt single serving (5.3 oz) so it’s a little more than 1/2 cup.
Amazing! Loved by my family and book club. No crumbs left, no notes.
Thank you. I’m honored everyone loved them.