Scone vs. Muffin: What’s the Difference?

A scone is a dough and a muffin is a batter, and almost every difference between them follows from that. Scones are made by working cold butter into flour, adding just enough milk or cream to bring it together, then shaping and cutting by hand. They bake on a flat tray into a firm, lightly sweet wedge or round that is meant to be split and topped. Muffins start as a pourable batter with more liquid, more sugar, and melted butter or oil. They bake in a tin into a soft, domed, cake-like crumb that you eat as it is.

We will be upfront about where we stand. A muffin is breakfast on the way somewhere. A scone is something you sit down for. You split it, top it, pour a cup of coffee or tea, and give it a few minutes of your morning, usually with someone across the table. That difference is why we built a whole bakery around scones.

Is a scone a dough or a batter?

A dough. Cold butter is rubbed or cut into the flour until it looks like coarse crumbs, then a small amount of liquid brings it together. The dough is handled as little as possible, patted out, and cut, which keeps the crumb close and tender.

A muffin is a batter. The wet ingredients are stirred into the dry ones only until they are combined, lumps and all. Overmixing makes muffins tough, so the goal is to stop early and get the batter into the tin.

Which is sweeter, a scone or a muffin?

Usually the muffin. A traditional British scone carries very little sugar, and most of the sweetness comes from what goes on top. An American muffin is sweeter all the way through, closer to a small cake. Many American bakeries make sweeter scones with fruit, chocolate, or a glaze, and savory scones are a category of their own. Our guide to savory scones covers that side.

How is the texture different?

A scone is sturdy, with crisp edges and a close, tender crumb that breaks apart rather than peeling into layers. It is drier by design, because it is built to carry butter, clotted cream, and jam. We think that is the scone's best quality. It is made to carry whatever you put on top, and it holds up. A muffin is moist and springy with an even, fine crumb and a rounded top. It does not need anything added to it.

How do you eat each one?

Split a scone horizontally with your hands or a knife, then top each half. Clotted cream and jam is the classic pairing, and it is the heart of a cream tea. Butter works too. A muffin is usually eaten as it is, sometimes warmed with a little butter. Both go well with a cup of coffee, and we wrote a whole guide to pairing coffee and scones. Eating a scone well takes a little ritual, and the ritual is the point.

Where does the English muffin fit in?

It is a different food from both. An English muffin is a yeast-raised bread cooked on a griddle, then split and toasted. It is closer to bread than to a scone or an American muffin. In Britain, "muffin" often means this griddle bread, which is one reason the word causes confusion across the Atlantic.

Scone, muffin, or biscuit?

Of the three, the Southern biscuit is the scone's closest relative, since both start with cold fat worked into flour. The details are in our post on scone vs. biscuit. If you are new to scones altogether, start with what a scone is.

Why scones get a whole bakery

Savannah Scone Company started in a home kitchen, with friends gathered around the kitchen table as the first taste testers, and moved into a commercial space on 65th Street when demand outgrew it. That Midtown Bakeshop, at 713 E 65th Street, is still where every scone is shaped by hand. It is open Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 1pm, and our Downtown Coffee Shop & Scone Shop at 31 W Congress Street is open Monday through Saturday, 8am to 1pm. We rotate through over 200 scone flavors throughout the year, and this week's menu shows what is on the board now.

A muffin is easy to find anywhere. A good scone is worth seeking out, and worth sending. Our scones ship nationwide through Goldbelly, so the ritual can travel to anyone who misses Savannah.

And our answer to the muffin? The Scuffin: scone dough pressed into a muffin tin and filled. Here is how a Scuffin is made.