Classic Rich Scone Recipes

CLASSIC BRITISH SCONES RECIPE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450°F (425°F if using a fan oven).
• Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl.
• Add butter and using fingertips rub into flour until you get a fine breadcrumb consistency.
• Pour in milk (save a little bit to brush the top) and mix to a soft but not sticky dough (if too sticky add more flour).
• On a floured surface, press dough to 3/4" thickness.
• Use a 2 1/2" round cookie cutter and cut out 4 rounds.
• Re-ball the dough and press down again, then cut 2 more rounds.
• Put the rounds on a greased baking tray and brush the tops with the milk.
• Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 7 to 10 minutes until the scones are well risen and golden.

RICH CREAM SCONES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or rub in with your fingers. (The largest pieces should be the size of small peas.) With your fingertips, flatten butter pieces into small disks. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until butter is very firm, about 20 minutes.
• Combine cream and vanilla in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture with a wooden spoon until almost absorbed and dough just comes together. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface; roll out into an 8-by-10-inch rectangle. With a short side facing you, fold rectangle into thirds, as you would a letter. Rotate dough a quarter turn clockwise. Repeat rolling out, folding, and rotating dough 2 more times. With floured hands, pat out dough to a 1 1/4-inch thickness, and cut out as many rounds as possible with a floured 2 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter. Gather scraps, reroll once, and cut out more rounds (you should have a total of 12).
• Place scones 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Brush tops with cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on sheets. Serve warm or at room temperature.

CRUMBLIEST SCONES

Steps:

• First and foremost, brilliant scones are about having the confidence to do as little as possible, so do what I say and they'll be really great; and the second and third time you make them you'll get the dough into a solid mass even quicker, even better.
• Put the dried fruit into a bowl and pour over just enough orange juice to cover. Ideally, leave it for a couple of hours. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6.
• Put your butter, flour, baking powder, sugar and a good pinch of sea salt into a mixing bowl and use your thumbs and forefingers to break up the butter and rub it into the flour so you get little cornflake-sized pieces. Make a well in the middle of the dough, add the eggs and milk, and stir it up with a spatula.
• Drain your soaked fruit and add that to the mixture. Add a tiny splash of milk if needed, until you have a soft, dry dough. Move it around as little as possible to get it looking like a scruffy mass - at this point, you're done. Sprinkle over some flour, cover the bowl with clingfilm and pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes.
• Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it's about 2 to 3cm thick. With a 6cm round cutter or the rim of a glass, cut out circles from the dough and place them upside down on a baking sheet - they will rise better that way (so they say). Re-roll any offcuts to use up the dough.
• Brush the top of each scone with the extra milk or some melted butter and bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, or until risen and golden. At that point, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool down a little.
• Serve with clotted cream and a little jam or lemon curd.

CLASSIC CREAM SCONES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425F.
• Lightly butter a baking sheet. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and distribute them over the flour mixture. With a pastry blender or two knives used scissors fashion, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• In a small bowl, stir together the cream, egg, and vanilla.
• Add the cream mixture to the flour mixture and stir until combines.
• Stir in the currents/raisins (optional). With lightly floured hands, pat the dough into a 1/2-inch thickness on a lightly floured cutting board.
• Using a floured 2 1/2-inch-diameter round biscuit cutter or a glass, cut out rounds from the dough and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Gather the scraps together and repeat until all the dough is used.
• Lightly brush the tops of the scones with the egg mixture, if desired.
• Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
• Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes.
• Using a spatula, transfer the scones to the wire rack to cool.
• Serve warm or cool completely and store in an airtight container.
• Makes about 14 scones.
• Variation: Add about 1 1/2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel to the dry ingredients.
• My variation: Classic Scones 280 grams all-purpose flour 65 g granulated sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt 110 g unsalted butter, chilled 6 tablespoons milk 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar 125 g raisins Preheat oven to 220C.
• Directions as above.

CLASSIC SCONES WITH JAM & CLOTTED CREAM

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Tip the self-raising flour into a large bowl with ¼ tsp salt and the baking powder, then mix.
• Add the butter, then rub in with your fingers until the mix looks like fine crumbs. Stir in the caster sugar.
• Put the milk into a jug and heat in the microwave for about 30 secs until warm, but not hot. Add the vanilla extract and a squeeze of lemon juice, then set aside for a moment.
• Put a baking tray in the oven. Make a well in the dry mix, then add the liquid and combine it quickly with a cutlery knife - it will seem pretty wet at first.
• Scatter some flour onto the work surface and tip the dough out. Dredge the dough and your hands with a little more flour, then fold the dough over 2-3 times until it's a little smoother. Pat into a round about 4cm deep. Take a 5cm cutter (smooth-edged cutters tend to cut more cleanly, giving a better rise) and dip it into some flour. Plunge into the dough, then repeat until you have four scones. You may need to press what's left of the dough back into a round to cut out another four.
• Brush the tops with a beaten egg, then carefully arrange on the hot baking tray. Bake for 10 mins until risen and golden on the top. Eat just warm or cold on the day of baking, generously topped with jam and clotted cream. If freezing, freeze once cool. Defrost, then put in a low oven (about 160C/140C fan/gas 3) for a few minutes to refresh.

CLASSIC SCONES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°F. Sprinkle large rimmed baking sheet with flour. Whisk flour, sugar, and baking powder in large bowl. Whisk 3/4 cup milk, egg, and oil in small bowl to blend. Gradually add milk mixture to dry ingredients, tossing until moist clumps form and adding more milk by tablespoonfuls if dough is dry. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface; knead gently for several turns until dough comes together.
• Pat out dough to 1-inch-thick round. Using 2 1/2-inch-diameter cutter, cut out scones. Gather dough scraps; press out to 1-inch thickness and cut out more scones. Transfer to prepared sheet.
• Bake scones until golden on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 14 minutes. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to basket. Serve warm with butter, jam, and whipped cream.

THE BEST SCONES RECIPE

Steps:

• Dry ingredients: In a large bowl, combine 2 and 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar**, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 and 1/2 tablespoons baking powder.
• Wet ingredients: In another medium bowl, add 1 egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla (omit for savory scones), 1/3 cup cream and 1/3 cup sour cream. Whisk it together. Set aside.
• Cut in butter: Now back to the dry ingredients. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the COLD or frozen butter. You can also grate the butter using a cheese grater and mix it in that way. Cut the butter in until it is incorporated and there are still pieces of butter about the size of a pea. Don't overdo it! See photos.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to stir it together until it forms a shaggy dough.
• Coat your hands with flour and finish kneading the dough in as few strokes as possible. (Overworking the dough makes for a tough scone.) Use your hands to fold the dough on top of itself, creating more and more layers until it has come together and all the flour is incorporated. You can add a tablespoon or two of ice cold water if you think it's necessary. I try to get the dough to come together in 5-8 folds. Do your best and remember that you will get better with practice!
• Mix-ins: At this point add in any mix ins you plan to use. (If you want to add cream cheese like you can see in the photos, chop an 8 ounce block of cream cheese into 1/2 inch chunks. Coat with 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar in a bowl, making sure all the cream cheese is coated. Carefully fold into the dough.)
• Prepare a work space with plenty of flour. I like to use a pastry cloth. Transfer the dough to the work place and use your hands to shape the dough into a 6 to 8 inch circle. I like really thick, tall scones. The thicker your circle of dough is, the taller your scones will be. If you added mix ins, your circle will be a bit larger.
• Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut the circle in half. Cut each half into 3 equal triangles.
• Place on a baking sheet that has been lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Place the scones at least 3 inches apart from each other.
• Freeze for 30 minutes.*** If you don't have room in your freezer, you can put them in the fridge for 45 minutes. If you don't have room to chill a whole baking sheet, place the scones on a plate and then transfer to the baking sheet when they are frozen/cold.
• 15 minutes before the scones are done freezing, turn your oven on to 400 degrees F.
• Place the cold scones on a baking sheet if you haven't done so yet.
• Brush the top of each scone with cream. This will make the scones get nice and brown. Top each scone with coarse sugar if you like, or a bit of salt if you are doing savory scones.
• Bake: Put the scones in the oven and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
• Turn the heat down to 375 without opening the oven.**** Bake for another 8-15 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. DO NOT OVER BAKE. This is where the magic happens, so stay nearby. If you over bake your scones, they will be dry even if you did everything else right. If you are not sure, use a spatula to lift up one of the scones. If they are a nice golden brown on the bottom, they are done.
• Remove from the oven and let set up on the pan for 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
• Make the glaze: in a small bowl, whisk or use an electric beater to cream 2 tablespoons of very soft butter. Add 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 tablespoon milk. Whisk together and add more milk until you have a consistency you like. Drizzle over the tops of the scones and let harden (it usually takes 20-30 minutes.)
• Top your scones with butter and jam! They are great reheated in the microwave.
• Store scones covered on the counter for 2-4 days. They are best eaten on day 1 so that you can get those crispy edges. After storing for a while it's hard to avoid a bit of sogginess. (Starbucks solves this problem but leaving them out in the air, but then eventually the center gets dried out. So, pick your poison. Or just eat all 6 scones single handedly on day 1. No judgment here.)

BEST EVER CLASSIC SCONES

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a baking sheet or two (depending on how large your baking sheets are) by lining them with parchment paper. Set aside.
• In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix well with a fork or a whisk.
• In a liquid measuring cup, measure the cream and add the eggs. Whisk together using a fork and set aside.
• The next few steps should be done quickly, as you're working with cold butter and you want the butter to be as cold as possible when it hits the heat of the oven. This will result in a flaky scone, rather than a heavy and dense one.
• Cut up your butter, right from the fridge, into little pieces and dump it into the flour mixture. Using your hands (wash them well first and remove any rings), pick up handfuls of the butter and flour mixture, rubbing the pieces of butter and the flour between the heels of your hands to create "sheets" of butter. You should act quickly here, and don't allow the pieces of butter to sit in your hands for any length of time as the heat from your hands will cause it to soften. The goal is to create paper-thin pieces of butter, small and large throughout the mixture. Once there are no thick chunks of butter remaining, only thin sheets, remove your hands from the mixture. Hands equal heat, so handle the mixture as little as possible.
• Pour in the wet ingredients and mix roughly with a fork. Do not over mix, or the result will be heavy and dense.
• Once the wet ingredients have been incorporated but there are still several streaks of flour, turn the dough out onto a clean and floured counter surface. Press the dough down into the counter and then fold one half over the other half like you are folding a piece of paper. Press down again and make another fold. Repeat this 2 or 3 more times, gathering any outlying dough bits and flour into your folds. Don't knead the dough like you would if you were making bread, and don't stir or mix the dough like you would if you were making muffins. Scones are technically a pastry, so the goal is flaky layers that are created by the thin sheets of butter and all the folding.
• Once your dough is formed after folding several times, shape it into a rectangle about 1 3/4 to 2 inches thick (approximately). Again, be careful not to handle the dough too much, so a few little cracks here and there are fine.
• Cut out circles of dough using a biscuit cutter or the rim of a class or jar. Arrange the circles of dough on the parchment-lined baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg wash (whisk together the egg and water).
• You'll need to re-shape the leftover dough to form another rectangle - do this carefully and gently, without adding much extra flour if possible. The less you handle the dough, the more tender and flaky the scones will be. Cut out the remainder of the scones until you have about 10-12 in total.
• Bake for about 15-18 minutes just until barely golden brown and the surface of the scones lose their shine. Let them cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely.

CLASSIC SULTANA SCONES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 and lightly grease a baking tray.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour, baking powder & salt mixture.
• Stir the sugar and sultanas into the flour mixture.
• Add enough yogurt or other liquid to the dry ingredients to form a soft dough: you may not need all of the 150ml, so add gradually without making the dough too wet.
• Lightly knead the dough on a floured surface then roll out no thinner than 2 - 3 cm.Cut out scones, re-rolling the scraps to make more. A 7cm cutter should make 8-9 scones.Place the cut out scones on the greased baking tray.
• Brush a little yogurt thinned with water (or the other liquid you used) over the tops of the scones then sprinkle with sugar.
• Place in the pre-heated oven and bake until risen and golden (10-15 min).
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little.
• Serve slightly warm, split and spread with butter plus cream and jam if liked.
• If not using straight away, cool completely before storing in an airtight container or freezing.

CLASSIC CREAM SCONES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
• Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into the dry mixture using a pastry cutter (or very quickly with your fingertips). Add the cream and the eggs, stirring together into a dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into an 8- to 9-inch-wide, 1/2-inch-thick circle. Cut into 8 triangles. Spread the triangles across the tray. Bake until toasted on the bottom and lightly golden on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

CLASSIC CHEESE SCONES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 with a large baking tray inside. Sift the flour, salt, cayenne pepper and baking powder into a bowl, then sift again to make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
• Add the butter to the bowl and combine with your fingertips to make breadcrumbs. Sprinkle 100g of the cheese into the breadcrumb mixture and rub together until evenly distributed. Try not to mix too much as the heat from your hands may start to melt the butter.
• Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in enough milk to give a fairly soft but firm dough. Do not pour in all the milk at once as you may not need it all to get the right consistency.
• Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough to approximately 2cm thick. Cut out the scones with a medium (about 8cm) cutter, then put on a sheet of baking parchment, glaze with a little milk and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Slide onto the hot oven tray.
• Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown and cooked through.

CLASSIC BUTTERMILK SCONES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease baking pan (I use 1 large cookie sheet, you may need to use 2 depending on how big your pan is) and set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine 3 cups flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda.
• Add the 3/4 cup butter and cut with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture looks coarse (you should see pieces of butter/flour "balls" about the size of chickpeas).
• Make a well in the middle and add 1 cup buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Don't over mix. Now is the time to add chocolate chips or other goodies, if using.
• Transfer the dough to a floured surface and divide into 2 equal parts. Lightly knead each into 3/4 inch thick, 6-inch diameter rounds. Cut each round into 8 wedges and place on your prepared baking pans. Space them out evenly, about 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Each oven is different and they brown pretty quickly so watch the oven (don't leave!).
• Take out of the oven and serve warm.

CLASSIC RICH SCONE RECIPE

Steps:

• 1. Heat oven to 220°C / 425°F / Gas Mark 7 2. Grease baking tray (Or use a greaseproof silicone sheet if you have one!) 3. Mix Flour and salt together, followed by rubbing the margarine so it forms a breadcrumb like consistency. 4. Add in sugar and fruit if you're using it. 5. Add egg and milk, reserving a little for brushing the tops. 6. Knead and fold lightly on a floured surface 7. Roll / pat out to 1cm (1/2 inch) in thickness and cut into 6.5cm (1/2 inch) rounds. - This is easily customisable, I never use the exact measurements. 8.Re-Roll out any trimmings and cut further rounds if you can. Any remaning can just be put into a ball and added onto the tray as to not make any waste! 9. Brush the tops of the scones with the egg / milk mixture (lightly) This will make sure they're nice and browned on the top. 10. Bake for around 10 minutes. 11. Once finished put onto a wire rack and cool. Serve with a dollop of Jam and cream!