Crumbly Scones Recipes

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.

CRUMBLY SCONES

Steps:

• Sift the dry ingredients together.
• Cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Rub with the fingertips lightly. The mixture should resemble course crumbs. You can do this step in a food processor, but put the mixture into a bowl before adding the liquid.
• Add your liquid and mix lightly and gently with a butterknife or the fingertips. Don't over mix, this can create heavy scones.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press out gently into an oblong shape, about 20mm thick.
• Cut into squares or use a scone cutter.
• Pop them onto a baking tray. Brush the tops with a bit of milk and bake at 240C (475F) until done, about 10 minutes.
• VARIATIONS.
• Use 1/2 cup sour cream instead of the butter and the milk or milk and egg.
• Cheese scones: Add 1/2 cup finely grated cheddar and omit the sugar.
• Fruit scones: Add 1/2 cup raisins to the dough.

CRUMBLY CURRANT SCONES

Steps:

• Whisk flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs with a few large clumps. Fold in currants.
• Make a well in center of flour mixture; pour in 2 cups cream. Using your hands, draw dry ingredients over cream, gradually gathering and combining the dough until it just comes together. If it is too dry, add more cream, 1 tablespoon at a time.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. With lightly floured hands, gently pat dough into a 7-by-11-inch rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the rectangle into 16 triangles. Transfer triangles to baking sheets lined with parchment paper; cover with plastic wrap, and freeze until very firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly beat egg yolk with remaining 1/4 cup cream in a small bowl; brush over tops of scones. Sprinkle generously with sanding sugar, if desired. Bake until golden and flecked with brown spots, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer scones to a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature. Scones are best eaten the day they are baked.

SIMPLE SCONES

Steps:

• Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a medium bowl, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Grate butter into flour mixture on the large holes of a box grater; use your fingers to work in butter (mixture should resemble coarse meal), then stir in raisins.
• In a small bowl, whisk sour cream and egg until smooth.
• Using a fork, stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Use your hands to press the dough against the bowl into a ball. (The dough will be sticky in places, and there may not seem to be enough liquid at first, but as you press, the dough will come together.)
• Place on a lightly floured surface and pat into a 7- to 8-inch circle about 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.