Did you know? "The original scone was round and flat, usually the size of a small plate." Well Wikipedia says "It was made with unleavened oats and baked on a griddle (or girdle, in the Scots language), then cut into triangle-like quadrants for serving." Today, many would call the large round cake a bannock, and call the quadrants scones. In Scotland, the words are often used interchangeably.
Scones sold commercially are usually round in shape. When prepared at home, they take various shapes including triangles, rounds and squares. The baking of scones at home is often closely tied to heritage baking. They tend to be made from family recipes rather than recipe books, since it is often a family member who holds the "best" and most treasured recipe in their files.
According to American food guru Alton Brown, scones are prepared according to the "biscuit method". This involves "cutting" or "rubbing" the butter or other fat into the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients to form the dough. The dough is then shaped, and scones are cut out, placed on a baking sheet, and baked in a hot oven. As mentioned above, drop scones and griddle scones are instead fried on a griddle.
Basic & Common Scone Recipe:
1 cup flour (100 g)
1 tsp baking powder (5 g)
1 pinch salt
2 Tbs butter (50 g)
1 Tbs sugar (50 g)
½ cup milk (125 ml) + extra milk for glazing
Preheat the oven to 450° F (225° C). Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Rub in butter. Add sugar. Add the milk and mix with a knife until obtaining a soft, not sitcky, dough. Turn the dough on to a lightly floured board and knead it quickly until it is smooth. Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch (12 mm) thickness. Cut 16 rounds with 2 inch fluted cookie cutter and transfer them to a buttered cookie sheet. glaze tops with milk. Bake towards top of the hot oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until well risen and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
Serve tea scones with butter, whipped cream, and jam.
Variations
- Raisin scones - add 1-2 Tbs raisins with the sugar.
- Lemon and raisin scones - add 1 tsp finely grated lemon peel and 1-2 Tbs raisins with the sugar.
- Orange and cherry scones - add 1 tsp finely grated orange peel and 1-2 Tbs finely chopped candied cherries, washed and dried, with the sugar.
- Date and walnut scones - add 1 Tbs finely chopped dates and 1 Tbs finely chopped shelled walnuts with the sugar.
- Cinnamon scones - sift 1 tsp cinnamon with the flour.
- Ginger scones - sift 1/2 tsp ground ginger with flour.
- Honey scones - use 1 Tbs honey and 7 Tbs milk instead of 1 cup milk.
- Chocolate chip - 2 tbs choclate chips
More Scone Recipes: plus great photos so you know how they should look!
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You may also want to research:
Bannock / Biscuit / Southern Buttermilk Biscuit / Farl / Griddle scone / Oatcake / Quickbread / Shortcake / Tattie scone / Welsh cake /
See also:
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What should it look like?
Any Shape or Size is correct! Triangle, round, square, flower shaped, flat or tall- it's all correct!
Servings: 6
Yield: about 6 scones
