Scones – the amazing Scottish, English, and Irish teatime treat – are now an American breakfast staple. Americans enjoy their scones much sweeter than they do overseas (and we eat ours without the clotted cream and jam, which is just sad). The recipes are slightly different as a result. This post explains the how and what of making excellent American-style scones.

Scones are a type of biscuit and the same rules for making great biscuits apply equally well to scones:

Biscuit  method (solid fat is”cut” into flour by hand):

• This mixing method is best done by hand.
• The fat is always a solid fat and is cut or rubbed into flour by hand until it is in pea-sized pieces. It is important all ingredients are very cold
• Buttermilk biscuits, cornbread biscuits, and scones are examples of quick breads made using the biscuit   method.

When making scones, the basic steps are these:

1. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients.
2. Work in the cold/ frozen butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. CHILL.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the heavy cream, egg, and extracts. Pour liquid ingredients into dry ingredients, add extras, and mix until a shaggy dough has been created.
4. Dump dough out onto a lightly floured surface and work into a disc. Once you have your disc, cut into 8 triangles and place on the baking sheet, spread out so that all the edges will get nice and crispy. CHILL.
5. Brush the tops with egg wash or heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes in a well-preheated oven..
6. Drizzle on the yummy while still warm but not HOT.

Recipes

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Master Scone Recipe

From Sally's Baking Addiction – an excellent all-around American-style scone recipe.

Course Breakfast, Brunch, Quick Breads

Cuisine English, Irish, Scottish

Keyword Culinary 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour 250g, plus more for hands and work surface
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar 100g
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, frozen 1 stick; 115g
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or buttermilk (plus 2 Tbsp for brushing) about 120ml
• 1 large egg
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 – 1½ cups add-ins currants, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, nuts, citrus peel, etc
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon coarse sugar
• 1 teaspoon turbinado sugar or other coarse sugar
• optional: toppings such as vanilla icing, salted caramel, lemon icing, maple icing, brown butter icing, lemon curd, orange icing, raspberry icing, dusting of confectioners’ sugar

Instructions

• Sift flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. Place in the refrigerator or freezer while mixing wet ingredients together.
• Whisk 1/2 cup heavy cream, egg, and vanilla. Drizzle over the flour mixture, toss add-ins into bowl, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
• Dump contents onto bench and, with floured hands, work dough into a ball. Dough will be sticky. Press into an 8-inch disc and refrigerate overnight or continue with next step.
• With a sharp knife or bench scraper, cut into 8 wedges. Brush scones with remaining heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
• Arrange scones 2-3 inches apart on a parchment lined half sheet and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat conventional oven to 400°F (375°F convection).
• Bake for 18-26 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and top. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes.
• Drizzle with vanilla glaze or whatever topping desired.

History & Background

Scones are traditionally connected with Scotland, Ireland and England, but exactly who deserves the honor of invention, no one knows for sure. Scones may well have originated in Scotland since the first known print reference, in 1513, is from a Scottish poet.

Scones are related to the ancient Welsh tradition of cooking small round yeast cakes (leavened breads) on bakestones, and later on griddles. One claim, says scones are named for the Stone (scone) of Destiny, a stone upon which Scottish kings once sat when they were crowned. Other contenders include the Gaelic “sgonn” (rhymes with gone), a shapeless mass or large mouthful; the Dutch “schoonbrot,” fine white bread; and the closely-related German “sconbrot,” fine or beautiful bread.

Today’s scones are quick breads, similar to American biscuits. They are traditionally made with wheat flour, sugar, baking powder or baking soda, butter, milk and eggs, and baked in the oven—both in the traditional wedge form and in round, square and diamond shapes. Traditional English scones may include raisins or currants, but are often plain, relying on jam, preserves, lemon curd or honey for added flavor—perhaps with a touch of clotted cream.

Fancy scones—with dried fruit such as cranberries and dates, nuts, orange rind, chocolate morsels and other flavorings—are best enjoyed without butter and jam.

European scones are served with clotted cream, also called clabbered creme and clabber cream (clabber is an archaic word for a cupboard or pantry). It is a thick, yellowish, cooked cream product that originated in the counties of Devon and Cornwall in Southwest England (hence the name Devon cream for the same product produced in Devon). Clotted cream is produced by cooking heavy cream until it begins to caramelize and form a golden crust, is as thick as soft butter, but tastes like cream.

In the U.K., plain or currant scones are traditionally served with afternoon tea. First, the scones are spread with jam or lemon curd, then topped with a dollop of clotted cream. This is known as cream tea or Devonshire tea. In the U.S., where afternoon tea is a rare event, scones have joined muffins and croissants as a breakfast/brunch bread alternative, and as a snack bread.

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