In my video and recipe, I’ll show you How to Make Authentic English Scones using this Easy Traditional Recipe. These baked delights are so tasty and so similar to what you might find in England, that when you bite into one, you’ll think you’re enjoying afternoon tea in London!
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Table of Contents
- Imperial War Museum Scones? Yes!
- My Love of Scones
- Thanks to My Friends from “Across the Pond”
- Scones Couldn’t Be Easier
- More Baking Videos
- Grind Your Own Flour with the Mockmill
- Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
- Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy
- Kitchen Pioneer Videos
- Authentic English Scones Recipe
- Favorite Bread Making Supplies
Imperial War Museum Scones? Yes!
The last time my husband, son, and I were in London, we visited the Imperial War Museum (IWM). This museum gives visitors such a rich and amazing history, but we also discovered something very unexpected. You can enjoy a gloriously gourmet meal at the IWM cafe! And the highlight of our meal? The scones! (I share pictures of the museum and my cafe treat in my scones recipe video.)
My Love of Scones
I have always loved scones, and so has my mom. Even though she is Italian, she loved touring England, Ireland, and Scotland with my Irish father enjoying scones and tea at every chance she got! So I certainly inherited my love of this baking treat from her…and I bet my English great-grandmother had something to do with it!
Thanks to My Friends from “Across the Pond”
I have to extend many thanks to my British friends who were kind to share with me what they consider the quintessential English scones recipe. And I must say…these came pretty darn close to those delicious morsels we enjoyed in London!
Now, I have to warn you…this recipe is VERY generous! It calls for 8 cups of flour! But don’t worry. You can easily split this recipe in half, but to be honest with you, I would recommend making the entire batch, which depending on what sized biscuit cutter you use, will yield somewhere between 18-24 scones.
You might be saying…24 scones! Saints preserve us! But trust me, these baked delights are so delicious that they are going to disappear fast. Since these scones are an occasional treat in our kitchen, we make the most of them when they make their appearance! 😉
However, if you want to savor them over an extended period, the scones freeze beautifully for up to three months. Once defrosted, they are almost as good as the day they were baked!
Scones Couldn’t Be Easier
Be sure to watch the scones recipe video and print out the recipe, so you can start baking your own authentic English scones and enjoy a delightful afternoon teatime treat! And keep an eye out for a future video where I’ll share how to make another English teatime classic—clotted cream! In the meantime, you can make this very tasty low-sugar strawberry jam to top your scones!
More Baking Videos
Now that you’ve mastered the art of making traditional English scones, be sure to try your hand at Lemon Tea Cake, which is also perfect for your afternoon tea! And for some quintessential American baked goods, be sure to make Super Soft Sandwich Bread, both white and whole wheat, and a High Rising Banana Bread. You can even learn water bath canning by making the low-sugar strawberry jam that I mentioned earlier. Enjoy!!
Update: Learn How to Make English Clotted Cream with this easy recipe that is perfect for topping Homemade Authentic English Scones.
Grind Your Own Flour with the Mockmill
When it comes to electric grain mills, after I did A LOT of research, I decided to buy a Mockmill. And am I so happy I did! The Mockmill is a very affordable but beautifully crafted German-made mill that stone grinds grain with settings ranging from 1 to 10—fine to coarse ground grain.
Learn more about Mockmill electric grain mills for making fresh flour and their Flake Lover’s Flaker that flakes whole grain in minutes. (This is not a sponsored post, I bought the Mockmill products that I show you, and I’m a happy user of their devices in my kitchen.)
- Mockmill 100 Grain Mill unboxing
- Get the Mockmill 100 Stone Grain Mill (Same product I show you my unboxing video.)
- Flake Lover’s Flaker from Mockmill in action (Using this device, you can flake whole grain in minutes.)
Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!
And if you’re looking for a printed book full of my traditional foods recipes to show you how to create a traditional foods kitchen, be sure to order your copy of my new bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook.
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Kitchen Pioneer Videos
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Authentic English Scones
Equipment
- Baking sheet, parchment lined or buttered
- Biscuit cutter, preferably fluted, approximately 2 1/4 inches to 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
Ingredients
- 8 cups Self-rising flour All-purpose or "plain" flour can be made into self-rising flour and substituted for store-bought self-rising flour in this recipe. See Recipe Notes below for how to make proper adjustments.
- 1 cup Butter, unsalted and softened to room temperature
- 1 tablespoon Baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Raisins, currants, or other small dried fruit
- 1 3/4 cup Milk, preferably full-fat Low-fat or fat-free kinds of milks can be substituted, however, the consistency of the scone will not be as rich.
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 Egg When dividing this recipe in half, do not divide the egg. You will be adding one egg, even though you will be cutting all the other ingredients in half.
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add in butter and work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles sand. (See video.)
- In a measuring cup or bowl, mix the milk, sugar, egg, and vanilla together and whisk well until fully incorporated.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients, reserving a few tablespoons of the milk mixture that you will later use to brush the scones.
- Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until the dry ingredients are completely coated with the wet ingredients, and the wet ingredients have been completely absorbed by the dry ingredients. The mixture will resemble coarse crumbs.
- Dump the mixture out onto a flat surface and knead the dough together into a ball, but do not overwork the dough. Once the dough comes together, stop kneading. This process generally takes about 20 turns.
- Flour your work surface and a rolling pin, and roll the dough out to about a 1-inch thickness.
- Use a fluted biscuit cutter that is approximately 2 1/4 inches to 2 1/2 inches in diameter to cut out your scones. (If you do not have a fluted biscuit cutter, you can use a plain sided biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass turned upside down.) Place cut-out scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet or a baking sheet that has been greased with butter. Reroll scraps of dough and continue to cut-out scones until all the dough has been cut into scones.
- After you've transferred the cut-out scones to the baking sheet, brush each scone with the remaining milk, sugar, and egg mixture.
- Place the baking sheet into the preheated oven and bake scones for approximately 8 minutes.
- After 8 minutes, rotate the baking sheet and continue to bake scones for another 8 minutes until the scones are golden brown on top.
- When the scones are done, remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the scones to a wire cooling rack and allow them to cool completely. Once cooled, the scones can be sliced in half and topped with clotted cream and strawberry jam for a delightful afternoon teatime treat. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Favorite Bread Making Supplies
Favorite Bread Making Supplies
- Baking Apron
- Fluted Biscuit Cutter
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- 10-Piece Glass Bowl Set
- Danish Dough Whisk
- Plastic Bench Scrape
- Metal Bench Scrape
- Metal Loaf Pans
- Cast-Iron Dutch Oven
- Baking Stone
Favorite Baking Yeast Supplies
- SAF Instant Yeast
- SAF Premium Instant Yeast
- SAF Gold Instant Yeast
- Red Star Active Dry Yeast
- Fleischmann’s Active Dry Yeast
- Bob’s Red Mill GLUTEN FREE Active Dry Yeast
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Hey 😁 cannot wait time try this recipe along with the clotted cream, so glad I found you. Now with the scones can you use fresh fruit like blackberries, strawberries or blueberries? Thank you so much😊
Hi Tami, Yes, I think fresh fruit would work too. Will probably be delicious! Love, Mary
Can you hold the batter and not make them right away, like within a week. If I decided to make half and save some back? Thank you
Great question. I’m not sure. I have never tried it. You will need to experiment. Are you in our FB group – Mary’s Nest Modern Pioneers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/171869080205145/?source_id=210509998974645 Come join us. Love, Mary
Scones turned out great. I made 1/3 of the recipe. Wife really enjoyed them. The only thing I can’t find is your recipe for the clotted cream. I looked everywhere. Can you point me in the right direction? Thanks Al.
Hi Al, Please forgive the delay. Here’s the recipe: https://youtu.be/weTbn-6PGw8 Love, Mary