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5 from 1 vote

Authentic English Scones

Learn how to make this quintessential afternoon teatime treat!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time16 minutes
Total Time31 minutes
Course: Breads
Cuisine: English
Servings: 24 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

How to Make Self-Rising Flour:  To make 8 cups of self-rising flour, take 7 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour and add 12 teaspoons of baking powder and 2 teaspoons salt (fine salt).  Sift this mixture together very well and proceed with recipe.
Find this recipe and video at https://marysnest.com/how-to-make-authentic-english-scones/
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