These dense, rich scones can be made with a variety of flavors, and they are SO good!
One month ago I could say that I had never even tasted a scone before, much less made one. Today I made nearly 80 of them and they are one of my new favorite treats!
About a month ago, I offered to help with a baby shower for my friend Heather. I asked if they needed help with food, thinking cake or cupcakes or fancy cookies- typical shower requests. Heather’s mom Sharla explained that they were having an English tea for Heather and could I please make scones?
Scones…? I agreed and started to read up on scones. They sounded difficult. They sounded dry and crumbly and b-o-o-o-ring…. yawn.
I started with a basic recipe for chocolate chip scones. I won’t tell you where I got it, because it wasn’t very good. At the time, I thought it must just be how scones are supposed to be (since I’d never tasted one before). Yuck.
I was explaining my dislike for scones in a group of friends one night, and one family started protesting that they make the best scones ever. The mom (my friend Beth), got the recipe from her mother-in-law, who sold them in a tea shop she ran years ago.
It sounded promising, and Beth sent me home armed with the recipe, tips and two scone pans (I didn’t even know those existed, but I LOVE them!).
I started with Apricot White Chocolate Scones, and the rest is history. I love them. They are easier than cookies and so much yummier!
Here is how to make them: (printable recipe)
You really need to have a pastry cutter
INGREDIENTS:
- 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 4 teaspoons of baking powder (fresh!)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup of dried fruit, chocolate chips, nuts, or any combination of those three
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) of cold butter
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 3/4 cup of whipping cream
- Milk (as needed)
- Sugar/ Cinnamon to sprinkle on top.
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, and spray pan (or sheet) liberally with cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- Add stick of butter and cut into crumb-like pieces using the pastry cutter.
- Add nuts or chips (if using) and toss together with dry mixture until coated.
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix together whipping cream and eggs until well combined.
- Add dried fruit (if using) and toss together with wet mixture until coated.
- Make a “well” in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it.
- Combine and then gently knead with hands until it holds together in a ball. Add milk if mixture is too dry (this is most often the case when no fruit is added). Don’t over-knead this dough (you’ll melt all those little pieces of butter with the heat of your hands!)
- If using a scone pan, set aside about 1/4 of the dough to bake in a second batch. I overfilled my pan and they rose too high (as you can see in my pictures). When I made them for the shower, I used less dough and it was perfect!
- Press remaining dough into a square on a floured counter and cut into triangles as shown (I used a pizza cutter and a knife- both worked fine).
- Set into pan (or on cookie sheet) and brush tops with milk. Sprinkle with sugar (I used cinnamon and sugar).
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.
- Allow them to cool in pan for about 5 minutes and pop out with forks.
- Enjoy!!!
My thoughts: Goodness…this sounds complicated, doesn’t it? I thought so too, but now that I’ve made a bunch of them I really do think they are easier than cookies! Today for the shower I made 4 kinds. I added white chocolate chips and apricots to the first (I cut the dried apricots into smaller pieces using kitchen scissors). I added dried berried (cherries, blueberries and cranberries) to the second. I added mini chocolate chips to the third, and I added Hershey’s cinnamon chips to the fourth.
Here’s Heather, the beautiful mom-to-be at her English tea baby shower- SO much fun! Enjoy!!~r
Other fun shower desserts here at Easybaked (click on a photo to see the recipe):
EASYBAKED 
hi Ruthanne,
I made the creamy coconut cheesecake yesterday and once I had added the cheesecake batter to the macaroon layer, I realized the recipe did not include the chocolate, or vanilla so I had to improvise.. Can you please revise the recipe and republish it so I know I am doing it correctly next time?
Hi Marjorie- I saw your comment and panicked- I’m always so afraid of typos!! I went back, and I think the recipe is ok though? I see both chocolate and vanilla in the ingredients and directions…? I’m not sure which part you are seeing an error in? Sorry!!!
Why does the recipe call for heavy cream and not whole milk or any milk for that matter. Can you substitute regular milk?
It calls for heavy cream because that is the way the person who created it wrote it? So if you wanted to use regular milk you can, but it would be an experiment. Usually I create my own recipes and I can tell you why I use what I do, but this recipe was given to me and I’m not terribly experienced at scones. I just know that the way it is written makes some really yummy scones!! 🙂
when I make scones, I pat the dough out into a circle and cut the dough like a pie and bake. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a scone pan! I have a Quaker Oats recipe book that the recipe is in. they are delicious.
That was what my 1st recipe had me do- and it worked well too- they just didn’t stay as moist.
OMG these are the most hideous looking scones! Scones are round. Please only use an English recipe.
Lol! Well, I’m sorry that you think they look hideous…? They are really, really good! I did consider using an English recipe, but everything I read about the differences said that English scones are pretty plain and more like an American biscuit than a dessert. I was looking for a dessert recipe with fun add-ins like fruit and chocolate, so I chose an American recipe. You should try them- you might really like American scones…you could always cut them into circles if it makes you feel better about them 🙂
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Hi Ruthanne….I’m Sharla’s cousin, and I’m thrilled to get your scone recipe. I fell in love with them many moons ago in London, but have never made them, mostly because I was afraid I wouldn’t know how to choose a good authentic recipe! I’ve printed yours and really am going to try them for myself. I noted on my paper copy the various dried fruits and chips you used.
Well, I’m guessing from previous comments, that these aren’t an authentic English recipe, but I’m pretty sure you will fall in love with these- they are one of my favorite recipes right now 🙂 Enjoy!!!!!
Hi Ruthanne…..It’s me again. I tried the scones. I have obviously done a couple of things wrong. Perhaps my baking powder was old (but it passed the “fizzle test”). How large should the dough square be out of which I should cut the 16 pieces and/or how thick should this dough be before cutting? Maybe my square was too large though I did get 16-18 pieces (a couple weren’t perfect ha). The finished scone was pretty much tasteless even with just less than a cup of assorted dried fruit, and it was about 1/4 – 3/8 inch high. It tasted more like a dry biscuit. My baking time was correct. Can you tell what I did wrong? Or just maybe Martha Stewart I’m not? LOL Thanks!
I researched traditional English scones, it’s basically the same as a baking powder biscuit, not high on the flavor scale, it’s what you add to them and/or the jam and clotted cream and all the other goodies that you serve them with that gives them flavor.
Yes- that is what I read about them too. There’s probably a place for them both, depending on what you are making them for.
Well, I’m not sure I can help, but I will try! You do need fresh baking powder- every recipe I tried emphasized that. I recommended using a scone pan and the one I used was 10″x10″, so I pressed the dough (3/4 of it!) into a 10″x10″ square- it was about an 1/2″ to 1″ thick…? I’m betting that the size you cut them wasn’t the issue though. You may have kneaded it too much. Everything I read said that those little chunks of butter in the batter need to stay intact because as the scone bakes, the butter melts and makes steam that causes the scone to rise. Mine doubled in height when they baked. Use cold butter, and when you knead it all together at the end, do it just until its combined and holding together. Adding a little milk, as suggested, helps too.
I think that scones are typically dry and biscuit-like, but I was impressed by how (relatively) moist these were. Hope this helps!
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