Scones are a buttery baked good that are often served at brunches or as a dessert. They are easy to whip up quickly and in large batches, making them a desirable treat for get-togethers and potlucks. Check out how to make delicious scones, and what you can add to them to diversify their flavor:
How To Make The Best Scone
Ingredients:
- Two cups all-purpose flour
- Eight tablespoons cold butter
- One egg
- ¼ cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- A third of a cup sugar
- One teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup raisins
- One orange, zested, but not juiced.
- Salt to taste
- Grated cheese (optional)
Instructions:
- In a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and baking soda
- Use a grater or microplane to grind the butter into the mix and stir. The finished mix should almost have a cornmeal-like consistency.
- Add, the raisins and mix them in
- In a separate bowl, mix the cream, buttermilk and egg together
- Slowly stir in the buttermilk mix into the flour mixture
- Using your hands, knead and press the dough together
- Separate the dough into two pieces and roll each piece out onto a flour-coated surface until they're both half an inch thick
- Cut the dough into wedges
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Place the dough wedges onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, making sure to leave space between them because they will expand.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
- If you plan to put grated cheese on the scones, sprinkle it onto the scones with five minutes left in the cooking time so the cheese won't burn.
Variations
While the base ingredients of scones will always be the same, adding different ingredients to your scones can drastically change the flavor. Check out some simple additions you can give this baked good to take it to the next level:
Mocha Scones
A great baked treat to have in the early morning, this recipe infuses scones with coffee and semi-sweet chocolate chips. On top of the batter, these scones have a delicious glaze made of the same ingredients to perfect this very sweet breakfast snack.
Blueberry Lemon Scones
For this scone, just replace the oranges with lemons and the raisins with blueberries. The sweetness of the blueberries paired with the lightness and acidity of the lemon juice makes for a delicious combo. For an extra kick of lemon, sprinkle some juice on top of the scones.
Cranberry Orange Scones
The citrus and cranberries complement each other in this scone recipe. All you have to do is add an additional orange to the standard recipe, and instead of zesting the fruits, juice them. Then, switch out the raisins for cranberries and you have a simple variation with a very different, explosive flavor.