An authentic British Scone is the perfect accompaniment to your warming cup of tea, particularly if you have some clotted cream and jam to serve it with!
What Is A Scone?
When you hear the word “scone” do you think of a fancy British tea-time spread? Or do you think of the sugar-dusted pastries in the Starbucks display case that you might be tempted to grab to go along with your morning coffee?
Authentic British scones aren’t eaten for breakfast. Rather, they are served with tea as a light snack during “cream tea” (not to be confused with “afternoon tea”, which includes more savory nibbles to hold you over between lunch and dinner).
British scones are small nibbles that are fairly plain on their own, but are classically eaten with jam and clotted cream, making for a real treat.
Is A Scone A Biscuit?
When you first try an authentic British scone, you might be tempted to think of it as a biscuit. (Unless, of course, you’re from the southern US, where biscuit-making is an art. No real scone would fool a Southerner as a biscuit, that’s for sure.)
But, you can’t deny that the two are similar.
The basic ingredients for biscuits and scones really are the same: flour, leavening, a little salt, some fat, milk, and maybe a little sugar. The process too is similar: cut the fat into the dry ingredients, add the liquid, roll, and bake.
The difference comes down to a subtly in texture and how they are served.
British scones are more dense, slightly drier, and more crumbly than biscuits. They typically contain much less butter that biscuits as well.
While biscuits most likely originated from the British scone, they have been transformed and are now the scone’s buttery cousin. Because of the extra butter, biscuits should be light and fluffy with tender layers.
While scones are spread with jam and clotted cream, biscuits more commonly find themselves in savory applications, like with sausage gravy or an egg and bacon.
An American Scone vs A British Scone
If you walk into a coffee shop in the States, you’re bound to come face to face with some tasty treat labeled “scone”. It will probably be sweet, most likely filled with any number of sweet add ins, and possibly even covered with a sugary glaze.
It might be biscuit-like in texture or it might be more cakey, depending on the establishment. And, it probably will be about the size of your hand.
By now you know better.
These are not traditional British scones! They’re too big, too sweet, and too stand-alone. Not to mention all the flavor add-ins that are unheard of when it comes to a traditional scone. (Which might get some raisins tossed into the batter, but that’s about as crazy as things get.)
Besides, when was they last time you ventured to put jam on your American scone? (As if it needed the extra sugar.)
How To Make British Scones
That being said, if you can make biscuits, then you can make scones.
Scone dough is made from simple ingredients that you probably keep your pantry stocked up on. So, you can have a batch of scones turned out dangerously fast.
The one difference we take between making biscuits and making scones is that for scones, we use our hands to massage the butter into the dry ingredients. Doing this creates a fine, sandy consistency that helps give the scones their classic texture. (For biscuits we cut the butter into the dry ingredients, which leaves larger chunks of butter in-tact, creating those tasty, buttery layers.)
Whether you call it a biscuit or a scone, these tasty treats are great for breakfast or for an afternoon nibble.
Just don’t forget the jam and clotted cream!
An authentic British Scone is the perfect accompaniment to your warming cup of tea, particularly if you have some clotted cream and jam to serve it with!
Yield: 8 (2 inch) scones
- 2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter , cold
- ⅔ c milk
- 1 egg yolk beaten with 1 Tbsp milk (to glaze)
- Strawberry jam (to serve)
- Clotted cream , at room temerature (to serve)
- In a medium bowl, place the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and butter. Rub the mixture together with your fingers to break up the butter, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the milk and mix with a wooden spoon just until the dough comes together and no lumps remain.
- Dust the dough with flour and place it on a lightly floured counter top. Press the dough into a round that is roughly 1 inch thick.
- Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into 2 inch circles. Place the rounds onto a greased and floured baking sheet.
- Let the scones rest on the baking sheet for 15 minutes, while you preheat your oven to 425F.
- Just before putting the scones into the oven, brush them with the egg yolk and milk mixture.
- Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes, until golden and firm.
- Remove the baked scones from the oven and let them cool for 30 minutes (if you can resist). If you like softer scones, cover them with a tea towel as they cool.
This scone batter freezes well. We like to freeze pre-cut rounds of dough for easy baking (just thaw and bake as directed).
Alternately, freeze the baked scones and reheat in a low oven for 5-10 minutes after thawing on the counter.
I would like the english scone receipe that has to be rolled out and then cut into triangle shapes. they have rasins in them and not the ones in this article
Hi Sheri, We’ll take a look at the type of scone you’re talking about and see what we can find. In the meantime, you can very easily cut these scones into triangle shapes and add raisins to the dough.
Add the fruit and pat/roll onto a circle. Voy your wedges and bake accordingly.
I’m confused why aren’t we mixing an egg into the batter?
Hi Sam. Traditional British scones don’t call for an egg. The consistency is more biscuit like. So, you don’t put an egg in scones for the same reason you don’t put an egg in biscuits. It’s all about texture.
Hi there! Super excited to try this, as I can never find an authentic scone in America! I only had almond milk on hand, so I used that. Also, I grated the butter in, so it wasn’t as crumbly. As a result, my Dough is super sticky- couldn’t even roll it. Could those two things have been the culprit? Thanks 🙂
It’s quite possible Becca. Almond milk will have a bit more of a watery consistency than regular milk. But grating the butter may have more impact. The dough should be a breadcrumb texture when you massage the butter in. I’d suggest chilling your dough a bit to let the butter firm up, or maybe adding more flour to compensate for the almond milk. Hope this helps!
Thanks! Excited to give it a second go tonight ☺️
Hope you enjoy it!
I put a little flour on parchment paper. Yes it’s sticky but workable. Once you get the dough on the paper work into a round and the cut it into,pieces form rounds then put the parchment Paper with scones on them in freezer for half hour before baking
Hi, I followed the receipt exactly but my scones did not rise… Why not?
Hi Mark. Perhaps your baking powder is old. That would cause them not to rise properly.
We really enjoyed these. They were perfect for the sixteenth birthday tea for my daughter. Thank you! I used maple sugar instead of regular and no one noticed.
We had the double cream, fig jam and chai tea . I will send this link to our friend who so enjoyed them. She is from Ireland and likes these less sweet kind too.
( FYI I tried to make a GF dairy free batch/ with this recipe, they didn’t work out however.)
We’re so glad you enjoyed the scones Catherine!
I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out very well. They did not have a bitter taste at all. I enjoyed mixing it up with my hands! I also appreciate the information on how they differ from biscuits. The texture does seem different!
Thanks for sharing your experience Janelle. We’re so glad you enjoyed them!
Perfect scone, not too sweet and just nice and lovely puff. I will definitely make this again..
Thanks for letting us know how you liked it! We’re so glad you enjoyed the scones!
Isn’t it too much baking powder? Especially for such small amount of flour. I used this recipe and my scones had a bitter aftertaste of baking powder. Not right at all.
Curious to see other results.
Hi Silvia. While that is a high ratio of baking powder to flour for a lot of baking, its a pretty standard ratio for traditional British scones. A high amount of baking powder is what gives them their characteristic rise. We personally didn’t find them to be bitter, but since they are less sweet than typical American scones, I can see how some might consider their flavor to be a bit different. You could always try reducing the baking powder a bit, if you’re sensitive to it. They might not puff quite as nicely, but the flavor will probably be more to your liking.