scones recipe

Irish Soda Bread Scones

Irish Soda Bread Scones

If you are in the mood for Irish Soda Bread- you can get the same wonderful flavor in a scone.

Scones don’t take a lot of time or effort to make. These would be a wonderful addition to your St. Patrick’s Day meal.

While traditionally served for breakfast or tea time, scones are really good any time of the day. They certainly can be served with dinner.

I used golden raisins, but you could use regular raisins, currants or cranberries, for a less traditional scone.

  Irish Soda Bread Scones

2 c. flour

3 T. sugar

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

½ t. salt

1/3 c. butter

½ c. golden raisins

1 t. caraway seeds

2/3 c. buttermilk

1 egg

Milk

Extra sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Stir in raisins and caraway seeds. Beat together buttermilk and egg and add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until mixture just coming together. Turn onto floured surface and knead 5-6 strokes or until ball of dough holds together. Dust an 8-inch round cake with  flour. Press dough into cake pan. Invert pan over onto prepared baking sheet. I find if I do this quickly the dough comes out more easily. Remove cake pan. This will give you a perfect 8-inch circle of dough. With a sharp, floured knife cut dough into 8 wedges. Brush top with milk and sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake 14-16 minutes. Makes 8.

Scones ready for the oven

Spiced Pumpkin Scones

Spiced Pumpkin Scones

These scones are easy to make and are not only great for breakfast and snacks- they make a fun base for shortcakes. The spice mixture gives them a rich, warm flavor.

The dough is slightly sticky and you form the scones by dropping balls of dough onto the baking sheet using an ice cream scoop. You could just use a couple of large spoons, too. Because the dough is not rolled out and cut, it makes for a more tender scone. They are a little rustic looking, with some lumps and bumps, but they taste wonderful and their texture is soft and tender on the inside with a nice crispness on the outside.

Once baked, they are drizzled with a vanilla glaze and then a cinnamon glaze. 

Spiced Pumpkin Scones

4 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 t. each salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ginger

1/2 t. cloves

1 1/2 sticks cold butter

1 c. cooked pumpkin or winter squash

3 oz. milk

2 eggs

Vanilla glaze

2 c. powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

4-6 T. milk

Cinnamon Glaze

2 c. powdered sugar

2 t. cinnamon

4 T. milk

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. Set aside. Combine flour with sugar, baking powder and spices and stir to blend. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Combine pumpkin or squash with the milk and eggs and stir into the flour mixture. Stir until well mixed. Dough should be just a little sticky. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop dough onto the prepared baking sheets- leaving a couple of inches between them. Hint: If you spray a little non-stick spray on the cookie scoop first the dough will pop out easier.  Bake for 15 minutes or until scones are browned on the bottom and just getting golden on the top. If you want to put both baking sheets in the oven at the same time- switch them half way through the baking time and allow a few extra minutes. Remove scones to cooling rack. Meanwhile make both glazes by combining ingredients and stirring until smooth. Drizzle with the vanilla glaze while still warm and allow scones to cool and glaze to harden before drizzling with the cinnamon glaze. Makes about 20-30 depending on the size of the scoop you use.

Pumpkin scones, ready to serve

Cranberry Orange Scones

Cranberry Orange Scones

I make scones pretty often. There is nothing quite like the taste of fresh-baked scones. Plus, baking them makes the house smell wonderful.

These scones are shaped by pressing the dough in a round cake pan, then cutting into wedges before baking.

They come out looking great and tasting great, too. If you don’t have buttermilk just add a little lemon juice to regular milk. I actually used half and half instead of milk, and added 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the half and half. It worked great.

Perfect breakfast for this week. Serve warm with butter and jam.

Cranberry-Orange Scones

2 c. flour

4 T. sugar

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. grated orange peel

½ t. salt

¼ c. butter

1 c. dried cranberries

2/3 c. buttermilk

1 egg

Extra milk and sugar, for topping

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Stir in cranberries. Beat together milk and egg and add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just coming together. Turn onto floured surface and knead 5-6 strokes or until ball of dough holds together. Transfer dough to prepared sheet and with floured hands, press dough into an eight-inch circle. I place dough in floured 8-inch cake pan, then invert onto the baking sheet- for a nice, even circle. With a sharp, floured knife cut dough into 8 wedges. Brush top of dough with a little extra milk, then sprinkle tops with a bit of sugar.  Bake 14-16 minutes. Makes 8.

Dough can also be patted out on work surface and cut into circles or pressed into a square and cut into smaller squares.

Cream Scones

Cream Scones

I must admit that for me, the difference between a scone and a biscuit is sometimes hard to see. Both use the same ingredients, for the most part. They can be rolled and cut out the same way, too. I often say that scones are like biscuits, but with more stuff in them. Scones are often sweeter, too.

This recipe is a tough call for me. I was given the recipe by a friend a long time ago. She called them Cream Scones. I could easily see calling them Cream Biscuits, instead. Whatever you call them, these little gems are tender, flaky and super easy to make. You can make variations with all sorts add ins. I recently made some with mini chocolate chips and orange zest. They also are great for shortcakes!!

Cream Scones

2 c. flour
1 T. sugar
½ t. salt
1 T. baking powder
1 c. heavy cream
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually add cream to form soft dough. Knead lightly on a floured board until dough sticks together. Roll to ½ – ¾ –inch thickness and cut with 2-inch biscuit cutter. Re-roll scraps and continue cutting, handling dough as little as possible.* Place on baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Makes 8-10.

* Instead of rolling them out and cutting into rounds, I pressed the dough into an 8-inch square. I cut the square into 4 smaller squares. I then cut and “x” across each of the four squares, making 4 triangles (16 in all). Bake as directed above.

Here is the cut out version made in class last week

Cream Scones

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

This recipe is a variation on a classic scone recipe that I bake often. The addition of poppy seeds and lemon add a nice flavor and texture to the scones. They rose beautifully and were crisp on the outside and tender in the middle. The secret to a good scone is not to over mix the dough. Handle the dough as little as possible once the dough comes together.

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones

2 c. flour

2 T. sugar

1 T. poppy seeds

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

½ -1 t. Lemon zest

½ t. salt

¼ c. butter, cut up

2/3 c. buttermilk

1 egg

Topping

2 T. sugar

1 T. lemon juice

Mix together  sugar and  lemon juice and brush on hot scones.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet or line with silicone baking mat. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Beat together milk and egg and add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just coming together. Turn onto floured surface and knead 5-6 strokes or until ball of dough holds together. Transfer dough to prepared sheet and with floured hands, press dough into an eight-inch circle. To get a perfect circle, dust an 8-inch round cake pan with flour. Press dough into the pan, then quickly turn the pan over onto the prepared baking sheet. Remove cake pan. With a sharp, floured knife cut dough into 8 wedges. Bake 14-16 minutes. Makes 8.  

Dough can also be patted out on work surface and cut into circles or pressed into a square and cut into smaller squares.

Cutting the dough into wedges

Orange and Cream Scones

Orange and Cream Scones

These are wonderful scones. They are just what a good scone should be, tender and crumbly, without being dry. The orange flavor comes from the orange zest used in the recipe. It is subtle, but there.

I love scones because you can have them for breakfast or with a cup of coffee or tea. You can also use them as the base for a shortcake dessert by splitting them, adding sweetened fruit and whipped cream.

I was in the mood for scones, but wanted to try something new. I had come across this recipe in an old file of mine. I had ripped it out of a magazine a long time ago. They looked promising, so I decided to make them. I made few changes from the original recipe. I was very happy with how they came out. I think you will be, too. I enjoyed one this morning with some homemade clementine marmalade.

Orange and Cream Scones

2 c. flour

¼ c. sugar

1-2 T. orange zest, I used 1 tablespoon, but could have used more

2 t. baking powder

½ t. salt

10 T. unsalted cold butter, cut into ½ -inch cubes

1 egg

½ c. cold half and half

1 t. vanilla

Extra flour

2 T. half and half or orange juice to brush the scones

Extra sugar for sprinkling on top- 3-4 tablespoons

Preheat oven to 375. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone liner. Set aside. In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour mixture until it looks like coarse crumbs. You can also use a pastry blender, but what fun is that? In a small bowl, beat together the egg, half and half and vanilla. Pour into flour mixture and stir until mixture starts to hold together. I am going to save you from messing up your counter with this next part. Get an 8-inch round cake pan and sprinkle flour in the bottom of it. Don’t be stingy, be sure there is a layer over the whole pan. One or two tablespoons should do it. Go back to your dough and sort of knead it in the bowl. That is why I said to use a large bowl. You don’t really need to knead it on your counter. Use a wooden spoon, rubber spatula or your hands to get the dough to form into a ball. Make sure you get all the dry bits from the bottom of the bowl. This isn’t a yeast dough. The idea is to get it to stick together with as little actual kneading as possible. Trust me, this is how you end up with super tender scones. As soon as the dough will hold together, and form into a ball, use a rubber scraper to get it into the floured cake pan. Press the dough evenly into the pan. Now a fun trick. You want to turn to the pan over so the dough ends up on the prepared baking sheet. You don’t want to do this slowly or the dough might plop out too soon. You also want to dough to come out. In one motion turn the cake pan over quickly onto the baking sheet. You want to actually slam it firmly on the baking sheet. Then lift up the cake pan. If all has gone according to plan, you’ll have a perfect 8-inch circle of dough on the baking sheet. I could have told you to just place the dough on the baking sheet and form it into an 8-inch circle, but I prefer the cake pan method. You get nice, even edges. There will be some flour on the dough. Leave it there for now.  Using a bench scraper, or a long knife, cut the dough in half, then in half again, like cutting a pie. The dough is pretty moist, so the extra flour on top should make them easier to cut. Repeat two more times so you end up with 8 wedges. Pull them apart a little, so they can expand when they bake. I used a metal spatula to do this. If there is still extra flour on top and it is bothering you, you can brush it off. Using a pastry brush, brush a little half and half or orange juice over the scones. Then sprinkle the tops with the extra sugar. Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 8. Great plain or served with jam.      

Scone dough in cake pan
Ready for the oven

Irish Soda Bread Scones

Irish Soda Bread Scones

If you are in the mood for Irish Soda Bread- you can get the same wonderful flavor in a scone.

Scones don’t take a lot of time or effort to make. These would be a wonderful addition to your St. Patrick’s Day meal.

While traditionally served for breakfast or tea time, scones are really good any time of the day. They certainly can be served with dinner.

I used golden raisins, but you could use regular raisins, currants or cranberries, for a less traditional scone.

  Irish Soda Bread Scones

2 c. flour

3 T. sugar

2 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

½ t. salt

1/3 c. butter

½ c. golden raisins

1 t. caraway seeds

2/3 c. buttermilk

1 egg

Milk

Extra sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Stir in raisins and caraway seeds. Beat together buttermilk and egg and add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until mixture just coming together. Turn onto floured surface and knead 5-6 strokes or until ball of dough holds together. Dust an 8-inch round cake with  flour. Press dough into cake pan. Invert pan over onto prepared baking sheet. I find if I do this quickly the dough comes out more easily. Remove cake pan. This will give you a perfect 8-inch circle of dough. With a sharp, floured knife cut dough into 8 wedges. Brush top with milk and sprinkle with extra sugar. Bake 14-16 minutes. Makes 8.

Scones ready for the oven

Chocolate Mint Scones

Chocolate Mint Scones

I guess I just have chocolate on my mind these days. I was going to just make a simple biscuit, but looked around at what I had, and came up with these minty chocolate scones. I used baking mix- like Bisquick- but I use a home made mix. I also had some sour cream so used that in the dough. The chocolate mint part came from a bag of Andes chocolate chips. These are just like the Andes candies, but in chip form. I have used them to make cookies before and had just enough left in the bag for the scones. The scones are very tender and flaky.

These would pair up nicely with berries and whipped cream to make shortcakes. Just let them cool completely before trying to slice for shortcakes.

Chocolate Mint Scones

1 c. baking mix- like Jiffy Mix or Bisquick- I used homemade

1/2 c. sour cream

1 egg

1/2 c. Andes chocolate mint chips

sugar for sprinkling

In small bowl place the baking mix. In another bowl mix together the sour cream and egg. Mix into the baking mix, along with the chips and stir until mixture turns into a soft dough. On lightly floured surface press the dough into an 8-inch square. Cut in half- then cut across in half again- you’ll have 4 squares. Cut diagonally across each square to form 8 triangles. Place triangles of dough onto ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Don’t over bake. Cool on wire rack. Makes 8.

Cut dough into 8 wedges
place on baking sheet
Bake until golden brown

Blueberry Cinnamon Scones

Blueberry Cinnamon Scones

I was looking for something to serve at brunch with a friend. I had blueberries so I decided to make blueberry scones.  I added some cinnamon to the dough- I love the flavor of blueberry with cinnamon. Really was the right move. They are so good. Tender and just sweet enough. They are great served with butter and jam  or you can use them as the base for shortcakes. Filled with strawberries and topped with whipped cream, they would be a fun shortcake for the 4th of July. These would be a nice addition for a Sunday brunch.

Blueberry Cinnamon Scones 

2 c. flour

3 T. sugar

1 T. baking powder

2 t. cinnamon

¾ t. salt

6 T. chilled butter

1 ½ c. blueberries, fresh or frozen- do not thaw berries

1 t. lemon or orange  zest

2 large eggs

1/3 c. heavy cream

Mix dry ingredients together in bowl and cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs. Toss in blueberries and zest. Beat together eggs and cream and stir into flour mixture. Mix very gently to avoid bruising berries. Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop out batter and place on baking sheet. Place scoops about an inch apart. Press down slightly. Brush with a little cream and sprinkle with a little extra sugar. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for 20-22 minutes. Makes 15-18.

Caramel Pumpkin Scones

Caramel Pumpkin Scone

Caramel Pumpkin Scone

I love the flavor of these scones but also their sort of rustic appearance. The soft dough is dropped by spoonfuls onto baking sheets. I use an ice cream scoop to do this. They rise up into tender, slightly sweet scones with cracks over the surface. I have made these before and normally top them with a powdered sugar glaze. Alas, I was out of powdered sugar and didn’t feel like making any so I had to improvise. I decided to make a vanilla flavored caramel instead. It worked out well and I will do this again, even if I am not out of powdered sugar.

 

Here is the recipe.

 

Caramel Pumpkin Scones

4 c. all purpose flour

1/2 c. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 t. each salt, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and ginger

1/2 t. cloves

1 1/2 sticks cold butter

1 c. cooked pumpkin or winter squash

3 oz. milk

2 eggs

Caramel:

2/3 c. sugar

3 T. butter

2 t. vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. Set aside. Combine flour with sugar, baking powder and spices and stir to blend. Cut in butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Combine pumpkin or squash with the milk and eggs and stir into the flour mixture. Stir until well mixed. Dough should be just a little sticky. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop dough onto the prepared baking sheets- leaving a couple of inches between them. Hint: If you spray a little non-stick spray on the cookie scoop first the dough will pop out easier.  Bake for 15 minutes or until scones are browned on the bottom and just getting golden on the top. If you want to put both baking sheets in the oven at the same time- switch them half way through the baking time and allow a few extra minutes. Remove scones to cooling rack.

Meanwhile make caramel by placing the sugar in a small saucepan and cooking over medium heat until sugar has melted and turned a golden color. Remove from the heat and stir in butter and vanilla. Mixture will bubble a lot. Keep stirring until smooth.  Mixture is really hot. You can hold the scones and dip the tops in the warm caramel mixture or use a spoon to drizzle the caramel over the top.  If you are dipping the scones transfer the caramel into another container- the saucepan will be hot and make it tricky to dip them without getting burned. I used a shallow metal bowl and it worked great. Caramel will be very shiny and sticky but will cool down and become less shiny and sticky.   Makes about 20-30 depending on the size of the scoop you use.

 

 

 

Subscriber to our Mailing List

Follow us on Social Media

Support This Site

Donate Now

New Release: