Thoughts on Scones

Scones are a joy to eat, when they are made well. From the simplest of ingredients come golden triangles that practically melt in your mouth and fill your body with warm happiness.

I'd like to share my favorite scone recipe, with a few variations. One of the keys to making good scones is working the dough as little as possible while still getting a good mix of the ingredients. I'll give detailed instructions below to help you achieve the light touch you need.

Basic Scones

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
7/8 cup milk

Tools: Measuring spoons and cups; pastry cutter; large rounded bowl; wire whisk; rubber spatula; a large cutting board or any clean flat surface; and a knife.

Preheat oven to 325º.

Combine the flour, sugar, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Stir briskly with a wire whisk to get the dry ingredients well mixed. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or your hands, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make a well in the center, and pour the milk in. Take a rubber spatula in one hand and grasp the bowl with the other hand. Fold the dry ingredients gently over into the milk, turning the bowl a little bit after each fold. When the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated, scatter flour over your board and dump the dough out on top.

Scatter a little more flour on top of the dough, and rub some on your hands as well. Press the dough flat with your hands, about one-inch thick, then fold it in half and press flat again. Keep folding eight to ten times, no more! Add flour if needed to keep dough from sticking to your hands or the board. When you are done kneading, press flat once again, about an inch thick. Using your knife, cut out scones in triangles. Transfer scones to a flat baking sheet. Sprinkle a little extra sugar on top if you like, to make them pretty. Bake 12-14 minutes, until they are light golden in color, and just barely done inside with no doughy places. Ovens vary a lot, so watch your scones closely the first couple of times you make them, until you know the precise baking time you'll need.

Serve them right out of the oven with butter and jam available, but these scones should be delicious and rich all by themselves.

Whole Wheat Scones

Moscow Food Co-op sells whole wheat pastry flour in bags or in the bulk bins. This flour is much lower in gluten than bread flour, and produces surprisingly light and delicious pastries. Starting with the Basic Scone recipe, replace half or more of the white flour with whole wheat pastry flour.

Fruit Scones

To the Basic Scone recipe, add:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen berries, chopped fruit, or dried fruit.

Put the fruit in at the same time as the milk, and fold as usual. If you use frozen fruit, allow a little extra baking time. I have had good results with blueberries, peaches, candied ginger, dried apricots, or raisins, and just about any fruit will work nicely. Blueberries are a good test of your mixing technique - if your scones come out a uniform blue color, you're kneading too much! A gentle hand will produce a few blue streaks in the dough but the berries will still be distinct and whole.

Cream Scones

Decadent and delicious, these shortcake-like scones would go wonderfully with fresh strawberries.
Starting with the Basic Scone recipe, for the milk, substitute:

3/4 cup cream or half-and-half
1 egg, lightly beaten.

Next time you're in the Co-op, pick up a half-pint of Stratton's cream, make these scones and experience a little paradise.

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