Authentic Scottish Scones Recipe-Soft and Crumbly Tea Scones (2024)

FAQs

What makes scones crumbly? ›

The less you knead the mix, the less the gluten will tighten up – which means your scones will stay loose and crumbly, rather than tight and springy. Make sure you sieve the flour and baking powder into your bowl. This means that the two will be well mixed together, which gives you a better chance of an even rise.

British scones are usually lightly sweetned and contain fruit like currants or berries. Scottish scones are often closer to a biscuit and are made with buttermilk, though some Scottish grandmothers will swear you should only use sour milk.

Handle scone dough gently: “Overmixing leads to too much gluten development, which leads to tough, dense scones, instead of flaky, moist ones,” says Bethany. Once you've added the liquid in your recipe, mix the dough gently until just combined — and no more.

A biscuit is well-defined, light, and airy but still robust enough to eat with gravy or stew. A scone is dense, crumbly, and drier; it doesn't flake like a biscuit but rather crumbles into delicious goodness. A scone is also usually larger than a biscuit and has more liquid in its ingredients.

In Scotland and Ulster, savoury varieties of scone include soda scones, also known as soda farls, sour dough scones known as soor dook scones made with sour milk, and potato scones, normally known as tattie scones, which resemble small, thin savoury pancakes made with potato flour.

Biting into a scone should not release a shower of crumbs onto your clothing or the tablecloth, but neither should you have to do any serious chewing. And freshly baked scones should taste good even without the layers of butter, thick cream and strawberry jam that the Scots (and the English) like to heap on them.

Use all-purpose flour for a higher rising scone that holds its shape nicely, both in and out of the oven. To make more delicate, lower-rising, cake-like scones, substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour.

Keep scones cold before putting them in the oven: For best results, chill the mixture in the fridge before baking, this will help to stiffen up the butter again, which will stop your scones from slumping as soon as they hit the oven's heat.

Recipes for scones sometimes provide a make-ahead option that involves refrigerating the dough overnight so it can simply be shaped and then popped into the oven the next day. But now we've found that resting the dough overnight has another benefit: It makes for more symmetrical and attractive pastries.

What is the perfect scone texture? ›

Fluffy and soft with a little crisp to the edges and top. The perfect scone doesn't come easy. There are many little gritty things that can get in the way of achieving that all-buttery point of perfection.

A cream tea (also known as a Devon cream tea, Devonshire tea, or Cornish cream tea) is an afternoon tea consisting of tea, scones, clotted cream (or, less authentically, whipped cream), jam, and sometimes butter.

Just as in old times, today's scone recipes don't include eggs, but there are some rare recipes that do. Eggs may change the texture of the scone, which should be golden on the outside and airy inside. RELATED VIDEO: Video Player is loading.

A scone should not flake like a biscuit.

It can have layers of course, but they should err on the side of crumbly. A scone is slightly dryer than a biscuit and yet, when done well, not dry at all. Scones are intended to be consumed with a hot beverage of your choice after all. And clotted cream, or butter, or jam.

Add just enough buttermilk or milk (preferably low-fat) to make the dough stick together. The dough should still be crumbly with some flour dregs when it has enough buttermilk. Otherwise, the scones may come out tough.

The finished mixture should be unevenly crumbly, with some of the butter remaining in larger flattened piece.