Have you tried to make scones but just couldn’t get the texture right? Were they too hard? Too crumbly? Not quite golden when baked? Too chewy on the inside?…or kinda like raw after the recommended oven time…All the above and more was my story whenever I’d to make scones. But, being the anglophile that I am, I did not give up. I mean what’s not to love about sitting down to a lovely, perfectly flakey and buttery scone with a hot cup of earl grey tea!
I’ve discovered that scones are so easy to make and they freeze beautifully! All you need is just the right technique. I this post, I will show you a method for 5-ingredient scones that any newbie can make in minutes.
Ingredients
- All purpose flour. If you don’t have any you could use bread flour. I have used that before, the difference was that it just make them a little chewy.
- Baking powder
- Sugar
- Ice cold butter – crumbling this up nicely is what gives your scones the potential for a lovely texture
- Heavy cream – getting the right feel when you add this is what ensures that lovely texture
- Salt – optional if you’re not already using salted butter. If you are then skip the salt.
- Vanilla – optional if you want that something extra
Odds and ends
For everything to come together more easily, make sure you have the following:
- A medium sized mixing bowl
- 1 cup measure
- 1/3 cup measure
- 1 tablespoon measure
- a fine grater (not that cheese size grate – if you know what I mean)
- a cookie shee
- parchment paper (you can skip this, but it’s more clean up)
Method
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon of baking powder and 1/3 cup of sugar. Now that my toddler wants to partake in my snacks I may sometimes use a little less. Just shy of 1/3 cup and I’ll add some jam or preserves to the final product if I want it a little sweeter.
Mix the dry ingredients well. With the fine edge of your grater, grate into the bowl of your mixed dry ingredients, one stick or 8 tablespoons of butter. With your fingers coat these fine crumbs of butter with the dry ingredients so you are dispersing the butter as it’s falling in. The aim is to distribute the butter evenly into the the dry ingredients in the bowl. Mix very lightly and don’t press the butter in. You want it to have a separated and crumbly texture.
So, as you have been covering the small particles of butter with the dry ingredients, the contents of your bowl should look like flour, but with almost even sized bigger particles in it.
To this, add in 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons of heavy cream. If you want a vanilla, add a splash of it to the cream. Then, mix it with your hand so it comes together in a ball.
forming workable soft Dough
You shouldn’t have to work with mixture too much. The mixture will be crumbly at first. But, at the point when you are able to stick the crumbs together easily, you know you’ve got it!
It should come together quickly for you to get that nice and flakey scone.
This is the trickiest part of the operation. You want the contents to come together evenly to make a nice SOFT ball.
This is why you need the feel of your hand. So that, if you notice that the ball is not soft, add more cream, 1 tablespoon at a time. However, if you end up adding too much cream and the dough is sticking to your hand, sprinkle a little more flour.
Once it comes together into a nice SOFT ball. Take it out of the bowl.
Sprinkle a little flour on your work top and press it onto your work top so it makes a circle that’s about an inch thick. You can tuck in the size to round out the circle evenly. The diameter should be approximately 6 inches, give or take. It doesn’t have to be exact.
Then, cut it like a pizza into 8 segments. Dip your finger in the heavy cream and lightly cover the top of your scones. This will make them nice and golden.
Next, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place your arrange your scones. Then, place them in your heated oven and set the timer for 20 minutes. Now, if the tops are not a pale golden color, leave in for another 5 minutes.
If you’re having a hard time telling if your scones are done. Take them out of the oven and flip one over. If the bottom is a light brown, they are done!
Technique
The trick with making scones for me, was a little bit of trial to learn what that soft texture of dough was.
You will need to adjust the cream or the flour to make sure that the dough is a soft to the touch but not too sticky.
For this, you need a Goldilocks dough. It is a soft dough with a nice spring and easy to work with like fresh Play Dough.
When I didn’t mix it properly, it made the scones come out too crumbly.
And when I mixed it too much the scone where just way too dense and hard – not fun to eat.
This was my method for 5-ingredient scones that any newbie can make in minutes. I hope that you can realize how easy scones are to make and get them right! Even easier and requiring ZERO technique is this waffle recipe.
I hope this will be fun to try. Please comment below, I would love to know how it works out for you!