If I had to condense all my family memories into just one recipe, it would have to be this simple scone recipe. I have eaten a countless number of these scones throughout my life. Trays of piping hot scones, accompanied by jars of homemade jam and heavily whipped cream, would be placed unceremoniously in the middle of the table at morning tea, and devoured by the awaiting family. Originally made by my nana, the mantle of chief scone maker has now been handed to my mother.
This scone recipe is very different to any other I have seen. The scone dough is very wet, so do not think you have erred when the ingredients are mixed together. The dough is patted, rather than rolled, into shape, then cut into pieces and gently transferred to a tray. My mum has refined this move over time, and her scones always line up perfectly; just kissing each other once baked, so each scone must be torn away from the others to eat. I tend to transfer the scones onto the tray with a flicking motion, hoping that they stay in shape. I’ve yet to work out how to get them to look as perfect as mum’s, but they taste just as good.
You can make a single batch of these scones, which is the recipe I given below. This will provide you with enough scones for a (very) small gathering. We never make a single batch in my family. Even the recipe written in my trusty recipe book is for a double batch. There are rarely leftovers. However, should you find yourself with a few extra scones, they do freeze extremely well. Just reheat them in the oven for a quick snack.
The Princess is particularly fond of the mini pizzas my mum sometimes makes with those elusive leftovers. Mum splits the scones in half, spreads them with homemade tomato relish and tops the scones with grated cheese. Baked in the oven until the cheese is melted and golden, they make a great snack for a hungry child. Tasty both hot and cold, I have even been known to make trays of these mini scone pizzas for school class parties over the years.
Mum maintains that the secret to good scones is a really hot oven. I maintain that a great recipe helps, and I have yet to find a better one than this simple scone recipe. I hope you like it as much as our family does.
A Simple Scone Recipe
I like to cut these into larger scones, because I never stop at one anyway. If you want to stretch the batch further, cut the dough into 12 smaller scones.
Ingredients
- 2 cups self raising flour*
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1 egg
- self raising flour extra, for dusting.
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 230C - 250C (210C to 230C fan forced)
- Place the flour, butter, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
- Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.
- Whisk the egg into the milk.
- Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk mixture.
- Gently pull the flour into the milk, until just combined. You will have a shaggy, slightly wet dough.
- Heavily flour the bench surface.
- Pour the dough onto the floured surface.
- Dust the top of the dough with extra flour, and gently pat the dough into a rectangle. It will be about 12cm x 25cm in size.
- Cut the dough into 8 pieces for large scones or 12 pieces for smaller scones. I just use a butter knife for this.
- Gently transfer the scones to a tray, leaving about 5mm between each scone. The flour on the bottom of the scones should stop them sticking to the tray, but feel free to line the tray first if you are concerned.
- Cook for 10 minutes, or until well risen and starting to brown.
- Serve hot or cold with lashings of jam and cream.
Notes
I am sharing this treasured family recipe for International Scone Week 2015, hosted by Tandy at Lavender and Lime. If you are looking for wonderful scone recipes, head over to her blog for many more sweet and savoury scone recipes.
I love the term ‘kissing each other’ and will remember that when I next make scones. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe 🙂
Try as I might Tandy, I can never get my scones to kiss like my mum’s. But I continue to try 🙂
Gorgeous recipe and I love the story that goes with it XXX
Thanks Liz 🙂
Hi Tania, Good looking scones. You inspired me to bake some today.
Bring on that soap. I want to see a real pros’ efforts 🙂
Thanks Glenda, I’m happy to provide some inspiration.
No pressure about the soap 🙂 Soon, I hope.
I never made scones before, but now i really want to try and make some. They look sooo good! Amazing photography aswell 🙂
This is probably a good recipe to start with then Sweetima. I find some of the other recipes a bit daunting, but all you have to do with this is mix and pat out the dough. Thanks for the kind words 🙂
Sometimes the simple things are the best and scones are a simple thing that always pleases.
My grandmother was also a ‘patter’, rather than a ‘roller’ when it came to scones and it always worked for her.
I couldn’t agree with you more Amanda. I do love the simple things. I much prefer the patting method for scones. I can just see great lumps of lead if I tried to roll out scone dough 🙂
What an unusual scone recipe! It is in the simplest things in life that we take such pleasure! Glad we are connected through our love of scones!
It is isn’t it Joanne 🙂 I’ve never seen another like it. Yet it works so well. Nothing like the simple things.
Wonderful looking scone recipe and the story that goes with it makes it even better.
Thanks Gretchen 🙂
This recipe cooking is very impressive, and it tastes delicious when eating, I would advise everyone to follow its steps, and thank you
Thank you 😀 I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thank you for the feedback.
I actually had a question regarding this recipe (which looks fabulous, by the way). Is this scone recipe open for add-ins? What I mean is, is it possible to add-in certain things to make flavored scones? There’s a bakery in my town that makes out of the world moist scones that change just about every weekend. Some are savory (roasted garlic & cheddar or chive & bacon) and other times they’re sweet (orange & dark chocolate chips or mixed berry w/sweet cream glaze). I’ve been told they use the same basic scone recipe, but just switch up the add-in ingredients. Sadly, I’m moving states and their recipe is under lock-and-key (totally respect that!). Anyway, I’ve been searching and your recipe looks very similar…I’m dying to try it as written, but was just curious if add-in options were a good idea or if it would completely mess these up!
Hi Christina. I have never added anything to this recipe, so honestly have no idea whether add-ins would work. However, I would think that if you weren’t adding any extra liquid to the mix then it should be OK. I know that you can usually add extra nuts and chocolate to cake recipes without seriously affecting the end result, so it might also work for scones. If you do try it, I would love to hear how they turned out. Good luck with the move too 🙂
Can I use all purpose flour instead ?
I have never used all purpose flour for this recipe Sanjal, so I cannot tell you how it would turn out. All I can suggest is that you try it. I would use 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each cup of flour, and make sure you sift the flour and baking powder together before you proceed. If you try it, let me know how they turn out.
My previous attempts at making scones have not been very good, they look OK but are too dry and floury to eat. I think the one mistake I could be making is using no-name flour, so I will upgrade to a better flour and try this recipe out, and pray it’s the flour I used and not me. Lol. Cheers.
Hi Lozzy. I can’t make traditional scones either. They always turn out dry, heavy and meh. This is the only scone recipe that I can actually use to produce something edible. I know my Nana would, on occasion, make these with no-name flour and they worked out fine so you should be able to use what you have on hand to try these out. Just be aware that the batter is much wetter than a traditional scone dough, and you don’t need to knead the dough at all. Good luck!