How-to Make Scones

As a baker and a foodie I've made literally thousands of scones. I used to bake them every morning in the café for the breakfast rush and they usually sold out quickly. They're easy and fast to make and there are hundreds of variations depending on the season and what you have available. With a simple recipe and a few tips you can have flaky, tender scones baking in your own oven and ready to eat within the hour.

First decide what kind of scone you want to make. Sweet scones generally have some kind of fruit and/or nut in the mix, such as strawberry lemon hazelnut, blueberry cream cheese, or blackberry, orange almond. You can mix the fruit into the batter or make a compote for the top of the scone. Savory scones are a great appetizer or side dish. Once again, you're only limited by your imagination. Try a blue cheese, walnut, and prosciutto scone, a ham and cheddar scone, or a pizza scone.

After you decide what kind you are going to bake gather all of your ingredients and tools together. Slice your fruit, chop your nuts, and zest any citrus you will use. It's important to do this so you don't forget anything, but also for efficiency and ease. Next you should grease or spray oil a baking sheet and preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

I've found the best basic recipe to be: 2 cups of flour, ¼ cup sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, a pinch of salt, 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract, and 2/3 cup of lowfat butter milk or lowfat yogurt mixed with some milk. Whisk or sift the dry ingredients in a large bowl. This is the time to add any spices such as cinnamon, and also to gently fold in your fruits and nuts so they can get coated with flour.

Next whisk together your wet ingredients. This is the time to add your zest, extract, and any other liquid flavorings. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add your liquid mixture and fold together with a plastic spatula. Gently pull together into a ball and place on your sheet. Pat down gently until it's spread into a larger circle but still fairly thick. You can also pat out the dough on the counter and use a biscuit cutter to create circular scones.

If you're going to use a topping use your knife to score the circle into 8 wedges. Then take a spoon and make a well in the center of each scone. Brush the tops with buttermilk and then spoon in your jam, compote, jelly, etc. If you're not adding any topping score into 8 wedges, brush with buttermilk and sprinkle with some sugar or turbinado sugar for a nice brown and crunchy crust. Place in your oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. If you're not sure whether or not they're done, take a knife and flip up a small piece of crust in the middle. If the dough is still wet give them a few more minutes.

You can create hundreds of different scones using this basic recipe and method. You can make the scone a little healthier by using part wheat flour or some oatmeal. You can also make it richer by adding some more butter and using whole milk or cream. Get moving and mix some up though, because there's nothing quite as comforting as the smell of scones baking in the oven!