English Style Scones
To this day, if you go to my childhood home and open up the refrigerator, you will find bags of scones in there, made by a bakery called Sconehenge.
Located in Berkeley, California, I devoured these absurdly delicious scones all throughout my childhood.
My dad still has access to these scones since he lives in the Bay Area, but it has been 9 years since I lived in California.
My enjoyment of them has been limited to brief Christmas and summer visits.
I remember a few years ago I tried to recreate these scones, and searched the internet endlessly with phrases like “Sconehenge recipe,” Sconehenge copycat recipe” and “how to make Sconehenge scones.”
Nothing came up.
It made me crazy!!! I couldn’t figure out how these scones were so different…soft, fluffy, pillows of wonder.
The mystery was finally solved when I went to England last month and tasted an English Style Scone.
I took one bite and thought, THIS TASTES LIKE SCONEHENGE!
Then the “duh” moments poured in. Sconehenge…a riff on Stonehenge…which is in England…oh gosh.
The things you realize AFTER the dots have been connected.
Well my friends, now I know how to make these delightful scones. They’re English style!
English scones are made differently from American scones, and instead of being stiff and dry, they’re fluffy and soft. So delightful. Let’s make some!
Start by placing flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a food processor, then add softened butter:
Pulse until the butter is well incorporated into the flour.
You see that unlike a pie crust, we don’t have big pieces of butter in the flour.
Rather, it has a sandy, soft texture:
Dump this mixture into a large mixing bowl.
Whisk together milk and an egg, save 2 tbsp for the egg wash later, then add the rest to the dry ingredients:
Stir together with a spatula, then when it’s roughly combined, dump it onto the counter:
Lightly flour the dough, then knead it until it smooths out a bit:
Roll the dough about an inch thick:
Use a 2.5″ cutter to cut circles, then brush with egg wash:
After a trip into the oven, they’ll be puffed and golden brown:
Serve with strawberry jam (here’s a quick strawberry jam recipe I have), and clotted cream for extra bonus points.
Butter is of course lovely too.
Here’s a video I made for the scones, if you’d like some more visuals on the process:
Enjoy!
Fluffy English Style Scones
These Fluffy English Style Scones are light and bake up super tall! Spread with jam and clotted cream or butter for breakfast or afternoon tea.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups flour
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2/3 cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- Strawberry jam or other desired jam, for serving (recipe here)
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- In a food processor, pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar a couple times to combine. Add the butter and pulse 7-10 times until the butter is completely distributed. You shouldn’t see any chunks of butter, and the mixture should have a sandy texture to it. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk to combine the milk and egg. Save 2 tbsp of it for the egg wash later, and pour the rest into the mixing bowl. Stir to combine with a spatula, until a rough dough forms. Transfer to a lightly floured countertop and knead about 15 times until the dough comes together into a smooth ball. Roll the dough about an inch thick and use a 2.5″ cutter to cut about 7 circles. Re-roll the scraps and cut out another 2. Place the scones onto a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet and brush the tops with the reserved egg wash. Bake the scones for 13-15 minutes, until about tripled in height, and golden brown on the tops and bottoms.
Recipe Notes:
Note: If making this recipe by hand, whisk to combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, and mix in the butter with a hand mixer. Proceed with the recipe as instructed.
Nutrition Information
Yield: MAKES 9 SCONES, USING A 2.5 INCH CUTTER, Serving Size: 1 scone
- Amount Per Serving:
- Calories: 205
- Total Fat: 8.4g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Cholesterol: 45mg
- Sodium: 150mg
- Carbohydrates: 28g
- Fiber: 1g
- Sugar: 8g
- Protein: 4.7g
You’ve made it to England, where my other half of the family lives. So glad you’re enjoying the food there. The scones are delightful, but the home-made strawberry jam is the tops! Thank you for the recipe – and you look absolutely great, Joanne – top form!
That’s so cool! It was such a lovely country.
Hi! I was wondering if you could add anything to these – either sweet or savory – like raspberries + white chocolate or white cheddar + rosemary? Would any tweaking of the recipe be necessary? Thank you!
Hi Jane, generally additions work okay here. The raspberries might leak a little bit of liquid but I imagine it would be fine. Mix it into the dough at the very end so they stay relatively whole. The combos you named sound great!
These look so flaky and delicious!! Nothing like homemade scones with homemade jam 🙂
I love how fluffy and tall they become!
Yes they puff so beautifully!
These look fantastic!
Those look outrageously good! I could eat scones everyday for the rest of my life and never tire of them. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Thrilled to the gills you posted this. I’m helping my wife host a wedding shower for my S-I-Law and wife has a doctor’s appointment that morning!! Yikes. So I have to do the cooking mostly on my own until she comes back S-I-L has asked for scones. Neither of us know how to make a scone, we would just do store bought. And I”m a gym teacher, what do I know about scones?
YAY I hope they are a hit!
Can i use salted butter? And also what kind of flour is used? Or is it just plain flour.
Salted butter will work. It’s all-purpose flour, so yes, plain!
I have been eating Sconehenge scones for a decade. Recently I moved from the SF Bay Area to Portland, Oregon, where alas there are no Sconehenge scones. I needed a recipe to satisfy my longing for Sconehenge scones and I tried yours. I substituted buttermilk for whole milk. I added fresh berries. I cut the disc of dough into 8 triangles instead of circles. The scones came out perfect! I’m so thrilled. I refrigerated the baked leftovers, and hope they reheat nicely the next day. Thank you so much for your recipe. Happy New Year.
When I made these they were SUPER wet! I live in Central America where it’s pretty humid…do u think that could affect the dough? I’ve made other scone recipes and had the same problem. How should I adjust the recipe? Maybe just add the wet until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl?
I woke to another snowy day…. the perfect day to bake scones. So happy to have found your site. The scones were truly fluffy & delicious!! Just like you claimed.????????
I plan to try more of your recipes.
Thank you!
I just made these, and although delicious I find them a bit underdone inside, and have only risen double. Perhaps the temperature is just too high?
I’ve tried this recipe twice now, the first time it cane out very wet. The second time I used unbleached flour and the dough was much more manageable. The flavor was delicious both times, but definitely better the second time. The rise was also much better on the second go. By far the tastiest scone recipe I’ve tried. Thanks so much for sharing!
These are Devine! I used buttermilk in place of milk…..superb!
What kind of flour did you use?
All purpose
Joanne, I’ve made these twice today and don’t know what I’m doing wrong! They don’t rise like your picture, are terribly crumbly and dry. I’ve used the recipe exactly the same both times and the only thing I missed was not kneading the dough. I missed that somehow. I just patted it out and then cut it into circles. Could that be the problem? I just got back from England and wanted to duplicate the gorgeous, yummy scones I had there.
Hi Sandra, I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble with these, I know how frustrating that can be. Are you using a food processor to mix the ingredients? If you’re following everything as written, my inclination to your comment about the scones being crumbly and dry is for my brain to go to oven temp/bake time issues, but you said they also didn’t rise a lot, and these puff up quite a bit usually. Do you have an oven thermometer? Do you know if your oven temp is accurate? A lot of ovens are off (I’ve moved so many times, I know this firsthand) and it can majorly impact bake times and the result. When you make the dough, is it cohesive, and does it hold together?
Hi , I don’t have a food processor ,
How else can I mix the dry ingredients with the flour . These look so yummy I can’t wait to make them
Thanks
Hi Dee, since the butter is soft/at room temperature, you could use a hand mixer instead. Make sure it’s fully blended in.
Sorry I meant how can I mix dry ingredients with butter to get the right consistency
Hi,just wondering how many grams does 6 tbsp of butter equal to? Thx:)
I just came across your gorgeous scones on Pinterest this last night and got up this morning and made them for morning tea. What a smashing hit!! Tall and fluffy and all together beautiful! Perfect with a cuppa 🙂 thanks for the great recipe and also your video. Now I’m off to check out what other goodies are on your blog 🙂
YAY!!! Glad to hear it 🙂
Hi joanne
Baked ur scone yesterday n its just melt in my mouth.. hands down this r the best scones we had.. been baking scone like forever but never add in egg.. n btw i just skipped food processor just mix em by hand still the results r super yummy.. tq 😄😍..all the way from malaysia 😘
That’s wonderful, Biha! Happy to hear!
Hi Joanne, I was wondering if these were like biscuits and if so what is the difference between the two? 🙂
Hi Shirley, while they look similar, these scones are made with room temperature (soft) butter that is completely blitzed into the flour. Biscuits use cold (firm) cubed butter that is cut into the dough, which large pieces remaining for a flakey effect.
I tried to make these today. I followed the recipe to the letter but the “dough” wasn’t doughy it was wet. I had to keep adding flour but there was no way I could’ve rolled them!, what did I do wrong, are your ingredients wrong?
Hi Kathy, I’m sorry to hear this did not go as planned for you. I’d love to help you out the best I can, as these scones are delicious and others have had success with them (I also make these fairly often). Did you make this in the food processor? Did it have a sandy, relatively dry texture to it at that point? In the comments one person said the first time they made the dough, it was wet, but the second time they used an unbleached flour and the dough was more manageable. I’m not sure how much it actually makes a difference but knowing the type might help, and also maybe hold back 1/4 of the liquid when you’re tossing the dry and wet together.
hi! I’m looking at making these for my daughters birthday tea party but I have a lot of other baking to do and i’m wondering if i can make these in advance and freeze them? if so whats the best way to thaw them? thanks!