English Style Scones
These English Style Scones bake up light, tall and fluffy, and are a wonderful treat for breakfast or afternoon tea. Spread them with jam, clotted cream, butter, or simply eat them plain. They’re so delicious!
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 11 years since I lived in California.
As in, 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, the good news is 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. A lot of people think these look like biscuits, and they kind of do, but they’re prepared quite differently.
How to make English Scones:
Start by placing all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar in a food processor, then add softened butter:
That’s the first difference between English style scones and both biscuits and American-style scones. Biscuits and American scones both use cold butter that’s rubbed or “cut” into the dry ingredients.
Pulse the food processor ingredients until the softened 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:
The mixture will be wet, but resist the urge to add too much excess flour, since this will make the scones drier.
Lightly flour the dough, then knead it until it smooths out a bit, just a few times:
You can see that it’s still sticky, and there are bits sticking to my counter. Again, this is important for a hydrated dough, a soft texture, and good rise.
As with anything involving flour, try not to knead too much, or excess gluten will develop and make the scones tough, and also prevent them from rising as high.
Roll the dough about an inch thick:
Use a 2.5″ cutter to cut circles, then place them on a silicone mat lined baking sheet. Make sure not to twist the cutter at all when cutting the circles. Push straight down, otherwise they won’t rise as tall.
How to freeze scones:
If you want, you can freeze the unbaked scone circles, then when you’re ready to eat, bake from frozen at the same temperature for about 5 extra minutes.
You can also just freeze completely baked scones, and let them thaw to room temperature when you’d like to eat them. Bread and baked goods tend to freeze beautifully.
Before baking, brush with the reserved 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.
For savory scones, try these Cheddar Chive Scones, or these Homemade English Muffins.
Banana Bread and Pumpkin Muffins are some of my other favorite homemade baked goods.
Scones Tips:
What if my dough is too sticky? As noted above, it’s normal for the dough to be a little bit sticky, but it should still be workable. If it’s not workable, this is probably either because there’s not enough flour, or the butter got too warm. So first, try to weigh the flour if possible. There is already so much variation between cup measuring and brands, and weighing the flour will help ensure proper proportions. Next, try to assess if the dough needs more flour, or if it’s too warm. For example, if the butter you used is softened above 70 degrees F (or if you used the microwave softening feature for a bit too long), the butter may be too warm by the time you’re working with it. Popping the dough into the fridge will firm the butter slightly, and may help you roll it out. Or, you can add just enough flour to the outside to roll it out, then cut the pieces.
How to reheat scones: Bake in a 300F oven for 5-10 minutes, until warmed through. You can also cut them in half and toast them.
Can scones be made ahead? Yes. Like any baked good, these are best fresh, but they’re still fantastic the next day. Reheat them per the instructions above, or bake from frozen.
How to freeze scones: You can either freeze scones baked or unbaked. To freeze baked scones, let them cool to room temperature, then freeze in an airtight bag for up to 2 months. To freeze unbaked scones, make the recipe up to cutting the dough circles, then bake the circles straight from frozen for 5 extra minutes, or until cooked through.
Why did my scones not rise as high as yours? First, make sure you’re using fresh baking powder, one that has been opened less than 6 months ago. Also, if you knead the dough too much, the scones won’t rise as tall. Knead gently, and just enough to bring the dough together. Adding more flour also prevents the dough from rising as high, so only dust lightly.
How long will scones keep? At room temperature, for a few days. In the fridge, for a couple weeks. In the freezer, a couple months.
What to serve with scones: Jam, clotted cream, and butter are my favorites.
Here’s a video I made for the scones, if you’d like some more visuals on the process:
Enjoy!
English Style Scones
Ingredients
For the Scones:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (10 ounces by weight)
- 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
Instructions
- 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 with the dry ingredients.
- Stir to combine with a spatula, until a rough dough forms.
- Transfer to a lightly floured countertop and knead about 10 times until the dough comes together into a relatively smooth ball. Take care not to knead too much, or the dough will be tougher and not rise as high.
- 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. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Post updated in November 2018. Originally published August 2015.
438 Comments on “English Style Scones”
This recipe looks wonderful. I will try it later today. Can I add cheese to make them into cheese scones or would it affect the resluts?
Yes, you can after you lay the dough flat, add grated cheese, mix the dough, add again with grated cheese and then mix the dough again till mix thoroughly. Flat the dough to about 1″ thick square and slices them to 9 pieces. Place it on a tin grease or butter tray, then add the remaining of egg and milk as per instructions. After cooked, it is better to eat them fresh and warm right away. You can add anything to the recipe after dough is made.
Please only bake and eat scones fresh the same day. Using a fridge makes bread and scones go stale. In a fridge the starch molecules crystallise quickly. 4 tsp baking powder sounds a lot, surely it makes the scone taste soapy? Naomi, England
Try a few drops of almond essence in with milk and egg delicious especially if you put dried fruit in or cherries not too many though I’m an old English granny
Try a few drops of almond essence in the milk and egg delicious especially if you put dried fruit or glassier cherry’s in not too much fruit though microwave about six seconds from freezer. I’m an old English great granny hope you enjoy.
Great recpy
These sound very nice but they’re not “English” scones.
In Britain we rub butter into the flour. We do not soften it and we never use a food processor .
We wouldn’t keep them in a fridge either.
I made this recipe and it was a super hit.
I added raisins to the mixture and it tasted awesome.
Thank you so much
Made these with some subs.
– used 50% AP and 50% cake flour (to reduce gluten formation esp with Canadian AP flour)
– used frozen butter (85gm)
– used food processor to pulse frozen butter and dry ingredients into homogeneity
– for adding liquids: put all dry into bowl, drizzled on some liquid and using spatula, folded from edges to middle; repeated until all liquid integrated
– for kneading: it was a wet and sticky mass so I turned it onto a well-floured counter and using flat metal turner, again folded from edges into middle until it was a nice soft dough (didn’t take long)
Results? Tall, super fluffy. Tastes great.
Incidentally, you can use the same scrape, fold and pat technique when making pastry or when handling high hydration sourdoughs. Nothing on your hands and you won’t be tempted to add too much flour or work it too hard in your hands.
How would you adjust this for self-rising flour?
Using a hang mixer to mix the butter into the dry ingredients does not work very well at all. I would not recommend doing that if you don’t have a food processor. Instead use your hands. It’ll prevent you from getting flour everywhere.
Tried the recipe twice. It is different to the other scone recipes. The dough IS very sticky and I had to add more flour; and even then, it was sticky and a bit difficult to handle. The amount of baking powder does give the dough a bitter taste. Having said that, I find that the sticky dough makes a light, fluffy, cake like texture, not unpleasant at all, which is why I made it a second time. I don’t like scones which are dry and need mouthfuls t of tea to wash it down every bite.
I like putting some raisins in the dough …like an English scone and use butter milk (warm milk and a squeeze of lemon juice. Let it sit for five or ten minutes). Nice!
This recipe is a keeper. The scones turned out so light & soft. So good with butter.
For those in need of metric measurements, I used the following:
300g all purpose flour
50g sugar
85 g unsalted butter
150g milk
The other ingredients, follow the recipe.
I hope this helps for those not use US cups.
Thanks Audrey, that certainly helps an awful lot!
I’ve been trying to get good scones for many years now at +/- 3,500 ft. above sea level and AT LAST I’ve fouond the right recipe. Thanks Joanne.
Happy to hear this Roger!
I’ve made these, and they are delicious/the perfect scone (and I’ve been through LOTS of scone recipes), but they aren’t rising quite as high as those pictured. Any tips (I’m not turning the cutter or overworking the dough as far as I can tell)?
I plan to try your recipe but before I do – can I add raisins? I’ve recently discovered scones ( wuth raisins in them ) and I love them!! I’m now excited to try and make them. Thank you for sharing your recipe.
Epic fail.
The taste was fine, texture okay- but they did not rise at all.