Simple Scones, Sweet or Savory Recipe

Pastry Recipe for Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner or Snack

© V. Wayne Hughes

Mar 17, 2009

Don't be intimidated by the thought of baking delicious scones. Make simple sweet or savory scones at home and impress family and friends.

This Simple Scone recipe can be made sweet or savory and imagination is the key to new flavor combinations. Here are some suggestions.

Sweet

• Frozen strawberries, blueberries, peaches, raspberries, blackberries (these fruits fresh add too much moisture so only use frozen). Add rough chopped lime basil or lemon thyme for a treat.
• Fresh raisins, apples or pears [cinnamon goes great with apples].
• Chocolate chips and chopped nuts.

Savory

• Cheddar cheese chunked or shredded with rough chopped chives.
• Parmesan cheese with rough chopped marjoram.

INGREDIENTS [See Pic #1]

• ¾ C. Sugar
• 2 C. Flour
• 1 Tb Baking Powder
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 5 Tb butter (chilled)
• 1 C. Heavy Cream
• Sweet or Savory flavoring (See above)
• Parchment Paper
• Baking Pan

1. Arrange ingredients on work surface, put parchment paper on baking pan, preheat oven to 375 degrees. This will make the process easier.
2. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Use a fork to stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Keep the fork handy for the next step.
3. Cut butter into dry ingredients. Use butter straight from the refrigerator (warm or melted butter will make the batter too moist). Cut into pieces and then cut into the dry ingredients with the fork. The butter needs to be in small pieces throughout the flour mixture.
4. Add the heavy cream (READ FIRST). This is the crucial step in making great scones. The dough should not be “sticky moist” [See Pic # 2] so add 2/3s of the heavy cream and mix by hand. Add more heavy cream in small amounts until the right consistency of dough is reached. Great scones come from dough that doesn't mold together easily.
5. Add sweet or savory ingredients [see above]. Be gentle folding the sweet or savory goodies into the dough by hand. Overworked scones are tough scones.
6. Form and cut dough.Place dough on floured surface (a large smooth cutting board works well). Dough that falls apart and still has some dry areas is perfect. Mold it by hand into a circle of ½ to ¾ inch thick dough. Again, the dough will seem dry and might crack apart. That's great. It will come together as it bakes. Cut it into wedges with a knife [See Pic #3] and place on baking pan with parchment paper. The scones will expand slightly so leave some room between them [See Pic #4]..
7. Bake. Ovens vary so check the scones after 20 minutes and then keep an eye on them the first time. When they take on a light golden color they are ready [See Pic #5].

Ingredients for Simple Scone Recipe

Simple Scone Dough, Not Too Moist

Simple Scone Formed and Cut in Wedges

Simple Scones on Parchment Paper

Simple Scone Golden Brown and Delicious

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