Scones are fabulous. Slightly sweet and biscuit like. You can add to the basic recipe a huge variety of flavors, fruits and nuts. Make them sweet or savory. Let your imagination run wild. The picture above is of blueberry lime scones. I am going to provide the basic recipe here with SOME flavor options below, but don’t limit yourself to just those ideas. Scones are super simple to make and would be great for baking with kids. A nice treat for breakfast.

Prep Time: 30 min Cook Time: 25 min Makes: 8 large or 16 small scones

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream or buttermilk, plus 2 tbsp for brushing
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

  1. Mix together dry ingredients.
  2. Grate the butter and mix into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or your hands. Mix until it forms pea sized crumbs.
  3. Whisk together wet ingredients. (Add zest here if using.)
  4. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
  5. Mix in any add-in ingredients at this time such as nuts, dried fruit, etc.
  6. Flour work surface and work dough out into a 8 inch disc. (Dough may be sticky. If too sticky add a little flour, if too dry add a little cream. ) Cut into wedges. Place separated on parchment lined baking sheet or stone. (If you want smaller scones you can roll into 2 smaller discs and cut into wedges or into a square and cut into 8 squares and then each square into triangles. Or 10-12 drop scones by placing 1/4 cup dough on parchment lined baking sheet or stone.)
  7. Brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sugar (if desired).
  8. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
  9. Preheat oven to 400F.
  10. Bake 18-26 minutes or until golden brown.
  11. Let cool before icing if using icing.
  12. Will keep in air tight container approximately 2 days at room temp and 5 days in the fridge. Scones freeze well also.
  13. ENJOY!

Variations:

  • Blueberry Lime: zest and juice of 1 lime + 1 c. blueberries, frozen or fresh (add a little juice to the dough plus use juice in making icing)
  • Cherry Chocolate: 3/4 chocolate chunks + 3/4 c. pitted cherries, fresh or frozen
  • Cranberry Orange: zest and juice of 1 orange + 1 c dried cranberries (put a little juice in dough plus use in making icing)
  • Lemon Almond: zest and juice of 1 lemon + 1 c toasted almonds (1/2 cup in dough and 1/2 cup on top) + almond extract (substitute some or all of vanilla extract with almond)