These English scones with light and tender, cake-like crumbs are incredibly quick and easy to make. It’s practically impossible to mess up. You only need 30 minutes!
I’ve never liked scones. American scones, that is. They look fantastic, loaded with nuts, fruits and glazed, but they definitely don’t deliver the moist, flaky promises they make. At least, the ones I’ve tried. Granted, I’ve never tried making them myself. Afraid of disappointment, I guess.
Anyway, when we had an Afternoon tea at Savoy in London, we enjoyed the most deliciously moist and tender English scones for our first course. Oh my goodness, I was in love! They were super tender, cake-like and light! We actually had to ask for more scones!
Since then, scones shot right up to the top of my to-bake list. After a few batches of trial and error, I’m finally ready to share with you my findings!
What’s the difference between British and American scones?
Well, first, the amount of butter. English scones use way less butter than american version, but they are meant to be served with whipped butter, or clotted cream and sweet jam/jelly. And unlike american scones, British scones are smaller in size and doesn’t have hundreds of varieties. You’ll only see plain scones, or with raisins/currants.
Sounds a lot like biscuits, doesn’t it? But there are some differences too.
Biscuits are flakier and crumblier than scones. English scones, on other hand, are quite light, but most importantly, they have delicate cake-like crumbs, that sets them apart from American scones and biscuits.
The batter will be a bit sticky, but don’t fret. It’ll be work out beautifully!
I loved serving my scones with sweet whipped butter and jam. My favorites are raspberry jam and apricot jam. My husband prefers strawberry jam though. Either way, they are great!
So have you tried English scones? Which one do you prefer, American scones, British scones, or biscuits?
If you have a trusted recipe for tender (not dry) american scones, please share it with me in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!
English Scones
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- ½ cup (120ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
- ½ cup (120ml) whole milk, at room temperature
- 3 ½ cups (435g) all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
Sweet whipped butter:
- ½ cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup (60ml) heavy whipping cream
- 1-2 tablespoons raw honey
Instructions
- To make the scones, preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Line the baking sheet with parchment paper, or silicone mat.
- In a medium jug, beat the eggs, buttercream and milk. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of mixture.
- In a mixing bowl with paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Add butter and mix until nice and smooth. (Tip: Thoroughly coating the flour with butter minimizes the formation of gluten creating tender and light scones.)
- Add egg mixture and mix until just combined. The dough will be quite sticky, but don't worry. Transfer the dough onto well-floured surface.
- With floured hands, knead the dough to smooth out the surface and flatten it into 1-inch thick disk. Using 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out as many scones as you can.
- Gather the remaining dough and repeat the step #5, until all the dough is used.
- Arrange the scones on the prepared baking sheet, brush on the reserved egg mixture on each scone and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Cool the scones on wire rack for 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with sweet whipped butter.
- To make the sweet whipped butter, beat the butter, heavy cream and honey in a mixing bowl with whisk attachment until nice and fluffy.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Facts:
This recipe was originally published on April 22, 2015. Updated with new photos in May, 2018.
Maureen Delves says
I tried this, making a half recipe (substituting oat milk and 2 tsp. Of vinegar as a concession to my dairy sensitivity) adding 1/2 cup dried cranberries and finely diced candied orange peel. I sugared the tops before baking. The dough was very sticky to handle and cut in spite of the well floured board but I resisted adding more flour. The sides don’t rise quite as high nor do they split as easily as a baking powder biscuit as the dough doesn’t have the same layers of cold butter. The tender crumb was delightful and this recipe is a delicious addition to my collection
Shinee says
Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, Maureen!!
John says
What is all purpose flour. No such thing here in Ireland. Is it Self raising or plain or Strong?
Shinee says
Hi, John. Thanks for reaching out for clarification. All-purpose flour is just a plain flour.
Scotslass says
I’m a Scot, and we are a nation of scone bakers. I do like this simple recipe as it looks so very much like my Grandma’s recipe from many moons ago. So many recipes omit the sugar, but to me, yours is spot on.
Some people here use self-raising flour as they believe that the bicarbonate of soda or baking powder add a bitter taste. Interested to hear your opinions.I found this recipe on Pinterest, and will be giving it a go this afternoon. Thank you!!.
Shinee says
Hey, there! So, self-rising flour is basically a mix of all-purpose flour and baking powder. Baking powder doesn’t add bitter taste. But baking soda does add that weird metallic taste if used too much. This recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of baking powder. If you’d add that amount of baking soda, it’ll be inedible. 🙂 I really hope you love this recipe. Please let me know if you try this recipe. Thanks!
Isa says
Hi Shinee
Thank you for the lovely recipe. I’m in Australia and I made it exactly as you said. The whole scone came out fantastic but I felt I could taste the baking powder too much. I appreciate your recipe greatly though I will use self raising flour for my next batch. Have a wonderful day
Shinee says
Thank you so much for your feedback, Isa!! Hope self-raising flour works better for you.
Wipada Kulenkampff says
This recipe is totally a keeper! I used sour cream in place of buttermilk and it turned out amazing. Thank you so much for the recipe 😊
Fai jones says
Love the recipe made for friends its was a huge hit..😍😍😍
Ruth says
Lovely soft scones, goes well with jam and cream and VE day
Leigh says
I made these for Christmas and they were a huge hit! I make them on a regular basis now! Delicious!
Shinee says
Awesome! So happy you loved the recipe. Thank you for your feedback, Leigh!!
Moni says
Very tasty, not dry not very sweet either but that got fixed with my homemade fig jam so its a perfect scone
Shinee says
Yay, so glad you enjoyed the scones. Thank you for your feedback, Moni!
Alejandra says
Hi, Shinee! I’ve never tried making scones before, so I’m very excited about your recipe. Especially because the scones in your photos look scrumptious!
However, I’m absolutely terrified at the amount of baking powder this recipe calls for. Are you sure it’s tablespoons and not teaspoons? I think that may have been the reason behind Holly’s [above comment] absolute gloopy gluey mess.
Shinee says
Hi, Alejandra! Yes, 2 tablespoons of baking powder. I know it’s a lot, but that’s what original recipe from Cook’s Illustrated calls for. They say it yields the lightest and fluffiest scones. And I have to agree with them. Hope you give these a try, and let me know how they turn out, if you do. 🙂
Holly says
Are you sure your gram conversions are accurate? I really don’t know what went wrong here, I have been making English scones for a long time (being English!) and tried your recipe, followed the instructions to the letter (weighing out number of grams rather than cups) and my ‘dough’ was an absolute gloopy gluey mess that certainly couldn’t be kneaded! I ended up having to get someone to scrape it off my hands and chuck a load of self raising flour in there until the dough reached the right texture. I think this is the first time in my life I’ve managed to mess up scones – I didn’t think that was possible!
Shinee says
Hi, Holly! I’m so sorry to hear your dough didn’t turn out. I just double checked the measurements and everything looks right. I even checked it against the original recipe on Cook’s Illustrated. I’m puzzled as what went wrong. Since you’ve weighed the flour and everything, it should have been accurate. I’m clueless.
Why? says
Yes thoroughly mixed the ingredients. The scones looked exactly like the ones in the picture!
Shinee says
My only other guess would be the flour amount. If you didn’t weigh the flour when measuring it, it’s very possible you’ve added a bit too much. Excess flour will definitely cause denser scones.