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Comprised from The Prepared Pantry Magazine “Country Home Kitchen.” To sign up for a free subscription to the magazine click here

My husband and I have an ongoing debate about the true definition of “scone.”

The word itself is pronounced “skawn” like “fawn” or “scone” like “tone” Webster says either is okay.

When I went to visit his parents house in Utah one summer, his mother who I think is a master baker and chef said she was making scones. I was shocked to see her pulling chunks of browned deep-fried dough from a sizzling pot of oil. They were good but to me, they were not scones.

Later that summer I took my husband to the county fair with my family in Washington. We stood in line for scones and he was surprised to be handed a plate with a flaky, biscuit-like, baked good smothered in creamy butter and raspberry jam. Thats a scone.

In this article, youll learn all about these biscuit-like scones.

Whats the difference between biscuits and scones?

Theres a fine line between biscuits and scones. Its true that your English scones look different than your Southern Buttermilk Biscuits, but there is a difference between the two.

Scones originated in Scotland; biscuits are thought of as an American food.

 

Biscuits and scones are often mixed and baked the same way. Typically, scones are made with egg and are a little sweeter. Often they have fruit or nuts added and may be drizzled with a glaze.

 

If you would like to fancy up your biscuits, add a touch of sugar, some fruit, and maybe some chopped nuts. You can cut them into squares, wedges, or cut them round with a biscuit cutter. You can drizzle a glaze over them. Some say your biscuits then just become scones, but Im ok with that.

 

 

How to Make Scones in Three Easy Steps:

You can make scones faster than cookies. You can mix them faster, form them faster, and bake them faster. And everyone loves a hot scone. 

Step 1: Mixing the Dough

No need to set up your stand-type mixer. Add your mix (or dry ingredients) into a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry knife.  Add the water and stir with a fork. When the dough begins to form, dump the contents on the counter and knead with your hands for a few moments, just until everything sticks together in a dough ball.

Step 2: Forming the Scones

Pat the dough into a disk with the dough 1/2- to 3/4-inches thick.  Cut the disk into wedges and lay them on nonstick or lightly greased baking sheet with 1/2- to 3/4-inches between the scones.

Step 3: Baking the Scones

Bake them in a hot oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges just barely start to brown. Remove them to a wire rack to cool. Frost them if desired. Serve hot. 

Bakers notes:

• While its traditional to cut scones into wedges, you dont have to. We often use a biscuit cutter and cut them into circles as you would biscuits. Lately, we have been patting our dough into a rectangle and cutting the dough in 2-inch by 2-inch squares.
• Keep your dough chilled and dont let the butter melt. Its best to start with rock hard butter and cold water. We measure the water first and put it in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator for a few minutes until ready to use. If the butter melts, your dough will become wet and soggy. When you cut your scones you should be able to see chunks of butter in your dough.
  

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Dont over-bake your scones. They should barely begin to brown around the edges.

 

How to Make the Perfect Scone

Key #1: Use the right flour. Use a soft, low-protein flourwe use a quality pastry flour.  You want soft, tender scones and too much protein leads to too much gluten which makes your scones chewy.

 

Key #2: Keep your ingredients cold. Temperature is critical to buttery, flakey scones. Start with very cold butter it should chip when you cut it into chunks and your liquids should be ice cold. Before you start, measure your milk or water and put it in the freezer for ten minutes. Consider chilling your mixing bowl before mixing.

 

Why do your ingredients need to be cold? The objective is to keep the butter a solid and not let it melt into a liquid. If your dough is kept cold, it will have little bits of dispersed butter. In the heat of the oven, that butter melts into the dough but leaves pockets and layers in the scones.

Work with the dough quickly to keep it cool.

 

Key #3: Dont work your dough too much. Kneading converts the protein to gluten. Mix only until the ingredients come together into a combined mass.

 

Key #4: Use a folding technique for flakey, layered scones. Roll the dough out to about 3/8-inch thick. Fold the dough in half and in half again and again. Roll the dough out to about 3/4-inch thick before cutting the scones.

 

Key #5: Use a ruler. If you would like nice, neat scones, use a ruler both as a straightedge to cut against and to measure equally-sized scones.

 

Key #6: Leave the cut edges of the scones alone. Patting the edges with your fingers melds the edges so that the scone will not rise as nicely or have a flakey, layered structure.

 

Key #7: Dont over-bake your scones. Over-baking for even a minute or two will dry your scones out. As soon as the edges begin to turn brown, remove them from the oven. Immediately, place the scones on a wire rack the hot pan will continue to dry the scones.

 

Cranberry White Chocolate Country Scones

Cranberries and white chocolate make a scrumptious combination. Claudia Klingler, the innkeeper at the Blue Heron Inn north of Rigby, Idaho, was gracious enough to share this recipe with us. She makes it like a drop biscuit. We made it both as a drop biscuit and as a traditional scone.

 

Original Recipe (Drop Biscuit)

This makes a very light, cloud-like biscuit.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, chilled
1 egg
buttermilk to make 1 cup with the egg, whisked together
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry knife until the mixture resembles coarse corn meal. Add chips and dried cranberries.
3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the buttermilk mixture. Gently mix only until combined. Do not over mix!  Drop mounds onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 11-15 minutes until slightly browned. Serve with Devonshire cream.

Traditional Recipe (Scone)

This is a traditional scone that is very loaded with chips and cranberriesone cup of inclusions for two cups of flour.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, chilled
1 egg
1/3 cup buttermilk 
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries

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Directions

1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.With a pastry knife, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it is granular inStir in the chocolate chips and cranberries.

3.Mix the egg and buttermilk together in a small bowl. Make a depression in the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture. Stir with a spatula until moistened.

4. Dust the countertop with flour and turn the dough out.  Fold the dough together until you have a single, large lump of dough. Pat it into a disk about 8 inches in diameter. Cut the disk into wedges and place them on an ungreased baking sheet with room around them to expand.

5. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until they are golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Serve while still warm.

Banana Whole Wheat Scones with Honey Butter Recipe:

This wholesome, not-too-sweet scone is great for breakfast or brunch. The optional honey butter is a nice touch or you can serve them with your favorite preserve.

Ingredients

11/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter
2 large ripe bananas
2 tablespoons buttermilk

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Grease a large baking sheet.

1. Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. With a pastry knife, cut in the cold butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. 
3. Mash the bananas and stir in the buttermilk.
4. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula until partially combined and then turn out onto the counter.  Knead until the dough just holds together.  (Over mixing will make the scones tough.)  
5. Pat the dough into a 3/4-inch thick circle.  Cut the circle into wedges and place on the prepared cooking sheet leaving one inch between the scones to allow for expansion. 
6. Bake for 13 minutes or until the scones begin to brown.

For the Honey Butter:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine one-half cup butter with one-third cup honey and two ounces of cream cheese. Whip with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Store in the refrigerator.

How to do Make-Ahead Biscuits and Scones

1. Mix your scones or biscuits just like the recipe says.

2. Cut them out and put them on an ungreased baking sheet.

3. Put the whole sheet in the freezer.

4. Once frozen, lift them off the baking sheet and put them in a heavy plastic bag.

5. Store in your freezer until needed. In a heavy bag, your biscuits should last for a month in the freezer.

6. When you are ready for some hot biscuits, take what you need from the freezer and bake according the recipes directions.

7. Dont thaw the biscuits before baking. Youll have great biscuits just as if you got up an hour earlier.

 There you have it great biscuits in a flash, even on your busiest morning.

Author Biography

Casey is a journalist who has experience working in the newspaper industry. She was trained in English and journalism at Brigham Young University-Idaho. She has works in marketing and loves writing about cooking and baking at The Prepared Pantry. Cooking has been a hobby of Casey’s since she was a little girl. She also enjoys cooking for her husband and trying new recipes.

She enjoys food photography and graphic design as she works as the editor of the “Country Home Kitchen“ magazine at The Prepared Pantry.

Casey lives in Rigby, Idaho with her husband, David. Not to mention an energetic but adorable chocolate lab, Copper.

To learn more about The Prepared Pantry, visit our website at www.preparedpantry.com