Scones
Here's your basic "start here" scone recipe. While this simple vanilla scone is delicious as is, it's also the perfect vehicle for your favorite add-ins; we happen to love dried cranberries and walnuts. Though chocolate chips are tempting, too!
Our guarantee: These tender scones will have a dark-gold outer crust, and a light-gold, moist inner crumb. They'll taste mildly of butter and vanilla.
Dough
- 2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1 cup to 2 cups chopped dried fruit, chocolate or other flavored chips, nuts, or a combination, optional
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or the flavoring of your choice
- 1/2 cup to 2/3 cup half and half or milk
Topping
- 2 teaspoons milk
- 2 tablespoons sparkling white sugar or cinnamon sugar, optional
Directions
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1) In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients. |
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3) Stir in the fruit, chips, and/or nuts, if you're using them. |
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4) In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla or other flavor, and half and half or milk. |
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5) Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until all is moistened and holds together. |
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6) Line a baking sheet with parchment; if you don't have parchment, just use it without greasing it. Sprinkle a bit of flour atop the parchment or pan. |
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12) Bake the scones for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're golden brown. When you pull one away from the others, it should look baked all the say through; the edge shouldn't look wet or unbaked. |
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13) Remove the scones from the oven, and cool briefly on the pan. Serve warm. When they're completely cool, wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to several days. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 10 mins.
- Baking time:
- 25 mins.
- Total time:
- 1 hrs 5 mins.
- Yield:
- 12 scones
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- Recipe comments (53) »
Tips from our bakers
- For a less traditional, slightly sweeter scone, increase the sugar in the dough to 1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces).
- Scones are best served warm. They're delicious as is, but add butter and/or jam, if you like. To reheat room-temperature scones, place on a baking sheet, tent lightly with foil, and warm in a preheated 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.
- Why freeze the scones before baking? Because 30 minutes in the freezer relaxes the gluten in the flour, which makes the scones more tender and allows them to rise higher. It also chills the fat, which will make the scones a bit flakier.
- To make free-form rather than wedge-shaped scones, increase the half and half or milk to 3/4 cup. Using a large ice cream scoop or spoon, dollop the scone dough in 1/3-cupfuls onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the scones in a preheated 375°F oven for about 30 minutes.
- These simple scones are a wonderful blank canvas, awaiting your palette of chips, nuts, or fruit. Some of our favorite combinations are butterscotch chips and pecans; chocolate chips and dried cherries; and diced crystallized ginger and diced dried peaches.
- Flour is like a sponge; it absorbs liquid during humid weather, and dries out in dry weather. In summer or when it's hot and humid, use the lesser amount of milk or half and half in this recipe; during winter, or when it's very dry, use the greater amount. Either way, start with the smaller amount, and drizzle it in till the dough is the correct consistency.
| Nutrition Facts | |
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Serving Size 1 scone (63g)
Servings Per Batch 12 |
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| Amount Per Serving | |
| Calories 210 | Calories from Fat 80 |
| Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat | 9g |
| Saturated Fat | 5g |
| Trans Fat | 0g |
| Cholesterol | 55mg |
| Sodium | 320mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 27g |
| Dietary Fiber | 1g |
| Sugars | 7g |
| Protein | 5g |
| * The nutrition information provided for each recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information. | |
Reviews
03/06/2010
I'm with Emee from Portland, OR. I put my scones in for only 20 minutes on the middle shelf and they came out much too dark. Great flavor and texture though (I added currants). Maybe next time, I'll just skip the brushing of milk on top.
01/17/2010
These are superb! Easy to make, and after chilling them, it's unbelievable how much they puff up! Lightest scones I have ever made, and I'll be trying different 'add-ins' in the future. Even with only 1/3 cup sugar, they were still really sweet, so I might cut back on that next time. Beautiful golden brown scones
01/09/2010
I made these scones the other night with Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate chunks. Brushed the tops before cooking with a little half and half and sprinkled with sugar in the raw. These were incredible. Easy and yummy. Can't wait to serve them at a brunch and to experiment with other add-ins.
01/02/2010
I made this recipe today for young girls' tea party. Added chocolate chips and sprinkled tops with Turbinado Sugar. They were a hit with girls and mothers. Thanks KAF for great recipes. I find myself looking at your website first when in need of a good recipe.
12/20/2009
I've really enjoyed playing with this recipe. My favorite so far was adding the zest of an orange and 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and added cinnamon sugar on the top. Delicious!
12/12/2009
Great recipe, but I'd rather shape and cut the rounds on a board rather than right on the sheet, because the flour that was used for sprinkling directly on the board burnt in the oven, creating an off odor that got to the scones a little bit. But the texture was perfect. I would advise all also to bake only for 20 mins -- I went the full 25 and thought they were way too dark. Great texture and flavor though! My extra notes: I did dried cherries and lemon zest, and also frosted with a powdered-sugar/lemon zest frosting. (2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 tsp vanilla, 1 tblsp milk, 2 tblsp lemon juice, 1 tsp chopped lemon zest)
11/25/2009
Why do you cut and seperate scones before you chill them. My batter was too sticky to easily seperate them befoe chilling, but the baked product looks the same as your photo.
Any thoughts??
Also, what should be the consistency of the dough that we are pouring onto the cookie sheet??
Scones (like biscuits) can be made two ways, drop or soft dough. The drop batter drops out of a spoon and the soft dough can be cut into shapes. Adding a bit more flour to yours to make a soft dough (which can be rolled out, then cut to shape) will give you the results you seek. Irene @ KAF
11/14/2009
I made these with chocolate chips and didn't like them nearly as well as the KAF Classic Scones recipe prepared with chocolate chips. I'm going to stick with the Classic Scones.
10/27/2009
Just pulled these out of the oven (yes, I really did decide to make scones at 11:30pm). I stirred in some orange zest along with about 1.5 cups chocolate chips. That part is delicious. They are just a teeny bit bland still and probably not as magical as they should be since I used vegan margarine (Earth Balance) and Rice milk for my no-dairy household. Still, this is probably one of the best recipes I've tried so far. When the no-dairy crowd isn't consuming, I'm going to try making them with some raw whole milk, I have a feeling they'll be truly amazing with that change. :)
10/26/2009
I have been a baker for 44 years and i have to take my pastry chef's hat off to you all for this magnificent recipe. It took me three tries to perfect, but my pineapple, cranberry, apricot scones are "to die for". The reason it took 3 tries was just to get the flavor combination just right. I use 1/2 vanilla 1/2 almond extract or all almond and nuts and have a written copy of the recipe on hand for all that ask. Fabulous!
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