I couldn’t explain better than I have in the video.
Watch it. Drop mic. Peace out. No more bad scones. Bye.
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Your final guide to the perfect English tea scone – all common mistakes corrected
Ingredients
- 1 large egg
- 3 tbsp (45 grams) plain yogurt
- 3 tbsp (44 grams) heavy cream
- 2 cups (240 grams) AP flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 3 tbsp (40 grams) light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 5 tbsp (70 grams) unsalted butter, diced
WET INGREDIENT:
DRY INGREDIENT:
Instructions
- Crack the egg into a cup and beat until smooth. Transfer 1 tbsp of the beaten egg into another cup and leave aside as egg wash (do not add water). Then whisk the plain yogurt and heavy cream with the remaining egg until even. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, light brown sugar and fine sea salt. Add the unsalted butter, then use your hands to rub the butter evenly into the flour until NO SMALL LUMPS OF BUTTER ARE LEFT, and the flour resembles yellow cornmeal. Add all the wet ingredients into the flour-mixture. First use a spatula to fold and mix everything together until no loose flour are left in the bowl, then use your hands to knead the dough a few times until everything comes into a ball. Transfer the dough onto the counter without dusting more flour, and continue to knead the dough a few more times until it is on the CUSP OF FORMING TINY BIT OF RESISTANCE WHEN YOU PUSH IT DOWN. If the dough sticks to the counter, use a pastry cutter to scrape it off. The dough should look even but not as smooth as a bread dough.
- Now dust the bough with a little flour to prevent sticking, and roll it out into 1 1/8″ thickness. Press the flat side of the dough scraper on top of the dough to make sure it’s flat and levelled. SLOWLY press down a 2″ round cutter into the dough without twisting, then gently push the dough out onto a parchment-lined baking sheet without making large dents or making the dough too lopsided. Dip the cutter into some flour and tap on the edge to get rid of excess flour, and cut again. Once you run out of space, squeeze and remaining dough back together into a ball without big cracks, roll it out, and cut again. Repeat until you run out of dough. You should have 7 scones.
- Brush the beaten egg on the top surface of the biscuits, then leave in the fridge for 30 to 40 minutes UNCOVERED. Meanwhile, preheat the oven on 420 F/210 C. Right before baking, brush a second layer of egg wash on top of the first (semi-dried) egg wash. This double layer is going to give the cap a really shiny look.
- Bake the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes, then turn OFF the oven, and leave the biscuits inside for anther 5 minutes to finish cooking. Transfer onto a cooling rack and serve warm with clotted cream (must) and jam.
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97 responses to “Your final guide to the perfect English tea scone – all common mistakes corrected”
I learned a few years ago that clotted cream is actually dead easy to make!
Google Chef John clotted cream.
Wow! Had no idea how it was made and I live in England. I am going to give this two-day clotted cream-making effort a try.
I’m very trilled to try your recipe, I’ve wanting to have THAT scone, the perfect scone. Thank you
For the last couple of years I’ve had an afternoon tea birthday party Dec 29th, making over 100 scones, lemon curd, fresh strawberry freezer jam and several litres of clotted cream. So freakin good!
Ha! I love this…my mother is English (but we live in Canada) and we’ve been baking and eating scones forever; they taste good, but they certainly aren’t as perfect looking as these! Now I want to try your recipe…I think it’s bang on about the richness/fat, etc. I’m thinking maybe something like a wooden dowel that’s approximately the same size as the cutter could be used to push the dough out and therefore eliminate the pre-bake lopsidedness?
Samantha, yes I was just thinking I wish I had something like that :)
I agree. I think scones and biscuits are indeed different animals! Thanks so much for this detailed recipe. I’m going to give it a good try.
Mandy, how would you feel about just slicing the dough with a knife or a dough scraper, with the cut being done straight down with no sawing (which would ruin the sides) to get square scones?? I used to make a cordon bleu cookbook scone recipe where we were instructed to roll out the dough sort of round and then slice them like for a pie cut into triangles. So there was never any problem with leftover dough. It would be possible to measure the slices so that they were less than 2 in. Also, since they are cut with a knife or the scraper it would not be necessary to worry about pushing them out from a cookie cutter. Thus avoiding premature lopsidedness. I know that round is traditional but square is not bad either.
When you make the scones, do you use the weight measurement or the volume measurement? While looking at the video, you mentioned 2 cups of flour so I was worried there would be no weights in the recipe. I’m very glad you have the weight measurements because that is all that I would want to use… I really get a little upset with recipes that were created with volume measurements and then the recipe writer just goes to google to look up/estimate the weight measurement. Just my personal pet peeve. ;-)
Pamela, yes scones can be square or triangle, but I’m obsessed with these round shaped tea scones w this particular look :). But of course you can do it in a different shape.
But aren’t scones supposed to be made without the egg? English scones, I mean…
I recently made incredible biscuits with Samin’s recipe, but scones are a little bit different and I wanted to try them also. Also because Samin’s biscuits have a load of butter in them.
Dulcistella, some do some don’t but mine does, and I like the richness it gives :)
Mary Berry puts egg in hers as well. I personally have always preferred scones with egg. It gives them less of an American biscuit texture.
The official baker for the Queen adds an egg to the scones he makes….according to his YouTube video. I’ve with and without…
;-)
Sorry for the error, I meant: I’ve seen with an egg and without.
I adored eating scones and clotted cream everyday after school in London and tried to replicate them at a tea party back in the U.S. but my scones were inedible and hard as hockey pucks. I never had the courage to attempt to bake scones again since then, but I definitely will try your recipe after watching your video!
What about adding raisins or dried cranberries to the dry ingredients?
Sandy, you can!
I’ve been baking scones/selling for some 20 years. Watched with fascination all the details. You did your homework! It’s admirable. I’m going to try this recipe perhaps for Christmas. I love your passion!
Could I use full fat sour cream in place of the yogurt?
Melanie, no cuz sour cream has a lot less water content than yogurt so not 1:1 substitutable.
What if I use ~2-3/4 T. Sour cream and ~1/4 t. water and mix to dilute the sour cream? Would that ratio work? I have an aversion to yogurt, to my dismay. I MEANT 1/4 T. WATER — THIS REPLY BOX DOESN’T LET ME GO BACKWARDS. That would work out to a little less than 1 t. but definitely more than 1/4 t.
I also would use a knife or my dough scraper to cut into squares — that’s MY obsession.
ps. Chef John’s clotted cream recipe is da bomb.
If you put your scones just touching each other in a smaller tray they help each other to rise nice and straight.
Just a little tip you might like to try.?
Perfect scones. Thank you for all the tips.
Hi, these look so lovely :) Would Greek yogurt work, or would that be too thick?
Jenny, maybe not the kind that’s like concrete lol
At the risk of being tarred and feathered.. could you do this in a food processor?
Sabbian, lol not at all. You can with the butter part of course but be careful not to over knead the dough after the liquid is added :)
I have such hot hands that they practically melt butter after a few seconds :( I put the dry ingredients in the food processor and pulsed lots of times to get the butter fine but I poured all that into a separate big bowl and added the liquid ingredients instead. Worked amazing!
Thank you!I just discovered you today and I just love your blog and your instagram account. Now I’m going to go buy your book! ?
I just found your blog (via another great – Smitten Kitchen) and as timing would have it, I was pondering what to make for an elderly friend. A lady, no less, that enjoys Tea time every afternoon. Boom! It was serendipitous I ‘met’ you – your recipe is genius! I don’t like to bake, as it’s too ‘exact’ for a winger, but your instruction/video made it easy. Thank you!
And yet you twisted every time at the final end of the cut :)
Hi Mandy, do we have to sieve the flour? Also, can i leave it in the fridge longer? thinking of baking it the next day morning.
thanks!
Suzanne, no sifting needed. I don’t know if overnight in the fridge is a good idea. May dry out too much. I’d rather freeze them I think.
I love your precision; I love your passion for a scone. I will make these tomorrow and looking at those beautiful scones, I could almost cry. I love for a perfect score and I have had very few really, really good ones and alot, also of bad ones.
This is a very forgiving recipe!! I just had to make them today but I didn’t have yogurt, heavy cream and light brown sugar. I substituted with buttermilk, light cream and 1/2 dark brown sugar and 1/2 regular sugar. Then I made an epic mistake of putting the liquid ingredients in the flour before working the butter in. Well it turned out just fine! Thank you for making this recipe fool proof for me.
I can’t believe it that I have to “knead” the dough because all other recipes I have tried, have told me not to! So, I simply must try this recipe, and I did! I had wanted to show you a photo of the scones I made – following your recipe, but I can’t post any photos, unfortunately. Well, I love all the smiling cracks! ✌️?✌️
Hi Mandy. Thank you for sharing. I made your recipe and it turned out perfect. Every single one has a split in the middle.
As I’m from Malaysia and the western is quite hot now, , I need to work quite quickly as the butter in the dough starts to melt as i cut and put it together again
Once again, thank you for your awesome tips.
Hi Mandy. Thanks for your 10 years of dedication to the English scone recipe; I love your attention to details. Like Ellyna I too live in tropical Malaysia (Sarawak), and share her challenge of making butter-based pastries such as scones, croissants and even ordinary pie crusts at our kitchen temperature (today 32 degrees Celsius, 90 oF). I even have to cool down my croissant dough for proofing, otherwise the butter melts!
Solutions: I use a spare air-conned bedroom at 20-23 oC. I pre-chill all ingredients, mixing bowls, pastry board and rolling pin in the freezer before starting.
Now I want to try your recipe…I think it’s bang on about the richness/fat, etc. I’m thinking maybe something like a wooden dowel that’s approximately the same size as the cutter could be used to push the dough out and therefore eliminate the pre-bake lopsidedness?
Hi, yes absolutely!
Came across your site again via another recipe blog’s link to.. not even this scone recipe. Something else! Savoury iirc. That linked recipe was much older, doesn’t have a vid to go with.
I think this scone recipe is one of the latest one? I have been a fan of sorts since your purple bread days with that self-induced overabundance of purple sweet potatoes, in Beijing? Lol.
So I was pleasantly surprised that there’s a face to go with the posts now?! (shows how long I have not visited your site…) Video too?! Wow! *watches* even thou I’m not looking at anything baked to begin with. I’m glad I did.
You are exactly as I had imagined, I think? In the most positive way, very perfectionist almost to the point of ocpd lol. Quirky. Cool. I likes. Thanks for making this vid. Im gonna try some scones baking soon. Cheers.
Just made these this morning. Great video and tips. I was curious about the kneading as I too have made many scone recipes and was always told to NOT mess with the dough too much. What a discovery! They turned out great. I left them in the oven a couple minutes longer as they hadn’t reached the beautiful golden color yours were at 15 min. I also didn’t have a tall enough cutter, so that was a challenge. Very delicious, though. I will definitely make these again!
While watching this video i noticed something that also occurred to me while watching your flaky pastry video. In both videos you mention adding light brown sugar to the recipes and then demonstrate scooping the sugar from a bowl and sprinkling it into your mixture. This seams odd since brown sugar does not sprinkle, it instead clumps into the shape of the spoon. After watching the videos over, I’m wondering if you might be using Turbinado sugar or Demerara sugar instead. Can you please clarify what this strangely acting light brown sugar is?
Richard, oh, the light brown sugar I’m using is from Korea and it’s not clumped up (like dark brown sugar). Perhaps it’s just a drier version? But I think it should be still fine to use a wetter light brown.
Do you think it is possible to make these ahead of time, freeze, and then bake? Would you egg wash and rest, then freeze, egg wash again and bake from frozen or let thaw first? Thanks so much :)
AP, yes you can :). In this case I would prolly just apply a single layer of egg wash before baking (no thawing).
Just wanted to report back that I tried freezing them and it worked perfectly! Adjusted bake time slightly longer but other than that they were spot on. Also got two coats of egg wash on because on the frozen scone the first layer kind of freezes quickly so two coats can be applied. Thank you for this amazing recipe :)
AP, awesome!!
Hi AP,
Can you let us know how much the bake time increased? I would love to have these perfect scones ready to go from the freezer for guests in the morning :)
I just want to be precise about bake time with baking from frozen, since my cutter is closer to 2.5 inches in diameter and I already got dangerously close to underbaking my first batch.
Ben, I always trust visual cue more than hard rules. “When golden browned’ is what I would suggest.
Hi! Can we substitute heavy cream with whipping cream?
Bev, yes :)
Mandy, I’d like to thank you for sharing this amazing recipe. I followed exactly besides the shaping, I only shaped it into a disc and cut like a pizza. Came out divine! I’m a Taiwanese living in Singapore, so proud of you!
I just tried this recipe and it was a massive success! They all turned out like that perfect one you showed off.
That said I used a scale and think it helps significantly in replicating this recipes ratios.
The only alteration I did was add some lemon zest and poppy seeds since it’s my favourite flavour combination for scones.
Thank you for this fantastic recipe. Any suggestions on bake time if I want to freeze them for future baking?
Thanks!
Tina
Hi Tina, yay! I always freeze them unbaked then bake them maybe a couple minutes longer straight from the freezer.
Thank you! Will make some more tonight and follow you baking instructions. Now I’ll have scones on demand!
Also, I wanted to let you know I found you through food52. You really have a talent for explaining and demonstrating recipes that is very engaging. Wishing you all the success!
These scones are so inviting I can’t wait to make them! My hubby loves little cubes of cheese in them. How much cheese cubes/ grated cheese should I add?
Tried the recipe today. Learned alot thru many of your mistakes. Tq
Love your thorough guide, they turned out perfect, quite happy with this. Very grateful to you! Quite different method than I am used to as well so I am mind blow. Also side note : I used cane sugar instead of brown, and Greek yoghurt instead of regular (it’s very smooth and creamy here not at all like concrete ^^).
I was wondering how tall is your scone cutter ? mine is also 2 inches wide but seems less tall than yours. My scones turned out smaller in size, lovely regardless.
Hi Mandy…I tried your scones recipe & they came out PURRFECT!! Dear if I am doubling the recipe should I double the baking soda & baking powder as well?
Shilpy, doubling the recipe would mean doubling everything, yes!
Thank you so much for this recipe! My flatmates LOVED them – a big compliment, since two of them are British (I study in the UK)! I made a double batch, and added red leicester to half. Making these again asap!
Thank you! I love a perfect English scone. You are a person that tends to perfection, so I am going to aid you in this. Scone is pronounced ” Sc “ah” ne.
I made these scones last week and they were absolutely perfect! I ate almost all of them straight from the oven – whoops!
Thanks Mandy. Couple of Qs: Fan convection oven or non-fan oven? Do you think low-protein cake flour instead of AP flour would help tenderness of the scones?
Mike, I was using the no-fan setting. I’ve never worked cake flour before so I don’t know. But AP flour works great for me and the scones are nowhere near tough.
Can I use caster sugar instead of light brown sugar ?
I have now made 2 batches of these scones. One plain, to try out the recipe & one with dried blueberries. No worries about what to do with the leftover scones, as there were none. I really appreciate this wonderful recipe and your detailed explanation in the YouTube video. Magnificent with strawberry jam and clotted cream.
I enjoyed your video on you tube, thank you. I was not sure about your teaspoon measurements. I had always thought a bakers teaspoon is the same height above the spoon as below, but in the video, yours are level. Can you clarify please?
Barbara, I’m not sure I understand the question. You mean is it a heaping teaspoon or a leveled teaspoon?
in your video, the teaspoons you add are FLAT i.e.level.
In baking recipes, 1t is the same amount above as below.
Please clarify your recipe.
Barb, I always go with leveled/flat measurement with spoons and cups :)
Sorry if I missed it, but what is the preferred temperature of the wet ingredients?
Leslye, they are all straight from the fridge :)
Charlie
Sc-ah-ne? What part of England are you from? Never heard your pronunciation – ever! American accent English?
Down in southern England we say scone as in stone, bone, tone.
Oop north its scon as in don, ron, bon.
Mandy is correct. Her English is excellent
Mandy I use a coffee tamper. You know the ones you use to make an espresso? Try this it’s awesome x
Freda, to push out the doughs? Yeah of course!
I thought that traditional scones didn’t have egg in the dough.
Mandy, thank you for all of these incredible pointers! I’ve been making biscuits for some time, and I finally understand the difference between biscuits and scones.
I tried your recipe today, adding blood orange zest and juice and ground cardamon, and substituting sour cream for the yogurt and pea protein milk for the heavy cream, and they turned out great!
I was uncertain about turning the oven off after 10 minutes, as I usually just cover my biscuits with foil for the last 5 minutes, but the scones cooked just fine with your method, and I didn’t have to open the oven during cooking. They rose and split in the middle and none of them had too much droopage.
I did have to add a few sprinkles of ice water to the dough to help it finally come together, which is most likely due to the sour cream substitution. I thought that 1 tablespoon of blood orange juice would be enough moisture, but I needed a tiny bit of water to properly hydrate the dough. This is similar to what I do when I use Greek yogurt in place of buttermilk in my biscuits. The dough always needs just a bit of ice water to come together.
I will be enjoying English scones for years to come – thanks again!
I followed your techniques and turned out perfect.
All those tips are helpful. I had the split in the middle and color with egg wash just like in fancy tea places.
I used full fat sour cream since I do not have yogurt.
It was buttery with right texture in first bite!! I had it with clotted cream and apricot jam and of course tea. ?
Next one I will make with lemon zest.
If I add blueberry is it better fresh or frozen?
How do you adjust recipe please?
Thank you for sharing.
Queencafe, glad you liked it! I wouldn’t add blueberries, fresh or frozen, to the dough cuz it’ll significantly make it wetter. Maybe dried blueberries or something?
Nope. English people pronounce it sc-oh-n (as Mandy does) or sc-onn (to rhyme with gone). Sconn is the correct pronunciation, but many people in the UK don’t use it.
Hi Mandy, can I use self-raising flour instead?
Emm, no sorry you cannot. It would be too much leavening agent.
I noticed the same thing. I also noticed that by using USA brown sugar the dough was wetter than in the demo. However, in my opinion, this scone tutorial is without a doubt the best one Ive found online. Believe me, Ive searched and tried many and this is the closest I’ve come to a reliable “Grail”.
I use a fan assisted oven, would that still be 210C
I had exquisite scones with jam & clotted cream at Betty’s in Yorkshire a few years ago and have never found anything close to it in the US so I will definitely try your recipe. I appreciate your attention to subtle details.
I recently went deep down the creme brulee rabbit hole and discovered that a large egg in the US is not equal to a large egg in France and the EU. (Large French yolk is ~20g, large American yolk is ~15g so French yolk is 33% bigger than US.)
A US large egg weighs between 56 and 63g. What is the average weight of a large egg where you developed your recipe (presumably Hong Kong)?
Hi Marty, wow that’s such useful information! Are the eggs weighed with shells on?
Would this recipe work if I doubled it?
Hi Lauren, it should :)
Those look absolutely delicious, but English scones do not contain yoghurt, cream or egg (though you would definitely be forgiven for brushing the tops with cream, but it’s normally just done with milk very lightly, to help prevent the scones from leaning). They also do not contain such a high butter content – usually only around half of the quantity given in this recipe. The only ingredients in an English scone are butter, flour, pinch of salt, baking powder and milk. Soda and buttermilk are not used in English scones, only in buttermilk scones, which are an entirely different subject. Once you start putting egg into the mixture, you are straying on to ‘rock cake’ territory – which is another entirely different, but equally delicious, thing.
Great call on the clotted cream though – and it is quite easy to make if you can’t get hold of it very easily. The whole reason the scones are so plain, and so low in fat is that we can slather on the cream without feeling guilty. But the jam MUST go on first, then cream on top (unless you come from Devon, in which case it is the other way around – but make so sense at all when you start trying balance jam on top of cream, but they know nothing west of the Tamar). Or for a real treat, you can spoon on some clotted cream, then drizzle over lots of Tate & Lyle golden syrup. No calories there then.
AAAAGGGGH. East of the Tamar! (Slaps head).
Awesome recipe, just tried it and it turned out great!
It’s funny that I used too much baking soda so my cake turned out funny.
I was wondering if you have frozen the cut out scones and frozen them, thawed and baked at a later date?
I have to make 150 scones for a party and I am looking to make my life easier by making the scones ahead of time.
Thanks
The idea of using a coffee tamper is excellent. I have a spare one so now it has earned its place in the baking cupboard. Thanks for the suggestion.
That was amazing
My first attempt at English scones……..PERFECT! Thank you for an awesome recipe and tutorial!