A Guide to Making the Perfect Scones: Special Sweets to Enjoy Anytime

Scones are essentially little pastries that can be sweet or savory, originating from the United Kingdom. There’s plenty of different ways to make scones. The recipe below is beginner friendly, and you can make it even if you’ve never made - or even heard of - scones before. So follow this guide and discover a whole new dessert, one which can be customized in various ways in terms of flavors and toppings.

Ingredients:

• 250 gm all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for hands and work surface
• 100 gm granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 115 gm unsalted butter, frozen
• 120 ml heavy cream or buttermilk (plus 2 Tbsp for brushing)
• 1 large egg
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 5 cups add-ins such as chocolate chips, berries, nuts, fruit, etc
• optional: coarse sugar for topping

Directions:

• In a bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Mix well.
• Then add the butter and use your hands to mix it all in. KEep mixing till the mixture gets a crumb consistency. Place it in the fridge to cool while you work on the wet ingredients.
• In a bowl, add the heavy cream, egg and vanilla extract, and whisk well.
• Now drizzle the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients, a little bit at a time, and mix. Then add more and make sure you're mixing it all well.
• This is the time to add the add-ins like chopped nuts, chocolate chips, fruits or anything else that youve chosen.
• Now pour the mixture onto a work surface dusted with flour. Work the dough into a ball. If the dough is too sticky, then add some more flour. If it seems to dry, add more heavy cream. Then shape the dough into a disc and cut that into 8 wedges. If you want smaller scones, make 2 smaller discs and cut those into 8 wedges each. Then place the triangles on the lined baking sheet. Brush the scones with heavy cream and sprinkle coarse sugar on top if desired.
• Now refrigerate the scones for about 15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 400°F or 204°C.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Once the scones have been cooled in the fridge, place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. You’ll know they are done when the edges turn golden brown and the top is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
• Add any toppings of your choice and serve.
• Leftover scones can be stored at room temperature for 2 days and in the fridge for 5 days.

Notes, tips and tricks:

• If you're making savory scones, skip the vanilla extract and top with mixed herbs.
• The dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Remove a little at a time to bake 1-2 scones at a time, for a nightly treat. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then bake normally.
• There’s a lot of flavors you can add to the scones. Some classic flavors include blueberry scones, chocolate chip scones, cranberry scones, orange scones, lavender scones, lemon scones, caramel scones, cinnamon scones and mixed berry scones. You can also add elements like chopped nuts including almonds, cashews, pistachios, dates or any other nuts. There’s also the option of adding marshmallows, cookie crumbs, brownie bits and so on.
• The scones can be topped with different options, like chocolate sauce or caramel sauce, nut butters like almond butter or peanut butter, jams or fruit compotes, or jelly. You can also add vanilla icing or any other icing of your liking. You can also top it with honey or maple syrup. Or top with a dusting of confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder or other topping of your choice.
• Depending on the flavors and toppings you're going to serve the scones with, you can choose to increase or decrease the amount of sugar taht goes in the scones.
• The butter you use is responsible for the flakiness, flavor, crispiness and teh rise of the scones. So make sure you’re using good quality butter. It's best if you're using chilled butter so that it will create a crumbly mixture when mixed in with the other ingredients.