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the finished English scones
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English Scones Recipe

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Servings: 12 scones

Equipment

  • round dough cutter

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups of all-purpose flour
  • ⅔ Cup of whole milk
  • 6 Tablespoons of unsalted butter softened
  • 1 Large egg
  • 2 Tablespoons of sugar
  • 4 Teaspoons of baking powder
  • ½ Teaspoon of salt

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Mix together the butter and dry ingredients: Get out a food processor and add in the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Pulse it a few times so that all of the dry ingredients are mixed together Then add in butter and pulse it about 10 times or more so that the butter is incorporated into the mixture. Make sure that there aren’t any large chunks of butter it should have the appearance of coarse sand. Transfer this to a large mixing bowl.
  • Mix together the wet ingredients: Get out a small bowl and whisk the egg in it. Then add the milk and stir it all together. Set this bowl aside and reserve about 2 tablespoons of this mixture for an egg wash later.
  • Make the dough: Add the wet ingredients into the mixing bowl holding the dry ingredients. Then use either a wooden spoon or a spatula to stir everything together until the dough is formed.
  • Knead the dough: Lightly flour a clean and flat surface (i.e. your kitchen counter) and transfer the dough to it. The gently kneed the dough a few times until it just forms a solid and smooth piece of dough. Make sure to not over kneed the dough as it could result in the scones not rising properly.
  • Roll and cut out the scones: With the dough now made, roll it out so that it is roughly 1 to ¾ of an inch thick. Then use a 2.5-inch circular dough cutter to cut out the individual scones. It is important that you only press down and up when cutting out the scones, if you twist while you cut it could result in the scones not rising. Once all of the dough is cut into scones transfer them to either a parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking sheet.
  • Brush the tops of the scones with the reserved egg wash from step 3.
  • Add the scones to the oven and bake for roughly 15 minutes, or until they browned up on top and risen twice their size.
  • Let the English scones cool for a couple of minutes before enjoying them with some clotted cream and fresh jam!

Notes

If your scones don’t end up rising then don’t fret as that is a common issue with first-timers. There are three main reasons why it could be happening. First and most likely you have simply over kneaded the dough in step 5. Just make sure to knead it until it forms a rough dough and no more. The second possible reason is that you aren’t cutting out the scones properly. Always make sure to cut down and up, never twist as that can cause the sides to seal resulting in them being unable to rise. If you’ve done both of those properly then the only other reason your scones aren’t rising is that your baking powder is too old.