An Ode to Scones
- Aubrey Johnson
- Jun 10, 2023
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 16, 2023
I love a good scone. You may think I’m using the word “love” too loosely here. But if I had to choose my favorite thing to bake, which I beg you - don’t make me! … it may be scones. I don’t remember when my “love affair” began. I know I had scones as a girl going to the occasional tea room with my mom. There were finger sandwiches, fresh fruit, and pastries that usually included scones. I also strongly associate them with Victorian England and all things British. Growing up, Sundays from 4-5 p.m. were spent watching Smart Travels with Rudy Maxa and Travels in Europe with Rick Steves. If the hosts weren’t seen eating a scone with clotted cream and jam while sipping tea in England, were they even there?
Having been to England once and staying at B&Bs that served traditional English scones, I know there is a difference between English and American scones. English scones are typically round like American biscuits instead of triangular, and, according to an article by I Heart Britain, American scones “generally have a lot ‘going on’ without adding jam or other toppings. British scones have a much plainer flavor profile and are designed to be topped with things like clotted cream, butter, lemon curd, and/or preserves.” While many Brits consider American scones to be dense, I’ve found some very light scone recipes that I’ve made through the years, so I wouldn’t say all American scones fit that stereotype. I just know I do not discriminate when it comes to scones (well… except for maybe chocolate … I haven’t gone that route).
Fruit-filled scones are probably my go-to.
One October in Montana, I decided to make a different apple recipe every weekend in celebration of National Apple Month - three scone recipes and one apple cider donut recipe!
There were apple pie scones, fresh apple cinnamon scones (a favorite with cinnamon chips), and apple pecan scones with crunchy cardamom topping. When I registered for a cottage food license in Montana and began Nomadic Baker Sweets & Treats LLC, I knew I had to include two scone recipes in my list of baked goods I’d sell.
Cinnamon eggnog scones were featured in December (I know… no fruit - but the cinnamon chips and eggnog were perfect for the holidays!), and raspberry almond scones were featured in the spring. It definitely helped that I had free access to a raspberry patch thanks to my Montana family! When I purposely buy too many cranberries around Thanksgiving, it’s with the expectation I will make cranberry scones, such as cranberry lemon scones or glazed cranberry orange scones. And when it was huckleberry season, and I went huckleberry picking with my co-worker/ friend at her secret spot, I settled on making huckleberry buckwheat scones to enjoy my foraged finds.
While sweet scones were once the standard, savory scones have become more popular in bakeries and are a definite favorite. Cheese and bacon make almost everything better! I loved the cranberry goat cheese scones from Savory Simple, and my adaptation of About Dinner Thyme’s pear, blue cheese, and walnut scones turned out great by subbing gorgonzola for blue cheese. The spiced honey-pear compote was definitely worth the extra steps! Bacon and blue cheese scones were a winning combination, and my personal “winning” favorite would have to be Kerrygold Dubliner Cheddar and bacon scones.
In December 2020, I was a randomly selected winner of Bake from Scratch’s 12 Days of Cookies Giveaway on Instagram. My prize package included four product shipments from different sponsors. The surprise mail during the month helped soften the blow of not traveling to see my family over the holidays like millions of others during the coronavirus pandemic. The day my box from Kerrygold came was like an early Christmas! I discovered Dubliner cheese in April 2020, and I ate it almost daily with avocado and my sourdough experiments. The scones with Kerrygold butter, shredded Dubliner cheddar cheese, and salty bacon may have been the highest quality scones I’ve made, and I 100% wished I was enjoying the Irish countryside while eating them. Montana had to suffice at the time.
While I am great at following recipes, I did gain some scone-baking experience in culinary school. In my Intro to Baking course, we made three different kinds: honey butter scones with an added step of making cinnamon honey butter cubes - aka pockets of sweet, melty goodness; traditional English scones - round and plain, begging for toppings; and cranberry and apricot scones that were a staple in my chef instructor’s bakery - crumbly and full of dried fruit. Additionally, I was able to choose a few scone recipes to make in my Baking Capstone class.
(Most of the time in culinary school, instructors told students what to make, so it was fun when we could choose our recipe experiments.) Like my first university undergrad course of study, culinary students finish their schooling with a capstone. Our capstone course combined our baking experience with our experience gained in our Cost Control course. We were expected to plan and run a pop-up bakery with recipes we chose, baked, and sold. Students decided on one item to bake for each pop-up. These were cookies, tarts, hand pies, cupcakes, muffins, scones, etc. We also tried to ensure none of us selected anything too similar to each other, so we had various products for our customers. We tested a few recipes in our bakeshop; everyone sampled from each other’s station, and we chose a favorite to bake.
For the first pop-up, I made a pumpkin muffin recipe after testing two, and for the last pop-up held before Christmas break, I made cranberry almond biscotti - a decided winner - no test needed. However, for the second pop-up, I made scones. The three recipes I tried in class were cranberry orange scones with an orange glaze (linked above); sundried tomato, basil, and feta scones; and bacon, jalapeño, and pepper jack scones. As much as I love the flavors of sundried tomato, basil, and feta, they didn’t come through well once baked. Bacon, jalapeño, and pepper jack are strong enough flavors that they didn’t mellow after the baking process, so the result was just as flavorful as before. Another step that helped was to mix a little of the bacon fat into the dough and bake the scones on the same pan that I used to crisp the bacon in the oven. Mmmmmm…. Bacon grease! The cranberry orange scones with the orange glaze were already a winner, and they were the perfect sweetness to contrast the savory option. I had no problem selling out!
The Harvest Baker wouldn’t be complete without scones, and Ken included two recipes. One is sweet - blueberry cream scones with mint sugar (Ken shared his recipe here) - and one is savory - stuffed spinach and feta cheese scones. The blueberry scones are the traditional triangle shape with added fruit and heavy cream, making them sweet and delicious. The stuffed scones are a new concept to me. The “stuffing” is a filling that goes into dough-bowl-shaped scones. They were a perfect pastry to break away from the sweets. I made both for my parents while visiting on different weekends since they enjoy scones *almost* as much as I do.
Baking scones can be messy and time-consuming, depending on the recipe. I have to be patient when mixing the dough and cutting in the butter, but I also have to know when to stop so the dough is not too tough. I need to know when to add more liquid than is stated and not forget to dust the counter with flour so it’s a sticky mass. I plan ahead and make my dough, shape the triangles the night before, and refrigerate overnight. Fresh is always best, but I won’t say “no” to a scone I’ve taken out of the freezer. Warmed in the oven to crisp the top with crunchy sugar is fine by me. Whether it’s eaten with coffee or tea, mornings are always better with a scone. And since I’ve just planned another trip to England at the end of the summer with a few days in Dublin, I’ll make a point to enjoy British or Irish scones with afternoon tea, too!
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