Chocolate Chip Scones - Easy Scones Recipe with Peanut Butter Glaze (2024)

FAQs

What is the trick in making good scones? ›

Keep the dough cool: As previously mentioned, it's crucial to keep the dough cold so that the butter doesn't melt before the scones are baked. With chilled dough, you'll have pockets of butter in the dough (this is a good thing!) that create a super-flaky, oh-so-delicious end result.

To ensure taller scones, start with a thicker dough disc and place the scones on a tray with sides, allowing them to slightly touch one another. This arrangement encourages the scones to push against the pan and each other, promoting height.

For example, if you substitute oil for butter or margarine, you can significantly reduce the amount of saturated fat in your baked goods. This streamlined recipe for Light Scones uses just 3 tablespoons of canola oil, which contains a fraction of the saturated fat found in butter or margarine.

Heavy Cream or Buttermilk: For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream or buttermilk. I usually use heavy cream, but if you want a slightly tangy flavor, use buttermilk.

Not chilling the dough before baking: to really ace your scones, it helps to chill your dough again before it's baked. Using cold ingredients does help, but your hands will warm up the dough when you're working with it and the extra step of chilling will help you get the best result.

The secret is using cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. It's lower in protein and makes for ultra-tender scones. If you don't have any on hand, you can easily make your own using all-purpose flour and cornstarch (see the FAQs below).

It is far better that the scone mixture is on the wet side, sticking to your fingers, as the scones will rise better. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and flatten it out with your hand, or use a rolling pin, to a thickness of 1-2 cm (1/2 – ¾ inch).

Some common reasons for dense scones are not using enough baking powder, overworking the dough and not baking with the oven at the correct temperature.

Butter must be COLD from the very start to when the dough enters the oven. The cold butter melts upon entering the oven and the water content in butter evaporates in steam. As the steam escapes, it bursts up and creates that beautiful tall, flaky, fluffy texture.

Why use unsalted butter in scones? ›

If a recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt and you use salted butter you could end up adding quite a bit more via the butter — sometimes as much as doubling the amount called for. So unsalted butter is always a better pick when you are cooking so that you can add as much as salt as you want (or don't) in your recipe.

With the frozen, grated method, you're only increasing the payoff. “Distributing the fat throughout the dry ingredients creates the lighter, flaky textures in the final baked goods.

Using heavy cream as a base, cream scones can feel like a morning indulgence. Texture: Ultra-tender and cake-like, they're softer than butter-based scones.

If you want a lighter tasting scone just use milk or half-and-half (light cream) instead of the heavy whipping cream. And to make the tops of the scones nice and crispy with a wonderful golden brown color, just pop them under the broiler, with a dusting of powdered sugar, just after they are baked.

“One of the primary differences between buttermilk and heavy cream is the fat content,” Laing said. Heavy cream contains 36% fat on average, while the fat content of buttermilk is only 1%. Both are thicker than standard milk, but the substantial fat in heavy cream also gives it “a slightly sweet flavor.”

Recipes for scones sometimes provide a make-ahead option that involves refrigerating the dough overnight so it can simply be shaped and then popped into the oven the next day. But now we've found that resting the dough overnight has another benefit: It makes for more symmetrical and attractive pastries.

Pack the scones closely on the baking tray so they will support each other as they rise rather than spreading. Make scones the day you need them – they taste far better warm.