Small-Batch British-Style Currant Scones
By Andrea GearyPublished on February 5, 2024
Time
45 minutes
Yield
Makes 6
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Milk of any fat level can be used. The dough will be quite soft and wet; dust your work surface and your hands liberally with flour. For a tall, even rise, use a sharp-edged biscuit cutter and push straight down; do not twist the cutter. These scones are best served fresh, but leftover scones can be stored in the freezer and reheated in a 300-degree oven for 15 minutes. Serve with jam as well as salted butter or clotted cream.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Add butter and rub into flour mixture until fully incorporated and mixture looks like very fine crumbs with no visible butter. Stir in currants.
- Whisk milk and egg together in second bowl. Set aside 1 tablespoon milk mixture. Add remaining milk mixture to flour mixture and, using rubber spatula, fold together until almost no dry bits of flour remain.
- Transfer dough to well-floured counter and gather into ball. With your floured hands, knead until surface is smooth and free of cracks, 25 to 30 times. Press gently to form disk. Pat disk into 6-inch round, about 1 inch thick. Using floured 2½-inch round cutter, stamp out 4 rounds, recoating cutter with flour if it begins to stick. Arrange scones on prepared sheet. Gather dough scraps, form into ball, and knead gently until surface is smooth. Pat dough to 1-inch thickness and stamp out 1 round. Repeat patting and cutting to create sixth round. Discard remaining dough.
- Brush tops of scones with reserved milk mixture. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake scones until risen and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer scones to wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.
Time
45 minutesYield
Makes 6Ingredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
To make the lightest, fluffiest scones, we added more than the usual amount of leavening: 1 teaspoon of baking powder per ½ cup of flour. Rather than leaving pieces of cold butter in the dry ingredients as we do for flaky biscuits, we thoroughly worked in softened butter until it was fully integrated. This protected some of the flour granules from moisture, which in turn limited gluten development and kept the crumb tender and cakey. We added currants for tiny bursts of fruit flavor and brushed some reserved milk and egg on top for enhanced browning.
Before You Begin
Milk of any fat level can be used. The dough will be quite soft and wet; dust your work surface and your hands liberally with flour. For a tall, even rise, use a sharp-edged biscuit cutter and push straight down; do not twist the cutter. These scones are best served fresh, but leftover scones can be stored in the freezer and reheated in a 300-degree oven for 15 minutes. Serve with jam as well as salted butter or clotted cream.
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 500 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl until combined. Add butter and rub into flour mixture until fully incorporated and mixture looks like very fine crumbs with no visible butter. Stir in currants.
- Whisk milk and egg together in second bowl. Set aside 1 tablespoon milk mixture. Add remaining milk mixture to flour mixture and, using rubber spatula, fold together until almost no dry bits of flour remain.
- Transfer dough to well-floured counter and gather into ball. With your floured hands, knead until surface is smooth and free of cracks, 25 to 30 times. Press gently to form disk. Pat disk into 6-inch round, about 1 inch thick. Using floured 2½-inch round cutter, stamp out 4 rounds, recoating cutter with flour if it begins to stick. Arrange scones on prepared sheet. Gather dough scraps, form into ball, and knead gently until surface is smooth. Pat dough to 1-inch thickness and stamp out 1 round. Repeat patting and cutting to create sixth round. Discard remaining dough.
- Brush tops of scones with reserved milk mixture. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake scones until risen and golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer scones to wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature.
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