Easy recipe! -Baking a Moment

In Photos: How To Make Irish Scones

Step 1: Combine Dry Ingredients

To make this recipe, start with flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk these dry ingredients together for a few seconds to combine.

Step 2: Grate In Butter

Next comes butter. I have 2 very important pearls of wisdom to share, with regard to the butter:

1. Use imported Irish butter if at all possible. It has the most incredible flavor, and it will totally take your scones to the next level!
2. Make sure the butter is very cold. This will help your scones to be light and puffy as can be.

The instructors at Ballymaloe showed us how to grate the butter into the dry ingredients. This is an easy trick to help get it incorporated quickly. It gets butter pieces to the just-right size.

Step 3: Mix

Once the butter has been grated in, use your hands to rub everything together, fluffing it as you go. This is key to light, fluffy scones.

The mixture should resemble fine bread crumbs.

Step 4: Mix Milk & Eggs

Now whisk the milk and eggs together, and add most of it to the bowl.

I say “most” because you want to reserve a tablespoon or so to brush over the scones before baking. This will help to give them a pretty golden crust on top.

Step 5: Use Hands To Combine

Work the liquid into the dry using clean hands. Our teachers at Ballymaloe told us to make a “claw.”

After a while, you’ll see things come together into a sticky dough that gathers into a ball.

Step 6: Form Disc

Lightly flour your work surface, then pat the dough into a disc about 1 inch thick.

Step 7: Cut

Then use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut your scones. It’s helpful to dip the cutter in flour every time you cut a scone. This will prevent the dough from sticking to the cutter.

Place your unbaked scones on a tray, and brush them with the remaining milk/egg mixture.

Step 8: Sugar Tops

Then dip their tops into demerara sugar.

Demerara is a minimally processed form of cane sugar. It has a coarse, crunchy texture and a darker color. Sometimes you may see it called “raw sugar.” You can usually find it in the baking aisle at your regular supermarket, or you can order it online: demerara sugar.

Step 9: Bake

Bake the scones in a very hot oven (475 degrees F is not a typo!) until they are tall, puffy, and golden brown around the edges.