Switching up added ingredients can turn this basic scone recipe into something sweet or savoury depending on what you want. Right now, I'm limiting my trips to the grocery store so try to work with ingredients that I have on hand. The basic recipe can be easily doubled, or prepared as a "biscuit mix" (don't add the wet ingredients) and stored in the fridge (if using butter) or cupboard (if using vegetable shortening). I use a (cold) baking stone to cook these on, which helps create an nicely browned bottom and fluffy texture, but a cookie sheet works fine, too. Any scones/biscuits not eaten the first day should be frozen - scones stale very quickly.
Scones or Biscuits - Basic Recipe
| Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together: 2 cups flour (unbleached or combination) 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt Cut in: ¼ cup butter or shortening Mix together: ¾ cup yogurt water or juice to make 1 cup of liquid (or 1 cup buttermilk) | Add yogurt mixture and combine just until moistened. I use my stand mixer with the paddle attachment, (which you can also use to cut in the butter.) Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and pat to about an inch thickness (give or take, depending on how puffy you like your biscuits) and cut using a glass, empty tin or a biscuit cutter (I don't have one of those...) Alternatively, cut the dough in half, shape into rounds and score into triangular shaped scones. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet or a cold baking stone. Bake at 400 degrees until lightly browned, about 15-20 minutes. Makes 8-12 depending on the size. |
Optional Ingredients:
| BLUEBERRY Add to dry ingredients: 1 tsp grated lemon zest 2 Tbsp. sugar Add to wet ingredients: juice of half a lemon Or, use vanilla yogurt instead of plain After mixing together, add a handful of fresh or frozen blueberries. If using frozen, dust with flour before adding and work as little as possible to avoid squishing the berries and just making a scone that looks like Smurf... well... you know. Glaze with an icing made of butter, lemon juice and icing sugar. |  |
 | LUNCH BOX aka BREAKFAST BISCUITS Add to dry ingredients: cubed ham cubed cheese chopped parsley a dash each of garlic powder/onion powder/paprika/cayenne or to taste fresh herbs (if you have them) to taste chopped green onion These are great pack-alongs for hiking trips or make a quick and easy breakfast on the go. We like to cut these larger (I use a beer glass instead of water glass to cut the biscuit) and add a fried egg and a little blueberry Heartbeat Hot Sauce. (Warning!! Squishing a double batch of these babies onto a baking stone may result in cheese leakage to the bottom of your oven leading to concerns from the quarantentants in the basement about whether or not something "might be burning" up there... ) |
Other great options to try...
| CRANBERRY ORANGE Add to dry ingredients: 1/3 cup (ish) dried cranberries (or to taste) grated zest of one orange Add to wet ingredients: Use orange juice in place of water with yogurt SAVOURY DUMPLINGS Add fresh or dried herbs to taste (depending on what kind of stew you're adding it to). You can mix and cut as for biscuits, arrange on top of the stew and bake in the oven, or mix the dough a little wetter and drop into a bubbling stew, cover and cook until done (use a cake tester to make sure dumplings are cooked through.) | CURRANT These are the standard, traditional scone Add to dry ingredients: 1/3 cup (ish) dried currants WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE? Leave your favourite sweet or savoury combinations in the comments below. I'm always looking for new options! |
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