This plain scone recipe is absolutely phenomenal. It’s moist, flavorful, and flaky. The best part is how adaptable it is. I’ve tossed some blueberries with flour and folded them into the dough, added cinnamon sugar, and for my Reverie post, I added freshly cut apricots! For my Babel post, I kept them plain.
The buttermilk makes these scones. It’s what brings the richness and moistness. Have you ever heard that hack for when you’re out of buttermilk to just add vinegar or lemon to milk? That’s actually not my favorite substitution for buttermilk. I used that method for years in my baking and then discovered when I started using real buttermilk that the substitution wasn’t bringing the fat content or flavor of the real thing. I also found that real buttermilk helped my baked goods to rise.
I don’t always have buttermilk on hand, though. I do, however, keep greek yogurt in my fridge on a regular basis. To substitute buttermilk, I add a scoop of greek yogurt to a cup or bowl and then water it down with an equal amount of milk. It’s much closer to buttermilk and is an excellent substitution! I imagine sour cream would also work well.
These scones are excellent, though. I love them plain with a dollop of whipped cream (I don’t have access to clotted cream, otherwise that would be my first choice) and some marmalade. They are also so easy to adapt with dried cherries plus almonds, some fresh fruit, or cinnamon and sugar. Use this recipe for plain scones or as a base for whatever type of scones you can dream up.
A word of caution when mixing the scone dough–do so gently and don’t overmix. As you can see in the photo above, the mixture is still a bit dry when I dump it onto the board. From here I’ll need it just a few times to get all the crumbs. The less the dough is handled, the better!
Sometimes I’ll just make a half batch as above. I shape the dough into a circle and a half batch makes 4 perfect scones. You can slice the circle into triangles or using a circle cutter for round scones.
The Best Base Scone Recipe
Makes 8 scones
Ingredients:
250 grams all-purpose flour
65 grams granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons of butter, cold, cut into cubes
1/2 cup of buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
milk or cream for brushing the top
coarse sugar for dusting on top
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Toss in the cold cubed butter. I like to use my hands for this part and smoosh each piece of butter and coat it in flour. And then break those pieces into smaller pieces, mixing it into the flour until I have a small, pea-sized crumbs of butter. You can also use a pastry cutter or a fork.
- Combine the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla in a separate bowl.
- Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix together gently and mix as little as possible. The mixture will be a bit sandy, as pictured above.
- Dump the mixture out onto a board and gently fold 3-4 times until barely combined. During this folding is when I would add any additions like fresh fruit.
- Gently combine the dough into a ball and then flatten into a 7-inch disk. You can cut the disk into 8 triangles or use a round cookie cutter to cut out the scones. Place the slices onto the parchment lined baking sheet, leaving space between each slice.
- Place in the freezer for 5-10 minutes until chilled.
- Brush the dough with cream or milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for 18-22 minutes until lightly browned on top and cooked through.
Novel Bakery 
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