Cranberry Almond Scone Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making scones rise? ›

How to make scones rise high? Once you've cut out your scone shapes, flip them over and place upside down on the baking tray. This will help them rise evenly and counteract any 'squashing' that happened when you cut out the dough. Perfect scones should rise to about 2 inches high.

This short rest relaxes the gluten, making scones more tender; and cold chills the fat, increasing flakiness. Make scone dough up to three days ahead. Shape into 3/4"-thick disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until ready to cut and bake.

If the dough is too dry, the scones won't rise and will be crumbly. On the other hand, if the scones are too wet, they won't rise either, and will be too tough and chewy once baked. Don't hesitate to tweak the amounts and proportions to get the right texture.

Just a reminder: Don't overwork the dough or the scones will turn out rubbery – or worse, bullety and hard. Cut out your scones cleanly. Twisting the cutter can impair the rise. If you use a fluted cutter, you can't twist it.

Flours: the perfectly fluffy texture of these consistently reliable scones is owed to 3 cups of self-raising flour (and a little plain flour for dusting!). Chilled butter: if you want to achieve beautiful, flaky and fluffy scones that rise well, cold butter is key!

As previously mentioned, it's crucial to keep the dough cold so that the butter doesn't melt before the scones are baked. Using cold ingredients helps, but your hands can warm up the dough when you're working with it. For extra precaution, it helps to chill the dough again before it's baked.

Pre-heat oven to 350-375 degrees (350* for convection, 375* for standard). Place frozen scones directly on parchment-lined, un-greased baking sheet - evenly spaced. Tip: Use cooking spray or foil on baking sheet if you don't have parchment paper. For best results, bake scones on the the middle shelf.

Scones can be made either with self-raising flour or with plain flour and baking powder. Sweet scones and cheese scones have an egg added to enrich them. Both will rise but whatever scone you make its important that they are handled lightly and not rolled too thinly.

Ideally, scone dough should be wet and sticky. It means that you mixed the ingredients well enough to come together but not so much that you see a smooth outer layer. Such appearance means you worked it so much that the gluten network formed, and you are likely to end up with bread instead of scones.

Use the top of your fingers for this. Insert a skewer or toothpick into the scone. If it comes out clean, the scone is ready. If it comes out with dough on it, the scones need a little more cooking time.

What happens if you put too much sugar in scones? ›

We are all a little tempted to add that extra splash of sweetness into our scones, but make sure you don't use too much sugar as it will flatten them! We recommend using a maximum of 100g of sugar per 250g of flour.

Overworking the dough: when you overwork your dough, your scones can come out tough and chewy, rather than that desired light, crumbly texture. The trick is to use light pressure and only the work the dough until it just comes together.

Scones are considered ”quick” breads since they are leavened with baking powder or baking soda and cream of tartar. They may be plain, but often have a wide variety of sweet or savory ingredients. Scones should be golden on the outside and tender and flaky inside, like a slightly sweetened biscuit.

Don't forget to sift!

Be sure to double or even triple sift your flour, as it takes away the clumps in the flour allowing for more air pockets in the scone dough - the result being a fluffier and more crumbly scone.

As well as the raising agent in the flour, baking powder adds a bit of lift to scones. Baking powder is a convenient choice as it is a ready-mixed leavening agent, generally made of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar (usually some cornflour too).