This easy fluffy scones recipe gives you a choice between making smaller ‘dainty’ scones, or impressive big fluffy scones. Either way, you’ll be a favourite at tea time when you make these.
Ingredients
Method
Preheat oven to 220C/200C fan-forced. For dainty scones, grease a 20cm square cake pan. For impressive scones, grease a large oven tray.
Sift flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a large bowl; rub in butter. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture; add buttermilk. Using a knife, cut buttermilk through flour mixture to form a soft, sticky dough (add a little more buttermilk only if needed). Gently knead dough on a floured surface until smooth.
For **dainty scones**, roll or pat dough out to approximately 2cm thick. Cut 5cm rounds from dough; place side-by-side in cake pan. Gently knead scraps of dough together; repeat pressing and cutting, place in pan. Brush tops with a little extra buttermilk.
For **impressive scones**, roll or pat dough out to approximately 3cm thick. Cut 7cm rounds from dough; place side-by-side on the oven tray. Gently knead scraps of dough together; repeat pressing and cutting, then place on tray. Brush tops with a little extra buttermilk.
Bake **dainty scones** for 18 minutes and **impressive scones** for 22 minutes or until golden and scones sound hollow when tapped with your fingers. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Serve with jam and whipped cream.
Scones are best made close to serving time. They can also be frozen for up to 2 months.
Test Kitchen tip
Why are my scones not light and fluffy?
The trick to getting beautiful light and fluffy scones is to handle the dough as little as possible. So when scones don’t rise or aren’t fluffy, it could be because the dough was over mixed or over kneaded, which makes them more dense.
What is the secret to making scones rise?
To ensure scones rise evenly, cut out the scones using a sharp metal cutter; remove the cutter in an upward, rather than a twisting motion. It can help to dip the cutter in flour before cutting out each scone. Placing scones close together on the tray also helps get a high and even rise. As a guide, aim to have them about 1cm apart.
How to make date scones using this fluffy scone recipe
This recipe can be used as a base for date scones. Make either the dainty or impressive scones, and add 1 tsp ground cinnamon and use 2 tbsp brown sugar instead of caster sugar, and adding ⅓ cup finely chopped dried pitted dates with the buttermilk.
Looking for a simpler scone recipe, perhaps to make with the kids or grandkids? This basic scone recipe is one of our most popular and requires only three ingredients. Not including the jam and cream!
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