Cookbook:Scone

The scone is a baked good of Scottish origin. They are very similar to North American biscuits (many recipes are actually identical), and savory scones in the United States may also be referred to as "biscuits".

Characteristics

Scones are small quickbreads made of wheat, barley, or oatmeal, usually with baking powder as a leavening agent. They may be sweet or savory, and they can take the shape of wedges, rounds, triangles, rectangles, or diamonds.

British scones are often lightly sweetened but may also be savoury. American scones are often baked to a more crumbly texture and can be somewhat like a cross between a cookie and a muffin, depending on the variety. In Canada, scones tend to be called "biscuits" or "tea biscuits".

In both Britain and the USA, mass-produced scones tend to be doughier than home-made scones.

Varieties

Clockwise from bottom: Hot buttered tattie scones next to a cheese scone, shiny and flat treacle scones, and a milk scone above a fruit scone.

British scones frequently include raisins, currants, cheese, or dates.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, savoury varieties of scone include soda scones, also known as soda farls. Potato scones, normally known as tattie scones, resemble small, thin savoury pancakes made with potato flour and like the Jewish latke. They are most commonly served fried in full a Scottish breakfast or an Ulster fry.

In the United States, sweet scones often include fillings such as cranberries, blueberries, nuts, poppy seeds, or chocolate chips. Savoury varieties of scone often contain various combinations of cheese, onion, bacon, ham, scallions or chives, etc.

A griddle scone is a variety of scone that is fried rather than baked. Other common terms include dropped scone or drop scone, after the method of dropping the batter onto the griddle or frying pan to cook it.

Preparation

Scones are prepared according to the "biscuit method",^[1] where the fat is cut or rubbed into the dry ingredients before adding the wet ingredients to form the dough. The dough is then shaped, and scones are cut out, placed on a baking sheet, and baked in a hot oven. Alternatively, the dough can be baked and then cut into pieces. As mentioned above, drop scones and griddle scones are instead fried on a griddle.