Irish Scones

5 from 1 vote

Traditional Irish Scones are easy to make with just a few staple ingredients. Serve these golden, tender scones with your favorite jam and whipped or clotted cream. Great for St. Patrick's Day or any time you're craving a comforting home-baked treat with a cup of tea.

Prep Time30

Cook Time15

Cooling Time10

Total Time55

Course: Bread

Cuisine: Irish

Keyword: all purpose flour, Irish butter, irish scones, milk

Servings: to 12 scones

Author: Amanda Biddle

Ingredients

3-1/2 cups all purpose flour 450 grams* (see note)
1 tablespoon baking powder (preferably, aluminum free)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon fine sea salt or Diamond Crystal kosher salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (preferably, Irish--I use Kerrygold), frozen (see note)**
½ cup whole milk
1 large egg
egg wash (1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon milk)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with the rack in the middle position. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Set aside.
Unwrap the frozen butter and grate it on the large holes of a box grater. (Alternately, you can use the coarse side of your food processor's shredding disc.) You can either grate the butter directly into the bowl of dry ingredients or onto a piece of parchment. When you get to the end of the stick and can no longer safely use the grater, cut the remaining butter into small pieces with a knife.
Toss the frozen butter with the dry ingredients, breaking up any clumps or large pieces with your fingertips and lightly rubbing the butter into the flour to ensure that the pieces are fully coated.
In a measuring cup, whisk together the milk and 1 large egg. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the milk-egg mixture.
Using a fork or your hands, combine the wet ingredients into the dry, just until a soft dough forms. For tender scones, don't overwork the dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Pat it into a ball and then roll it into a 1-inch thick disc. Use a 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 inch biscuit cutter dipped in flour to cut the scones from the dough round. As you cut the scones, transfer them to the prepared baking sheet. Dip the cutter into flour between each cut.
Gather the dough scraps and re-roll them to a 1-inch thick disc. Repeat the cutting and rolling process until all of the dough is used.
Lightly brush the tops of the scones with egg wash. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the scones have risen and the tops and bottoms are golden. They will sound hollow when tapped.
Transfer scones to a wire rack and cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature with jam and Irish butter, whipped cream, or clotted cream.

Notes

*For the best texture, choose an unbleached medium-protein all-purpose flour (about 10% gluten-forming protein), such as Gold Medal. You can also make these scones with soft white pastry flour or a half-and-half mixture of all-purpose and pastry flour. For the best results, weigh the flour on a kitchen scale. For more information, see my Notes about Flour in the article above.

**Frozen grated butter isn't an authentic technique for Irish scones, but I use it for most of my scone and biscuit recipes to easily work the butter into the dry ingredients. If you prefer a more traditional method, refrigerate the butter instead of freezing it and cut it into small cubes. Then, rub the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or your fingertips. When combined, the butter pieces should be no larger than small peas, and the mixture will look like coarse crumbs.

See the article above for FAQ's and Variations.

Nutrition

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