London: Who has the best Scones?
 

We developed a real taste for these little babies on our last trip. Who makes the best ones in London?

What's the secret for making great scones?Anybody have a good recipe that the "little wife" can try? Her previous attempts, while valiant, fell well short of the mark.

The Maids in Waiting (I think that is the name) in KEW right across the street from the Royal Botanical Gardens ..they also make these wonderful little cakes called Maids in Waiting!!
otherwise, the Orangerie in Kensington.
Scones:
2 c flour
2 T sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1 egg beaten
3/4 c milk
Preheat oven to 425F.
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
Chop in the butter until the particles of butter are the size of coarse cornmeal.
Add the egg and milk. Stir quickly and lightly, only until no flour shows.
Add more milk if needed to make dough soft.
Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead gently about 15 times.
Cut the dough in half. Shape each half into a ball, press each down into a round and cut into 8 wedges like a pie.
Place the wedges on a greased (I use parchment) cookie sheet without allowing the sides to touch.
Bake until golden brown about 12 minutes

Enjoy!

Mmmmm that sounds scrumptious!

And when you're asking for them, don't say the word as though it rhymes with "stone"--it's pronounced "scon," with a short o.

On a related note, as far as pronunciation.....

When you order a pasty in the UK, don't call it a PASTE-ee.....it's called a PAST-ee. They're yummy, too!

Cluny - it depends where you are from in the UK. Some say "Scon", some say "Scone" (all spelt the same though).
Personally, I'm a Scon.

It's not London, but for anyone venturing north to Edinburgh...
I thought the scones in the cafe at the top of Edinburgh Castle were delicious when we were there last May.
Scone, scon -- I thought they were pronounced scoon!
Annette

Try this From Delia Smith: (c/o the BBC website www.bbc.co.uk/food)
PS You usually cut these with a round cutter, I've never seen a pie style scone as on the earlier post - interesting to try!
PPS My parents make these and they are great still just warm with loads of english butter

Rich Fruit Buttermilk Scones
Makes 12


Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 10 to 30 mins Print friendly version


Ingredients

225g/8oz self-raising flour
40g/1?oz caster sugar
75g/3oz butter at room temperature
50g/2oz mixed dried fruit
1 egg, beaten
3-4 tbsp buttermilk, to mix
a little extra flour for dusting tops
pinch of salt

You will also need a lighlty greased baking sheet and a 5cm/2in cutter.

Method

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.

Begin by sifting the flour and salt into a bowl and sprinkling in the sugar, then rub
the butter in lightly until the mixture looks crumbly.

Sprinkle in the dried fruit, pour in the beaten egg, and add 3 tbsp of the buttermilk.
Start to mix the dough with a knife and finish off with your hands - it should be soft but not sticky, so add more milk, a teaspoon at a time, if the dough seems too dry.

Next, form the dough into a ball and turn it out on to a lightly floured working surface. Now roll it out very lightly to a round at least 2.5cm/1in thick, then cut the scones out by placing the cutter on the dough and giving it a sharp tap. Don't twist the cutter, just push the dough out, then carry on until you are left only with trimmings - roll these and cut an extra scone.

Place the scones on the lightly greased baking sheet and dust lightly with the extra
flour. Bake them in the top half of the oven for 10-12 minutes or until they are well risen and golden brown. After that remove them to a cooling tray and serve very fresh, split and spread with butter.

NOTE: Scones do not keep well so are best eaten on the day they're made. Any left over, however, will freeze perfectly well.

Ok, I got the pasty part. But when you say "scon", is it like is it pronounced like sc-awn (as in yawn, dawn, I could go on...I rhymed. Wow I amuse myself) I just want to pronouncing it correctly when i order one wearing my fanny pack, big white sneakers, sweatpants, and my I heart America shirt. haha

Pie shaped as it...when you make them into a ball, you cut that in half and then those in haves again, sort of making triangular shapes..These are your ordinary home made looking scones.
For fancy, you can use cookie cutters :) but they get eaten here so quickly, no one seems to care about what shape they are~
Lemon curd is great and so is Strawberry jam. Of course, nothing is the same as eating them IN the UK~

A friend makes the pie shaped scones. (I've heard it pronounced many ways....scones...scons....scawns...depends on where you are)

She rolls out the dough into a circle, and then cuts the circle across, just like a pizza, using a pizza cutter. Easy peasy.

sorry about the typos, you would think that with all the posting I do, I would know how to preview and correct myself by now~

Degas, I don't know if you're planning a trip to Windsor Castle or not, but if so, you can get great scones in Windsor at the Drury Inn. I have never tasted anything so delicious as the scones and clotted cream they have there! I am getting hungry just thinking about it. Anyway, when you come out of the castle, you pretty much walk right into this place (it's on a little cobblestone road with several other cafes/restaurants). It's in an old house and apparently, the house was once used for a king's mistress to sneak back and forth into the castle grounds. Great food, great story, what more could you want?

Hi all,

I have a bit of experience with scones, since there was a woman of Scottish birth who made them on Sunday mornings for the locals.

Scarlett: There is no oatmeal in your recipe.

Matthew: ditto plus the only fruit in a scone is currants, if necessary.

Brimham: You are correct. Scones (or scons or scoons) are wedge-shaped.

Finally, you can only get a proper scone in Scotland, since my scone baker has passed away. Even I, culinary genius that I am, have never been able to make them as well as she did.

Best served with double Devonshire clotted cream and orange marmalade, or lemon curd, or strawberry jam, or all of the above.

PS

The pronunciation is neither scone as in own, scon as in con, nor scoon as in coon. It is something entirely Scots.

Scarlett, I think the tea shop and bakery you're referring to in Kew across from the gardens is called Maids of Honour. I love that place!

Hello again Degas!!
Last time I was in London I spent my first afternoon walking down Kings Rd, saw the Starbucks and went to get my coffee fix (being in withdrawal already). Anyway they sold pie shaped scones with HUGE sultana raisins that were excellent - I'm planning on doing this again when I'm there in September. However, I think the best way to enjoy a scone is at teatime with PLENTY of clotted cream and some jam (I like blackcurrant personally). For me it becomes more about the cream and less about the scone. Wish I could give you me Mum's recipe for scones but she never wrote it done, made it from scratch, but they were delicious - my brother always waited a few days because he thought they were better slightly stale. My mother always cut her scones in a round shape, in fact she used an old glass turned upside down to cut the shapes. And by the way, we grew up calling them scon's (as in gone). I'm enjoying your questions, keep asking them!

Good lord, look at the response and its still early. Ask a simple food question and everybody piles on. Man, I'm super hungry now.

Thanks for the great recipes - I've printed them out for the "little wife" and she is thinking of making another attempt at the Perfect Scone!

Now if I could just find some rich clotted cream and blackcurrant jam!

That is IT!! Maids of Honor! Thank you ((F))

The Wegman's Supermarket chain in the US makes fantastic scones. As for pronounciation, Aunt Judith from Edinburgh says scoon. Aunt Pat from Windsor says scon.