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.

Yum!! I love scones!! Try adding chopped peaches or apples to the dough (coat in flour first to stop fruit from sinking). My mother used to make a nice scone-based "pizza" - make a batch of normal scone dough, roll out to fit on a baking sheet, top with tomatoes, onions and mozzarella and bake till the dough round the edges is golden brown.

In my experience, northerners say "scon", southerners pronounce it "scone" (rhymes with stone). "Scoon" is the pronouncation when talking about the famous stone or castle.

Baker and Spice on Walton Street.

who else....
http://www.fodors.com/rants/rrread.c...=name&pg=4

The best scones I've ever had, in a limited career, are at the Dorchester hotel, though they are not wedges and they are more cakey than crumbly.
I have the recipe, which appeared in Gourmet magazine once. I checked the recipe listings at epicurious.com which publishes recipes from Gourmet and Bon Appetit, and the recipe from the Dorchester isn't listed, but the recipe from Bon Appetit just called Tea Scones is similar. You will also see at that site many other scone recipes with cook's reviews.

I think the best fruit to put in scones is dried cherries. Then pile on Hero brand strawberry jam and top with real whipped cream to which you have added a little sour cream to stabilize it and some powdered sugar. Yum!

My favorite bakery sells several varieties of scones, but even there they are quite heavy. They are best baked using a soft wheat flour. I like White Lily brand for them and for biscuits (quick bread, not cookies, for all you Europeans).

Scarlett and Obxgirl, I love Maids of Honour, too.

This thread is just loaded with good stuff. And all the recipes are so low in calories. I may have more than my usual half-dozen.

One last question. Do any of you use a special scone pan with 8 triangles inside? The "little wife" is itching to buy a nordic non-stick pan for $26. Does that sound about right? Looks like it may also be good for cornbread.

(BIG honkin' cornbread fan here) Hey, that sounds like a two-fer-one deal, Degas!

But with regards to scones...my friend who makes the really yummy ones just cuts the dough like a pizza, and then bakes the scones on a cookie sheet. They turn out pretty well.

My mum uses a cookie sheet and her scones are lumpy formless things that melt in your mouth!
I second strawberry jam!

I don't think you need the special pan with the pre-formed triangles
Any 9" round cake pan will do, if you want the wedge shapes, just cut accordingly

Bake your own scones???? Why would you do that when you can buy them?? Don't you have domestic help who can at least do all that cooking for you??? My god, some of you having been watching too much QUEER EYE FOR THE STRAIGHT GUY. Daft.

Who is thinsmorgus? Sounds like some excitable artsy-fartsy character who got canned as a part-time costume boy at a ting rural community theatre in Iowa.

I'm told that I make the best scones (scons) in the whole world :-) Lucky me, now I always have to make them, over and over and over!!!!

The secret to good scones is that they must be worked very quickly. They like cold conditions, nice cold butter and milk, and no hot hands. I make mine in a food processor and never over-mix.

I serve them warm, straight out of the oven, with butter, strawberry or other berry, jam and as much cream as you can pile on top. Oh boy am I hungry now :-)

Happy baking, and eating.

PS. ThinGorjus, sorry to tell you, but NOTHING can beat the taste of home cooked/baked. YUM!

John, even your housekeeper must take the day off!
As you might guess, my cook and housekeeper run this house and I do what they tell me to do! As a reward for being good, they make scones and the best Southern fried chicken ... you should try it sometime, you never know when you might actually have to do something for yourself!
If you like, I will send you recipes :)

Mischka
would you share your recipe?

Hi Elaine,
I will share the recipe, hopefully tomorrow when I get a moment. Just wanted to let you know that I'm not ignoring you.

when you are kind enough to share the recipe, could you comment on what texture I should expect:
crumbly, or cakey
thanks

Message: Here's my recipe Elaine. I read through Scarlett's recipe and it sounds good, anyway here's mine.

Scones

8oz (2 cups) Cake Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 1/2 oz (3 level tablespoons) Butter
1/4 pint (150ml) Milk

Combine the flour, baking powder and butter in the food processor bowl with double-sided blade. Process until the mixture resembles course breadcrumbs. With the motor running, add the milk through the feed tube and process until the dough forms a ball round the blade. ( More milk may be needed to form a very soft, but not wet, dough.)

Roll out the dough on a floured board and cut into rounds with a 2? pastry cutter. Arrange on a greased baking sheet and brush with beaten egg or milk. Bake in a hot oven 450 deg F for 10-12 minutes until risen and golden.

Variations.

For a richer dough, beat 1 egg in measuring cup and add enough milk up to ? pint.
Or
Add 2 teaspoons sugar and 2oz currants to the dry ingredients.
Or
Add 2oz grated cheddar cheese to dry ingredients.

I use the basic recipe. Just remember to work quickly when making the dough and don?t handle too much with hot hands. I roll out on a marble surface because that is always very cool.
Serve with butter and any jam and loads of fresh cream. Enjoy!
The texture is not really cakey, more crumbly I think. Don't over-bake them, they must be soft inside and just golden outside. Good luck

Hi
down near the richer dough, you've got a question mark where I think a fraction should be

I don't know if there is a difference between British pints and American pints (there is a difference in gallons). American pints are 16 fluid ounces, is that what you are referring to?

thank you

I must ask, since I am perfectly willing to be chastised as a commoner and a "colonial" -

Is "clotted cream" more like:

(1) Sour cream
(2) Cream cheese
(3) Whipped cream
(4) Anything else?

I await your replies (and any labeling of my worldly innocence as barbaric.)

Cheers,

Ron