Making light and fluffy homemade scones has never been easier – you don’t need to be adding a few common ingredients to bake the perfect scone at home.
Scones are a quintessentially British treat best enjoyed with a generous dollop of good jam and clotted cream. Irresistibly sweet and indulgent, they’re the sort of delight that makes abandoning a diet entirely worthwhile.
They’re remarkably straightforward to make, meaning you needn’t wait for a formal afternoon tea to indulge. Summer provides the ideal backdrop for a leisurely, decadent afternoon tea, whether you’re relaxing in the cool shade or soaking up the sunshine.
If you’ve been inspired by The Great British Bake Off and fancy having a go at baking, scones are an excellent place to start.
Scone-making is relatively uncomplicated — you simply combine all the ingredients in a single bowl and mix — but if you’d like to streamline the process even further, experts recommend using just three basic ingredients.
Baking enthusiast Georgie, who runs the food blog The Home Cook’s Kitchen, has shared an “easy” recipe for scones that are like “biting into a piece of heaven”.
She said, “These scones are really easy to make and only require three simple ingredients – lemonade (Sprite), cream and self-raising flour.” For this recipe you needn’t require eggs, sugar or butter.
Georgie emphasised that using self-raising flour is absolutely crucial, as it acts as the raising agent, while the lemonade will render them “light, fluffy and just a little bit sweet”.
By swapping butter for double cream, you’ll achieve a softer, more moist scone. This also reduces the effort involved in preparing your dough, allowing you to bypass the tiresome step of rubbing butter and flour together by hand.
Lemonade is the secret ingredient that delivers a light texture to your scones. The fizz in the carbonated drink produces bubbles, which get trapped within the dough.
These minuscule air pockets expand while baking, aerating the mixture and prompting the scones to rise. This process eventually delivers that wonderful light and fluffy outcome you’re after.
Alongside using lemonade to achieve supremely fluffy scones, it’s equally crucial not to overwork the dough.
Georgie instructed, “To make the dough come together, you want to ‘cut’ or mix the dough with a knife. This will help you avoid overkneading.”
Three-ingredient scones recipe
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups of self-raising flour
- 1 1/4 cups of double cream
- 1 1/2 cups of lemonade
- One tablespoon of milk, for glazing the top of the scones
Method
- Begin by preheating your oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas Mark 6 before sieving flour into a large bowl and incorporating cream and lemonade.
- Using a knife, gently “mix” or “cut” the dough until combined. Generously flour a work surface, and with floured hands, tip the dough onto your floured surface.
- The dough will be tacky, so it’s advisable to have a well-floured surface and hands when rolling it out.
- Should you discover it’s too sticky to handle, return the dough to the bowl and incorporate a little extra flour until it becomes manageable. The dough ought to be sticky, but not so much that you cannot actually work with it.
- Form the dough into a rectangle roughly 4cm thick, then dip a wine glass in flour and use it to cut out rounds. Arrange these on a lined baking tray, reshaping the remaining dough and continuing to cut until none is left.
- Lightly coat the tops of the scones with a small amount of milk, which will help achieve a golden finish. A gentle brush is all that’s needed.
- Pop them in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes until they turn a rich golden brown on top. The scones should have a light, fluffy centre with a delicately browned exterior. Finish by serving with whipped cream and fresh raspberry jam.
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