Originally tested and written for the Williams Sonoma Taste Blog, March 2020
There’s nothing like fresh scones slathered with butter and jam, so we made sure to get our fill of the classic teatime treats during our recent trip through the Irish countryside with our friends from Tourism Ireland and Bake from Scratch Magazine. We traveled south from Dublin to County Cork, the culinary capital of Ireland, to spend the day at the renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School. We toured the sprawling 100-acre organic farm and made scones in one of their four full-service kitchens.
The school’s instructors, led by Chef Pat, guided us through the scones recipe, while founder Darina Allen offered her own expert tips. “With our two hands, lift the dry mixture up” she demonstrated, as she aerated the floury mixture. The recipe, passed down from Darina’s mother, is all about technique. Here, we share everything we learned for mastering traditional Irish scones at home.
Pro Tips for Perfect Irish Scones
1. Grate the chilled butter. Use a box grater for small, uniform pieces of butter that will stay cold as they’re incorporated into the flour. This will result in a light and tender interior.
2. Aerate the butter and flour mixture. Lift the flour mixture in small handfuls from the bowl while rubbing in the butter, allowing the dry ingredients to fall back into the bowl. Aerating the dry ingredients during mixing will result in a light and fluffy texture after baking.
3. Go slow when adding liquid. Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients a little at a time, stirring gently. Stop when the dough is tacky but not sticking all over your hands.
4. No need to knead. Maintain a light touch with the dough to ensure your scones stay tender.
5. Cut the scones straight down. Keep the cutter straight and steady when cutting the scones. Avoid a twisting motion, which could disrupt the layers and result in flat scones.
6. Stamp out the scones as close together as possible. The first set of scones will be lighter than those that have been rerolled.
Sweet White Scones
Adapted from Darina Allen / Ballymaloe Cookery School
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cups (1 lb /450 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz /25 g) granulated sugar
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons (3 oz / 85 g) cold unsalted butter
About 1/2 cup (3 oz / 85 g) from free-range eggs
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (7 fl. oz / 200 ml) whole milk
Demerara sugar or coarse granulated sugar for sprinkling
Preheat an oven to 475°F (250°C).
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together into a large, wide bowl. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate the butter into the flour mixture, occasionally dipping the stick of butter into the flour if it starts to get sticky.
Using your fingertips, rub the butter and flour mixture until it resembles bread crumbs, lifting the mixture as you go to keep it light and aerated. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
In small bowl, whisk the eggs until combined. Transfer the eggs to a 2-cup (500-ml) liquid measuring cup and add the milk to bring the liquid up to 1 1/4 cups (232 ml). Set aside 35 g / 2 1/2 Tbs. of the mixture to brush on the tops of the scones.
Add all but 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) of the milk mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with your hands, to form a soft dough. If the dough seems too dry, add some of the remaining 1/2 cup milk mixture; the dough should be tacky but not stuck all over your hands.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Don’t knead it, but gently shape it into a round. Using a rolling pin, roll out a round about 9 inches in diameter and 3/4 inch thick. Using a 3-inch (7.5-cm) round cutter, cut out scones. Cut them as close together as possible, as any scones you cut after rerolling the dough will be less tender. Repeat with the leftover dough to cut out more scones. Transfer the scones to an ungreased baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches (5 cm) apart, and brush the tops with some of the reserved milk mixture (this will help them brown in the oven). Sprinkle each with some Demerara sugar.
Bake until golden brown on top, about 15-18 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
Serve the scones split in half with some homemade jam and either butter or a dollop of whipped cream.
Makes 8 scones
Copyright Darina Allen, Ballymaloe Cookery School