Chef's scone recipe- There are many contributions to the culinary world that can be credited to England. Scones are firmly placed in the top ten list by us here at Season Two Taste.

featured image of the baked chef's scones on a plate with powdered sugar

A mainstay of traditional English tea service. They can be made "American style" with fruit flavors and a little extra sweetness, or tailor made for clotted cream and other condiments, as the British prefer.

This particular version was made with fresh red currants, an annual harvest from our garden. This scone recipe is very versatile by design, though, and can be made with fruit or your choice, or even without it entirely.

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Cherry Mascarpone Cheese Crostata Tart Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment
Storage
Chef Tip
Recipe

a closeup of the cherry and mascarpone cheese crostata fresh from the oven

Newest Recipe!

Cherry Mascarpone Cheese Crostata Tart Recipe

The next time that you're looking for an easy to bake dessert that's sure to impress, try this cherry mascarpone crostata. With minimal prep time, you can create this rustic masterpiece, with a golden-brown pie crust, rich mascarpone filling, and sweet cherries.

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Ingredients

all purpose flour
sugar
salt
egg yolks
red currants, (optional, see below under variations)
unsalted butter
orange zest, (optional)
half and half
baking powder
pistachio nuts, (optional)
powdered sugar, (optional garnish)

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Mixing Wet Ingredients/Cutting Flour

mixing the wet ingredients with a wire whisk in a glass liquid measuring cup

Mix the wet ingredients, egg yolks and half and half, and get the dry ingredients ready.

cutting the cubes of butter into the dry ingredients with a dough cutter in a mixing bowl for the chef's scones

After cutting the butter into small pieces, use a pastry cutter to "cut", or uniformly mix the butter and flour together.

Combining

flour and butter mixture, shown with lumps to illustrate appropriate texture once butter is cut in.

Once the butter is cut in properly, the consistency will look like this. Notice the hand made lumps.

the dry and wet ingredients for the chef's scone recipe in a bowl and a glass pitcher

Combine the wet, dry, and flavor ingredients.

Finishing Dough

scone dough being formed from the dry and wet ingredients by hand in a mixing bowl

Mixing by hand. While it is messy, it's best to do it this way. You don't want to over mix. Being able to feel what is happening really helps with this.

scone dough laid out onto the cutting board, ready to portion and cut

Carefully remove from the mixing bowl onto a floured flat surface, delicately roll out with a rolling pin until it forms a relatively uniformly 1 inch thick "loaf" as shown.

Portioning and Baking

scone dough on cutting board rolled out to one inch thickness and cut into uniform triangles

scones formed into triangles, placed on lightly greased sheet pan, ready to bake.

Cut the loaf into desired shapes. We chose the triangles that are most common here in the states, but any shape will do. Just make sure that they are all the same size as best as possible. They will cook evenly this way. Place in the freezer for a least 2 hours or overnight before baking.

cut scones shown being brushed on top with cream

portioned and cut un cooked scone being sprinkled with sugar

Give them a light brush of half and half, followed by a sprinkle of granulated sugar. You'll also see that they are now evenly spaced on a parchment lined sheet pan to go in the oven.

Cooling and Service

baked scones with powdered sugar garnish, on cooling rack

Once they are out of the oven, let them cool fully on a rack before giving them a little dust of powdered sugar.

We like to serve them with clotted cream and some lemon curd. You can of course have them however you choose, they are scrumptious no matter what!

Hint: The category of baking recipe that this falls under is "quick bread". This is a general term for items leavened, (risen), by means other than yeast. The basic build of the recipe will be very similar for all recipes of this type. Keep an eye out for this, as it will help you be more familiar with the steps.

Substitutions

We made these bad boys with our choice of fruit, nuts, and citrus zest. These can be subbed out for others quite easily.

Berries - we used red currants from our garden, but blueberries or raspberries are great. If you choose to use a really moist fruit, you may have to make the batter a little drier.
Nuts - pistachios are super popular in our house, but any kind will add a nice crunch and richness. Maybe almonds, or pecans?
Citrus Zest - Lemon would be a great flavor booster in place of orange.

Variations

We touched a little bit on the different types of scones earlier in this post. Here's some easy ways to make that happen.

Classic English Tea Scones - remove the fruit, nuts, and citrus zest, and cut back on the sugar by a third or so.
Different shapes- you can use a shaped cutter or simply cut them differently.
Extra Sweet- increase the sugar in the recipe by 25%, as well as sprinkling more sugar on top before and after baking will have this effect.

Equipment

citrus zester
dough cutter/knife
mixing bowl
measuring cups
measuring spoons
kitchen scale
pastry brush
rolling pin
sheet pan
parchment paper
cooling rack
wire whip
pastry cutter
offset spatula

Storage

The finished scones are of course best when eaten in a day or two. They should be stored in an air tight container at room temperature to avoid them getting stale. When packaged this way, they will stay fresh for 3 to 4 days. If you freeze the uncooked portions, those can stay in the freezer for up to two months.

Chef Tip

Freeze the portioned out scones before baking! If you have the time, plan on making the dough the day before, shaping them, and putting them in the freezer overnight. Letting the fat get really cold before baking helps the "crumb", (in other words, the general texture), set. This makes for a more tender and moist finished product.

Recipe