German Scones Recipe with Cinnamon Honey Butter (2024)

FAQs

What is better for scones buttermilk or heavy cream? ›

Heavy Cream or Buttermilk: For the best tasting pastries, stick with a thick liquid such as heavy cream or buttermilk. I usually use heavy cream, but if you want a slightly tangy flavor, use buttermilk.

While the American and English scone is made with a scraggly dough of butter, flour, salt, and eggs, Utah scones are made with yeast and no butter. The yeast adds flavor and rise to this scone, making the dough more airy and sweet.

If a recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of salt and you use salted butter you could end up adding quite a bit more via the butter — sometimes as much as doubling the amount called for. So unsalted butter is always a better pick when you are cooking so that you can add as much as salt as you want (or don't) in your recipe.

Should you make scones with butter, margarine or a baking spread? Butter is the best option for flavour and richness in your scones. However, you can absolutely make scones using a margarine or baking spread. I've made them many times using Stork and gotten great results.

Baking tips for making the perfect scones

The colder the better when it comes to scones, we recommend a chilled bowl and pastry cutter too. Use pastry flour: This will create a noticeably lighter scone. However, self-raising flour works just as well and creates a higher rising scone that holds its shape nicely.

A Biscuit (U.S.) Is a Scone (U.K.)

The main differences are that scones tend to have less butter (because you'll add butter to it when you eating it — or else, clotted cream or jam) while American biscuits tend to have more butter and light layers.

The last piece of the puzzle, an American biscuit is a crumbly leavened quick bread similar to what we call a scone in the UK.

Scones are thought to have originated in Scotland in the early 1500s and the first known print reference was made by a Scottish poet in 1513. Scones were originally made using oats, shaped into a large round and scored into four or six wedges.

The secret is using cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. It's lower in protein and makes for ultra-tender scones. If you don't have any on hand, you can easily make your own using all-purpose flour and cornstarch (see the FAQs below).

What happens if you use salted butter instead of unsalted in scones? ›

Salted butter, on the other hand, is best for dishes that need a more savory flavor, like croissants and scones. The salt in salted butter enhances the flavor of these items and helps to balance out the sweetness of added sugar or honey.

To ensure taller scones, start with a thicker dough disc and place the scones on a tray with sides, allowing them to slightly touch one another. This arrangement encourages the scones to push against the pan and each other, promoting height.

Not chilling the dough before baking: to really ace your scones, it helps to chill your dough again before it's baked. Using cold ingredients does help, but your hands will warm up the dough when you're working with it and the extra step of chilling will help you get the best result.

The egg gives the scones a golden and shiny finish once they are baked. It is however possible to omit the egg and use 1-2 tablespoons of extra milk as a glaze for the scones instead. They will not quite have the same colour and shine but they will still be delicious to eat.

The resting of the dough helps to relax the dough so everything remains tender, if you kneaded the dough and baked the scones immediately the insides would be great but the outsides would be tough and chewy.

Heavy cream, on the other hand, “is not acidic, and therefore does not react in the same way with baking soda as buttermilk does.” It won't help baked goods rise, but what it can do is “thicken or whiten sauces (e.g., alfredo sauce), soups (e.g., chowder), sour cream, and puddings.

If you've ever used store-bought buttermilk, then you know it's pretty thick. To get this quick and easy substitute as close to the consistency of the real thing, I recommend using whole milk or even heavy cream. If all you have on hand is 2% milk, that will work–thinner buttermilk is still better than nothing.

Cream scones are made with heavy cream only, whereas regular scones are made with butter, and also a bit of liquid like cream or buttermilk. Cream scones are easier to make, and the cream makes them extra rich, with a tender, softer texture.

Buttermilk: This is the key to the scones' phenomenal texture. If you do not have buttermilk and can't get it, use this substitution: Place 1½ teaspoons lemon juice or white vinegar in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough whole or 2% milk to bring the mixture to ½ cup. Stir it, then let it sit for 5 minutes before using.