Irish Scones

These buttery and flaky Irish Scones pair nicely with butter and your favorite jams or preserves.

Irish scones are a perfect addition to breakfast or afternoon tea. These scones are light and flaky with just a hint of sweetness. The butter used makes a remarkable difference in the quality. Use an Irish butter if you can get your hands on it. European cultured butters are richer with less water content and will help keep the scones from becoming tough. Some recipes also include raisins. I served the scones with butter and jam (I recently came across Prosecco jam and it was particularly delicious). They are best the day they are baked and especially fresh from the oven.

The trick to delicious flaky Irish Scones is to not overmix and make sure everything is as cold as possible when it goes into the oven. I say this, but for now most things I make are overmixed. It just tends to happen when my 2 year old helper loves mixing, but is worth it to see him having so much fun in the kitchen.

Work quickly with the ingredients to keep them cold. If the oven isn’t ready by the time you cut out the scones, stick the pan in the refrigerator or freezer briefly until ready to bake.

When cutting out the scones, push the biscuit cutter down quickly without turning. Twisting the dough will seal it and keep the scones from rising.

Don’t have self-rising flour? No worries, it is easy to make your own at home. For 1 cup of low protein or all-purpose flour (all-purpose works but it does have a higher protein percentage so the scones won’t be as soft), stir in 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Irish Scones Recipe

Adapted from Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy, from The Daily Spud

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Irish Scones

Servings 8 scones

Ingredients

• 450 grams (16 ounces, ~3 1/2-4 cups) self-rising flour
• 1 heaping teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 100 grams (3 1/2 ounces, ~7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold
• 90 grams (3.2 ounces, ~1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 125 milliliters (1/2 cup) buttermilk
• Flour or turbinado sugar for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F (205˚C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment or lightly flour.

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Dice and cut in the cold butter using a dough blade, forks, or your fingers until texture becomes coarse and no pieces are larger than a pea. Mix in sugar.
4. In a small bowl, beat together eggs and buttermilk. Pour into the flour mixture and gently mix using your hands or a wooden spoon until dough comes together.

5. On a lightly floured surface, gently pat the dough into a circle about 1 inch (2 1/2 cm) thick. Use a biscuit cutter (2 1/2-3 inches, 6 1/3-7 1/2 cm) to cut out circles of dough or a sharp knife to cut the round of dough into triangles. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with flour or sugar.

6. Bake in preheated oven until golden, 15-20 minutes. These are best the day they are baked.