Unlike my American scone recipe, these British-style scones have much less fat and sugar. They are made to carry those flavors after they are baked, as they are traditionally served with salted butter, clotted cream, jam and/or honey. They of course go well when taken with tea.
Today I've added a few cinnamon chips to the recipe, which is not traditional. You can just stick with the dried currants as the Brits do. But as it's fall, I wanted a little seasonal flavor added and did have some of the sticky gooey bits on hand, so tossed them in.
The recipe is really quite simple to make so long as you have a food processor. You can of course cut in the butter with a pastry knife, but that's going to be a good bit of work as the butter must be fully incorporated to the flour and with no chunky bits visible, as you do with American scones. So I would say if you don't have a food processor, skip this recipe.
I have listed the weights in the recipe because they are more accurate and really should be your primary means of measurement. But if you don't have a good kitchen scale, you can use the measures but they will give you a less reliable result, perhaps being a bit more wet or dry each time you make them, depending on the weather and how you measured the flour.
Ingredients
3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (2 1/3 ounces) sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
cut into 1/2-inch pieces and room slightly softened
3/4 cup dried currants
3/4 cup dried currants
Instructions
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 500F degrees. Cover a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until combined, about 5-6 pulses. Add butter and pulse until fully incorporated and mixture looks like very fine crumbs with no visible butter, about 20-30 pulses (20 if the butter was fairly soft, 30 if it was a bit harder as it tends to be in cool weather). Transfer mixture to large bowl and stir in currants and optional cinnamon bits.
Whisk milk and eggs together in second bowl. Set aside 2 tablespoons milk mixture for brushing on the scones before baking. Add remaining milk mixture to flour mixture and, using silicone spatula, fold together until almost no dry bits of flour remain.
Flour your hands and transfer dough to a floured work surface (I prefer a silicone mat) and gather the dough into a ball. Knead and turn and knead again until surface is smooth and free of cracks, 25 to 30 times. Press gently to form disk about 9-inches in diameter and about 1-inch thick. You can use a floured rolling pin as needed. Using a floured round cutter about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out about 8 scones, recoating cutter with flour if it begins to stick. Arrange scones on prepared sheet. Gather dough scraps, form into ball, and knead gently until surface is smooth. Roll dough to 1-inch thickness and cut out 4 more rounds. Discard any remaining dough.
Brush tops of scones with reserved milk/egg mixture. Reduce oven temperature to 425F degrees and bake scones until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer scones to wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature with salted butter, clotted cream, jam and/or honey.
Whisk milk and eggs together in second bowl. Set aside 2 tablespoons milk mixture for brushing on the scones before baking. Add remaining milk mixture to flour mixture and, using silicone spatula, fold together until almost no dry bits of flour remain.
Flour your hands and transfer dough to a floured work surface (I prefer a silicone mat) and gather the dough into a ball. Knead and turn and knead again until surface is smooth and free of cracks, 25 to 30 times. Press gently to form disk about 9-inches in diameter and about 1-inch thick. You can use a floured rolling pin as needed. Using a floured round cutter about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cut out about 8 scones, recoating cutter with flour if it begins to stick. Arrange scones on prepared sheet. Gather dough scraps, form into ball, and knead gently until surface is smooth. Roll dough to 1-inch thickness and cut out 4 more rounds. Discard any remaining dough.
Brush tops of scones with reserved milk/egg mixture. Reduce oven temperature to 425F degrees and bake scones until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer scones to wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Serve scones warm or at room temperature with salted butter, clotted cream, jam and/or honey.
Note: You can store these in an air-tight container on the counter for a couple days. Alternatively you can put the container in the refrigerator and consume them for up to a week. Microwave briefly to warm. They also freeze well. To reheat place in a 300F oven from frozen for 15 minutes or until warmed through.
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