Lemonade Scones are the fastest and easiest scones you will ever make! Incredibly fluffy, moist scones made from scratch using only 3 ingredients – self raising flour, cream and lemonade. The secret ingredient is lemonade – but they don’t taste of lemon at all!
This is the faster way to make classic scones which call for butter to be rubbed or blitzed into flour. Lemonade Scones rise ever so slightly less, but the difference is barely noticeable!
Lemonade Scones
Scones are as Australian as Meat Pies and Lamingtons. Made the traditional way, butter is rubbed into flour using your fingers – or a food processor. Not particularly difficult, but it does take time, calling for fridge cold butter to be diced into cubes.
I don’t know who discovered this genius shortcut way of making scones, but I am forever indebted to them. Sometimes I do enjoy taking the time to make scones the traditional way. But I usually make these Lemonade Scones which honestly come out so similar and yet take less than half the time to make.
If you’ve never tried these before, you’re honestly going to be amazed. Seriously AMAZED!
Scones are an afternoon tea favourite in Australia, brought to our shores when the British settled here just over 200 years ago. It’s a regular at quaint tea houses, especially in the countryside, and at local bake sales!
What’s the difference between an American biscuit and a scone?
🇺🇸That’s biscuits as they’re known in America that look like our scones! A southern classic served savoury, fabulous with grits, sausage gravy and eggs.
A comparison of the classic Aussie scone recipe with this New York Times Biscuits recipe is all it takes to verify that they are indeed made the same way – just used for different purposes. 🙂 Lemonade Scones are slightly more different because they are a touch sweeter than classic scones.
What you need for Lemonade Scones
Here are the 3 ingredients you need:
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Self raising flour – this is just plain flour (all purpose flour) and baking powder that’s already been combined. It’s sold as “self raising flour” in the UK, Australia, NZ. It’s easy to make your own self raising flour simply by mixing 2 tsp baking powder for every 1 cup of flour.
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Cream – thickened or heavy cream works best I find. But it does work fine with ordinary cream too, but it needs to be full fat (I found low fat didn’t work as well, not as soft inside); and
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Lemonade -the “secret ingredient”, the namesake of this scone recipe!! I don’t know the science behind why it works. I like to think the fizz activates the baking powder to make the scones rise and make them fluffy, but I’m totally guessing here!
What type of Lemonade to use?
Schweppes and Kirks Lemonade are the two brands I use. I’ve made it with “no frills” too and it worked fine, so I am pretty sure any lemonade brand should be fine. Sprite and 7 Up also work – tried it and it comes out exactly the same!
How to make Lemonade Scones
Just dump the flour, cream and lemonade into a bowl, mix, turn out onto board, cut out scones and bake.
Yep. That’s it. Really!
Lemonade Scones – Tips!
Few tips to share to ensure your scones come out soft and fluffy every time!!
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Less dough handling = fluffier scones. So only mix the batter until the flour is almost fully incorporated (ie can still some flour), then scrape onto work surface and knead as few times as possible to bring together into a disc shape with a pretty smooth surface (I aim for 5 kneads, 8 is ok).
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Do not twist the cutter – press the cutter straight down and up, resist the urge to twist! If you twist, the sides of the scones gets “smeared” which affects how well they rise.
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Avoid touching sides of scones – use a big kitchen knife or similar to transfer scones to tray to avoid touching the sides of the scones.
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Place so they’re touching each other ever so slightly – because they help each other rise (isn’t that just so sweet? 😍)
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Don’t be tight with the jam and cream – there’s nothing sadder than running out of cream mid scone scoffing!!
Whether Lemonade Scones or traditional made scones, they are best served warm but MUST be served with copious amounts of cream and jam. There’s just really no getting around that part. It’s like having a grilled cheese sandwich without cheese. It just ain’t right. Just saying.😇
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
More Aussie favourites
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Scones – made the classic way
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Lemonade Scones - 3 Ingredients From Scratch
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups self raising flour , plus extra for dusting (flour sub - Note 1)
- 1 cup thickened cream (heavy cream), not whipped!
- 1 cup lemonade (Note 2)
To serve
- Whipped cream
- Jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Line tray with baking/parchment paper.
- Combine the flour, cream and lemonade in a bowl and mix until flour is mostly combined. Do not over mix, it will make the scones dense! The dough should be soft and fairly sticky.
- Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead gently just 3 - 5 times to bring dough together, then gently pat into a disc shape 2.5cm/1" thick.
- Use a 6cm/2.5" round cutter to cut rounds - press straight up and down (don't twist), flour cutter in between. (Note 4)
- Use a knife or similar to scoop up (avoid touching sides) and place on tray, slightly touching each other (they help each other rise).
- Brush the tops lightly with milk. (Note 5)
- Bake for 15 minutes until golden on top. Place on rack to cool. Place tea towel over them to stop the tops from getting crusty.
- Serve with copious amounts of cream and jam, and of course tea!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published January 2014. Long overdue to add a recipe video and fresh new photos!
Life of Dozer
Now you see it… now you don’t! (Except for the smear of cream on his snout 🐽)
I will never make regular scones again – beyond easy and soooo good! Luckily I had one soon after coming out the oven, as the after-school feeding frenzy polished off the lot in 10 mins! 😹
Woo hoo!! I’m so glad that you enjoyed them Jules! N x
Can you do these in the microwave??
No Bec – microwaves are not good for baking! N x
Cant wait to try. Though US biscuits are mostly savory,try with chocolate gravy. A sweet treat
Made these with lemon soft drink (Solo) then served with lemon curd & cream. Was a huge hit with the family.
Triple lemon flavour Carol…sounds soooo good!! N x
Can I put sultanas or cherries in this recipe if so can you tell me what ratio sultanas to other ingredients. I haven’t made scones before I am going to make them in a few days. Thank you guys
Yes Margaret, you could fold through about 3/4 cup of dried fruit if you like! N x
I made these with ginger beer. Perfect and only a hint of ginger. Served them with honey and cream.
Has anyone made this with sugar free kirks lemonade?
Yes Margaret I do
Yes, and they turned out great. It was the first time in 44 years when I made a scone that wasn’t a lead weight! So easy and quick, but it was a challenge to stop mixing and kneading while the mix still looked so lumpy and floury.
Hi Rebecca. You mentioned it was a challenge to stop mixing. So when I am to make it, and it looks clumpy, do I just leave it and will it still cook properly?
It can look a bit clumpy with a few small dry bits through it Liz – it’s better to do that than to overmix! N x
It doesnt give you the measurements? Is it one cup of flour? It just shows a jug of cream? How much cream? and a small bottle of lemonade?
Hi Carole – click on the button that says “Recipe” and it will jump you to the written recipe at the bottom of the page! N x
Delicious and so easy. Just need to add some salt otherwise a bit bland
Love it…..
They are so good and fluffy DELICIOUS!!!! 😍
Hi, thanks for being so patient with our questions. Would I be able to use thickned dairy free cream?
Hi CBB
I’m vegan so I use coconut cream and it comes out amazingly well. Even my non-vegan friends were surprised
I just made these scones and put grated cheese in them, turned out wonderful
I always make these scones, so easy, made them in a coffee shop and I put 2 crumbled violet crumble bars in or grated orange zest with chopped dried apricots and used Fanta or currants and solo. All very popular.
Love these scones so much! Always a hit. I want to whip up a batch to take away to friends really quick. Don’t have any cream so is milk an okay substitute?
Yes just add veggie oil or crisco or butter. After all milk is cream with the butter removed. Kids love them, everybody does.