Everybody needs a great, classic scone recipe!!! These are really quick plain scones you’ll make again and again.
These scones are made with a food processor which is not only faster, it eliminates the risk of common pitfalls. Soft and fluffy insides, golden tops, serve them with copious amounts of jam and cream for the ultimate classic afternoon experience.
Classic plain scone recipe
Perhaps the simplest of all baked goods in this entire world, the humble scone surely conjures up fond memories for every Aussie. Gatherings with family and friends, school bake sales, fundraising morning teas at work, a quaint little cafe in the Southern Highlands, or your grandmother’s kitchen.
(Your grandmother, not mine. Mine lived in Tokyo and hated cooking. I would have died of shock if she ever baked anything. Or refused to eat it out of suspicion 😂).
Plain scones – made easy!
This is how I make plain scones. They are soft and fluffy on the inside, with the signature “flaky folds” when you break it open, and a golden rustic-but-not-too-rustic top:
Food processor. Self raising flour and cold butter – blitz 8 seconds. Add milk – blitz 8 seconds until ball forms.
Turn dough out, knead lightly 10 times (no more), lightly roll across the top to smooth surface. Cut scones out, bake 12 minutes.
No egg. No lard. No cream. No sugar. Why complicate something that’s already perfect?
Food processor, all the way
“Food processor?”, I hear traditionalists gasp in shock.
Yes. (She says firmly). Food processor. Not only is it faster with literally zero effort, it eliminates a lot of “risk factors” when it comes to making scones (eg overworking dough, melting butter with hot hands) and the dough comes together better. Softer and smoother, which means your scones will have a smoother top compared to handmade ones.
Here’s a comparison of the finger-rubbing method vs food processor. They are virtually identical in terms of rise and fluffy-factor, but the surface of the food processor scone is noticeably smoother.
Not that there’s anything wrong with a rustic top on scones. Scones are, after all, humble and rustic food, not intended to look like something from a Michelin star patisserie. 🙂
Essential Tips for making the BEST Scones!
It alarms me that I feel like I could write an entire essay on scones, so I’m restraining myself and summarising final tips for your new scone making life.
1. Resist the urge to twist – I feel like my hand always wants to twist when pressing the cutter into the dough. Resist the urge. Push straight down and pull straight back up. This will ensure your scones rise and they rise straight, not wonky.
2. Don’t smooth the sides once cut – For the same reason as above. So when handling the cut scones, minimise touching the cut sides.
3. Knead 10 times, no more – Kneading the dough makes the surface of scones smoother with a more even rise. However, many recipes will tell you never to knead the dough because it would make the scones tough.
After decades of scone making, I can definitively tell you – scones can take kneading. I have found that 10 light kneads does not affect the fluffiness, rise or softness of scones at all, but it does make the scones smoother on the surface.
So 10 kneads. That’s my rule!
4. How do you serve scones? With copious amounts of of jam and cream, with coffee and tea. I know not of any other way. 🤷🏻♀️
Scones Q&A
- What’s the difference between a biscuit and a scone? That’s biscuits as they’re known in America that look like scones! A southern classic served savoury, fabulous with grits, sausage gravy and eggs. And a comparison of this humble Aussie scone recipe with this New York Times Biscuits recipe verifies that they are indeed made the same way – just used for different purposes. 🙂
- Should scones have egg? Some recipes do, but it’s much softer and fluffier without egg (because egg binds better but removes moisture from baked goods). I tried with and without side by side just to be 100% sure.
- Are scones British? Yes, we Aussies have the Brits to thank for brining scones to our shores. 🙂
- Why are my scones lopsided? To avoid wonky scones, see Tip #1 above: press the cutter straight up and down, do not twist. And avoid touching the sides when transferring to the baking tray.
- How long to scones keep? Scones are best served on the day they are made but will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Just warm them before serving to make them soft and fluffy.
The great Aussie scone. Old fashioned comfort food that will never go out of fashion.
Interestingly, someone told me the other day that apparently there’s a Great Debate in the UK about whether jam or cream should be dolloped on first. The thought of cream first then dolloping jam on the cream never even crossed my mind!
Someone, please explain!! 😂 – Nagi x
More Aussie favourites
- Lemonade Scones 3 ingredient shortcut scones!
- Pikelets
- Lamingtons
- Pavlova
- Sausage Rolls
- Party Pies
And more afternoon tea favourites
- Cinnamon Swirl Bread – easy, no yeast!
- Cheese, Herb and Garlic Loaf or Zucchini Cheese Loaf– quick bread, no yeast
- Apple Muffins or Apple Cake
- Raspberry Bars or Strawberry Bars
- Blueberry Lemon Loaf with Lemon Glaze or Blueberry Lemon Yoghurt Cake
- Savoury Cheese Muffins or Cornbread Muffins (personal fave😇)
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Scones
Ingredients
- 3 cups / 450g self raising flour (Note 1)
- 80 g / 3 oz cold salted butter , cut into 1 cm / 2/5" cubes (Note 2)
- 1 cup / 250 ml milk, fridge cold (Note 2)
- Extra flour , for dusting
- Extra milk , for brushing
Serving:
- Strawberry jam (or other of choice)
- 250 ml / 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) or 180C/350F (fan / convection).
- Place flour in food processor, then butter. Blitz on high for 8 seconds until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Pour milk all over the flour (don't pour in one place). Blitz for 6 to 8 seconds on high until the crumbs turn into ball(s).
- Transfer dough onto work surface, scrape out residual bits in the food processor.
- Knead lightly no more than 10 times just to bring the dough together into one smooth ball, then pat down into a 2 cm / 4/5" thick disc. Dust with extra flour if necessary (I don't need it).
- Optional: Lightly roll across the top with a rolling pin to smooth the top.
- Dip a 5 cm / 2" round cutter into Extra Flour.
- Plunge cutter straight down and back out into dough - do not twist. Repeat all over disc.
- Remove excess dough from around scones, then carefully transfer scones onto baking tray, taking care not to smear / press the cut sides. (Note 4)
- Gather together dough scraps and repeat. I get 10 scones in total.
- Brush tops lightly with milk. (Optional)
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the top is golden and it sounds hollow when tapped.
- Remove from oven, then transfer onto dish towel and wrap loosely (makes top soft).
- Once cooled to warm (10 - 15 minutes), serve warm.
- Tradition is to split the scone with hands (no knife!), slather with jam and dollop on cream.
Cream:
- Whip cream, sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Makes 2 cups of whipped cream.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Of course I didn’t give him an entire scone piled high with jam and cream…… I mean, that face? I can totally resist.
Hi Nagi,
Did you use cup measurement or weight? I am not sure if my cup is American or Aussie…
Regards
Hi Marianne, if you’re ever confused, go by the weight as grams and mls are the same no matter where you’re located! My cup size is 250ml. N x
Hi Nagi – stumbled on your website while looking for bbq pork recipe. My husband is celiac. Loving all the recipes I’ve tried so far. Wondering if it would be possible to make this gluten free? I.e sub cup for cup gluten free flour and then add baking soda?
Hi Wendy, I haven’t tried to be honest but I’ve always found gluten free flour is more dense and isn’t as light and fluffy as regular flour unfortunately. N x
Hi Nagi – I’ve never had any success with scones so I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. What blade do you use on the food processor? I have a dough or a serrated one?
Hi Bri – I use the serrated one here – keep me updated on how yours turn out! N x
I actually wanted to give this recipe 4 and a half stars! The processor makes much lighter scones than my hot hands, but I felt my dough was a bit dry. I know flour absorbency varies 🙁 In spite of taking great care not to twist the cutter, just push down, they leaned drunkenly when they rose. Though I heard air escape as I cut them out, which was cute 🙂 They rose really high –
higher than any other scones! Was I supposed to position them on the tray so they touched and held each other up?
I absolutely love your scone recipe, I make these twice a week for my husband and son and family and friends and they always turn out perfect. I would like to try pumpkin scones but not sure of the ratio of mashed pumpkin and milk as I think if I put 1 cup of milk it will be too watery. What would you suggest?
Hi Monica, that’s a recipe that will need testing as they’ll be more dense. Something to add to my list! N x
Can you use the leftover liquid from clotted cream for the milk in this recipe?
Hi Amber, I think the fat content may be too low and won’t be suitable for this recipe unfortunately, but would love to know if you try! N x
Hi Nagi,
I wanted to add dried cranberries to this dough. Do I need to add more flour or butter for example? Thank you in advance.
Hi N.E. I’ve had readers add raisins without any other adjustments and it’s worked fine 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi! First off- Thanks for your dedication to this site.
I wanted to know if it would be a problem if I added cheddar cheese and jalapeno to this? What do you think?
Hi Sarah, I haven’t tried mixing savoury with this recipe, although I’m sure it would work! Love to know how it goes if you try it! N x
Oh my goodness! These were delicious and rose so high! My daughters loved them and so did I. Thanks for sharing so many yummy things for us to try during our quarantine baking.
Wahoo, that’s great to hear! N x
Hi Nagi!
Made scones for Mothers Day yesterday using an ‘English scone’ recipe which turned out nice, but not amazing. Naturally like I do for almost all things I make in the kitchen I came to your blog searching for a scone recipe. The recipes do look similar except I noticed yours uses cold milk while the other recipe called for warm milk. What sort of difference does milk temperature make? I’m wondering if that’s why the scones I made were more dense :/
Hi Michelle, you need cold milk as it keeps the butter cold = flaky & crumbly scones! N x
Made these scones today and they turned out really well!. Easy to make a good rise and lovely and soft. Will be my go to recipe from now on!!.
That’s great to hear Karl – Thanks so much! N x
Just made these today and served them with lemon curd. Soooo good! Such a simple recipe!
YUM! I love lemon curd Amy! N x
Another amazing recipe- thanks Nagi!!
So easy and quick to make and delicious 😋
Hi! I just made these, the texture and look and fluffiness etc were perfect! But they taste bitter 🙁 I didnt have self raising so used the notes, adding 6 tsp of baking powder and taking group out 6 tsp of flour. Is this what has made the bitter? Thabks so much!
I would always put the cream on first, but as I live in the UK I know that the one is the Cornish way, the other the Devonshire way, can’t remember which is which though… And yes, definitely clotted cream!!! I regularly visit Australia as my grandies live there, and it always annoys me that all or almost all “thickened” cream has thickener in it. Why??? Please explain… xxx
Hi Astrid – yes clotted cream isn’t common here, it’s just whipped cream and therefore goes on after the jam 🙂 N x
You can buy Dollop, this is what we use with our scones and find it fantastic
Cream absolutely MUST go on first! Use clotted cream and put it on while the scone is still hot. Clotted cream is almost halfway towards butter, so it melts slightly into the hot scone – heaven!!!
YUM! Sounds fabulous Jane 🙂 N x
You can’t really get clotted cream in Australia sadly, even if you can find it it’s nothing like clotted cream in England.
Hi Alison,
I live on the Mornington peninsula and can get British clotted cream. I’ve been searching for years and finally got the real thing and only about 8k away
Nagi … :‘(
What am I doing wrong?! I am sure I’ve made this following your instructions before. I have tried this FIVE times tonight and it’s not working. I have weighed everything out meticulously, double checked with my partner, and we can’t get it right. The dough is SO dry I can’t get it smooth at all. Have you by any chance changed this recipe or am I going crazy?
I would give given up after the 1st try if I didn’t have such faith in your recipes!
Hi Jacky, sorry you’re having issues here – I’ve made this recipe countless times so I’m not sure where you’re going wrong! You can always add a splash more of milk if your dough is too dry. N x
Yes! These are what we call biscuits in southern America and this recipe is absolute perfection! I made them tonight to go with my Cajun Sausage and Bean soup! In our house we slather them with butter to eat with the meal but save one for dessert and top it with jam! You gotta have a “sweet topper!” 😋
Hi Barb – yes very similar to biscuits! N x