My Recipe Box - Scones (Variations)

 September 2025 - Toronto ON

I have all kinds of scone recipes but I decided to make the old Irish recipe that my Irish mother used.

I had a copy in an old Irish cookbook that I've had forever.

Traditional Irish buttermilk soda scones used three simple ingredients, flour, baking soda and buttermilk. No eggs, no butter, just a simple dough.

Today buttermilk is made by adding acid to regular milk and the fat content is not as high as the real buttermilk of years gone by. You can overcome this by substituting some heavy whipping cream for buttermilk in most of my baking recipes. I happen to always have heavy whipping cream.

I slightly altered the recipe after reviewing others.

BUTTERMILK SCONES

1 cup buttermilk

2 1/2 cups of flour

2 teasp. of baking powder

Salt

1 teasp baking soda

I added

Raisins and lemon peel

Set oven to 400F.

Dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk. Mix the flour with baking powder with the buttermilk, add a pinch of salt, and blend until a soft dough forms.

OTHER OPTIONS

Cranberries lemon 

Blueberries

Orange

Chocolate chips - but I wouldn't do that

Apple cheddar

Savoury

Cheese and herbs

Bacon and cheese jalapeno 

Maple bacon

MAPLE RAISIN - SMALL BATCH

October 2025

I came across a small batch scone recipe - it only makes 4!!! Perfect for the two of us.

Ingredients

1 cup (125g) plain flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 TBS (43g) butter, cold and cut into bits

1/4 cup (30g) raisins

2 1/2 TBS of pure maple syrup, divided

1/2 cup (120ml) heavy cream

3 TBS (25g) icing sugar, sifted

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375*F. Line a small, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

Measure the flour, baking powder and salt into a food processor. Blitz for 10 seconds to combine.

Drop in the cold butter. Pulse 5 or 6 times to cut the butter in. It should resemble coarse cornmeal with a few larger bits. 

TBH it would be easier to just use your fingers to combine and not bother dirtying the food processor. Also my food processor tends to spill the flour everywhere.

Transfer to a mixing bowl. Stir in the raisins.

Whisk the cream and 1 1/2 TBS of the maple syrup together to combine well. The syrup should have dissolved completely into the cream.

Pour this mixture over top of the flour mixture and mix in with a fork until you have a shaggy dough. Gently knead for 5 to 10 seconds until the dough comes together.

Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape into a round that is 3/4 inch thick, sealing any cracks that might appear.

Using a sharp knife cut into 4 equally sized wedges. Place onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between each wedge. You could make them smaller, and cut into 6.

Bake in the preheated oven for 18 to 23 minutes, rotating the sheet pan halfway through the bake time. They are done when golden brown on the edges and bottom.

Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool for 20 minutes.

Whisk the icing sugar and remaining maple syrup together to form a thick glaze. If it is too thick then add a few drops of water to thin.

Drizzle over the scones. 

Let the glaze set completely before serving.

MINI FANCY

Divide the dough into 12 even balls. Place one ball into each cup of the mini muffin tin. Use your floured tool or tart press to gently press a well into the center of each dough ball.

Bake the scone cups for 15 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven and re-press the wells using your floured tool to redefine the centres.

Let the scone cups cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Fill each cup with your favorite jams, jellies, curds, whipped cream, or fresh fruit.

JAM FILLED

Divide your dough in two and flatten each piece out into identical rounds.

To simplify, I like to line an 8″ round cake pan with plastic wrap. Next, pat each dough half into the pan so that each round is the same size. Place one dough round on a prepared baking sheet and smear with a layer of jam of your choice.

Freeze Unbaked Scones 

This method allows you to have "fresh-from-the-oven" scones in about 20-30 minutes. 

Prepare and Shape: Make your scone dough and cut them into your desired shapes (wedges or rounds).

Pre-Freeze: Place the raw, cut scones onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for about 1 hour until solid.

Store: Transfer the frozen scones into a zip-top freezer bag or airtight container, removing as much air as possible.

Freezer Life: They can stay frozen for up to 3 months.

Baking: Bake directly from frozen. You do not need to thaw them, though you may need to add 2-5 extra minutes to the baking time.