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.

OPTIONS

Cranberries lemon 

Blueberries - BUT I usually use fresh frozen, and they tend to "bleed" into the dough.

Orange

Chocolate chips - but I wouldn't do that

Apple cheddar

Raisins and lemon peel

Dried currants, dried cranberries, orange peel

Savoury

Cheese and herbs

Bacon and cheese jalapeno 

Maple bacon

Hot cross buns - scones

sultanas

chopped dried apricots

cut mixed peel

ground mixed spice

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 OR whatever you choose

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.

OR

I like to use a cookie cutter and make 6 round scones. My favourite to use.

AT THIS POINT I freeze them using the method below.

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.

OPTIONAL - NOT IF YOU ARE FREEZING!

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. 

My Recipe Box - Scones with GF Flour Options

 January 2023 - Toronto ON

I've finally found a gluten free scone recipes that we like. I originally found it at Sugar Free Londoner and made a few changes.

We get almond flour at Costco.

I use granulated sugar, not sweetener as her recipe called for. I also reduced the amount to 35 grams.

I found this comment later in her post and have incorporated it in my recipe.

You can add a pinch of salt for extra flavor and ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum for a stronger crumb structure.

I free formed shaped them after I had tried a too small cookie cutter, I will use a larger cookie cutter next time. I made 5, however, using the smaller cookie cutter I would have gotten more.

Lemon zest is never an optional in our house! I also used lemon extract.

Fresh blueberries were added as well. I was thinking of using raisins but we had fresh blueberries. 

With raisins I would also add grated apple and cinnamon.

 I would also use cranberries, fresh or dried, I have both. Orange zest and extract with cranberry would be great too.

Orange and date will be on my list as I have dates in the fridge. Juice the orange and heat it in a pot, pour over finely chopped dates and let sit 15 minutes.

Spicy pumpkin - I will have to test.

Cheese would be good too. Cheese and bacon for breakfast! Cheese and chive.

Chorizo sausage and blue cheese would be a great way to use up leftovers.

Cheesy garlic!

You could also make a berry coulis!

Custard would be good too.

I served them with whipped cream, but lemon curd would also be great spread in the middle and add some fresh ginger into the batter.

Use fresh gingerroot if you have it. If you can't get it, then I add1 tsp ground dried ginger. Or 1 TBS finely minced candied gingerroot. You could sprinkle even more on top of the scones prior to baking.

WITH EGG

NGREDIENTS

2 ¼ cup / 225g almond flour 

½ teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ cup / 60g butter melted 
35g granulated sugar

Pinch of salt optional
1 egg large, room temperature
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or lemon extract
zest of 1 lemon 
1 egg optional, beaten, for brushing the tops (you'll only use ½) I didn't use

Preheat the oven to 180 Celsius / 350 Fahrenheit (electric) or 160C / 320F (fan).
Combine the dry ingredients - almond flour, sweetener, baking powder - in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter, lemon zest, vanilla and egg. Stir into the dry ingredients until a dough forms, or use an electric mixer.
Form a dough ball and place onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Flatten into a disc shape, about 1 inch thick. Cut out 5-6 scones using a cookie cutter (or use your hands to form scone shapes). Move them apart and brush the tops with beaten egg.
Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden. Let cool completely in the pan - these scones are fragile when hot but they firm up as they cool down.

Lemon glaze

120g (2/3 cup) icing sugar mixture
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp finely grated lemon rind

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon juice and stir until combined. Brush half the glaze over the warm scones then sprinkle with lemon rind. Set aside for 15 minutes to cool until just warm. Drizzle remaining glaze over scones.

WITHOUT EGG - Source Chef Alina

Date -    MY REVIEW

INGREDIENTS
500 g all purpose flour or GF 1:1 blend - suggested Cup4Cup
224 g brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
364-400 g heavy cream*
1 tbsp baking powder
1 - 1 1/2 cups Blueberries or mix in of choice



INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a half sheet pan with parchment or a silicon mat.

Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir with a spoon to combine.

Add half the cream, stir a few times, then add the rest of the cream, and stir until a mostly-cohesive dough forms. Finish bringing the dough together by hand, until there are no more noticeable dry spots, don’t overwork! **see recipe notes

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and divide into two even sized piles. Use your hands, pat the dough into two circles that are approximately 6 inches wide and 3/4 inch high. Cut each circle into 8 triangles.

Evenly space on the parchment lined half sheet pan and bake at 350 for approx. 25 min. Rotate half way through baking.


RECIPE NOTES

*If using dried fruit for mix ins you will need slightly more cream, if using something wetter like sliced strawberries or banana you will need slightly less cream. start with the lesser amount and drizzle more on when you are mixing if your dough is not coming together.

**When mixing the dough I usually use my hands and squeeze it together in clumps until there are no crumbly dry spots. It is important not to overwork the dough - you don't want to use a mixer and you do not want to mix until it is a smooth dough, clumpy is good!
Scones are done when the bottoms are browned and they have a light golden brown crust.

WITHOUT EGG/VARIOUS GF FLOURS Source A Day in the Kitchen

Date -     MY REVIEW

Ingredients
50 g brown rice flour
50 g tapioca starch
30 g sorghum flour
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
2 teaspoon baking powder
4 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup dried cranberries
160 mL heavy cream (about ⅔ cup)

Instructions
Preheat oven 425 deg F (220C).
Combine all dry ingredients and the dried cranberries in a bowl and mix together with a whisk or fork.
Add heavy cream and mix well with a fork or spoon until dough forms.
On a flat surface dusted lightly with brown rice flour, shape the dough into a disc, about ¾" thick.
Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and score or cut the disc into 6 wedges. Separate the wedges slightly from each other.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Let cool slightly before serving.

Friday Favorite Finds - Recipes

Please link up to a post containing your list of recipes to try -- do not link up individual recipes please, save those for other linkys.  Be sure to leave a link back here to Finding Joy in my Kitchen.

Lasagne di pollo e Funghi Misti


Source - The Spice Garden

Shrimp crunch buns

 

Source - The Kitchen Witch

English scones

Source - Anula's Kitchen

Pumpkin cranberry bread

Source - Better than Burgers

Meyer lemon curd

Source - Girlichef

Last minute chocolate cake with mocha icing and to think this uses coffee in the icing, one of my favourite flavours.

Source - Food for a Hungry Soul

Mini elephant ears - another recipe from one of my favourite bloggers and probably one of the original bloggers I found when first reading blogs.

Source - Food for a Hungry Soul

Recipes To Try

Cranberry orange scones

Easy Italian breadsticks in the bread machine

Apple cheddar quick-bread

Orange sour cream loaf-cake which I found by way of That British Woman's blog

Roasted broccoli cheddar soup which looks yummy for the colder weather we are getting.

Came across this site for homemade salad dressings. I've been meaning to Google for some so mission accomplished! DH LOVES ranch dressing a passion I do not share. I hate the bottled versions as they are full of unnecessary garbage.

Pumpkin cake balls I would probably makes these into lollipops.

New Recipes to Try

Sticky apple and gingerbread pecan loaf

Spinach artichoke dip I've eaten this at some of those chain restaurants and might even try making this.

Pumpkin scones with ginger honey glaze

Crispy vegetable spring rolls will definitely give these a go. The ones we order are good but a little greasy.

Recipes To Try

Hoisin baby back ribs look yummy.

Another zucchini fritters recipe but it contains feta!! UPDATE made these last week when I was eating alone as DH absolutely did not want to try these. They were a lot heavier and dense than I expected and they also needed something to spice them up.

Lemon glazed zucchini bread to use up that other zucchini that I bought.

Blueberry lime protein smoothies sound good and healthy.

Mahi mahi parmesan appetizer bites I think I'd like to try this as a main course.

The next three recipes all come from a new blogger I discovered this week Handle The Heat.
Take-out at home turkey lettuce cups
Lightened loaded potato soup
Chocolate covered cheesecake bites

Very raspberry scones yum raspberries are my favourite fruit.

Beef and vegetable lo mein

Recipes to Try - Scones

Savory Cheese and Scallion Scones