These Currant Scones are light, flaky, buttery and not too sweet. I like serving them with butter, marmalade or apricot jam and tea. When you hear the word “scones”, you often think of it as a fancy British pastry. To me, it’s like American sweet biscuits. It’s really easy to make and good for breakfast, brunch or even an afternoon snack. If you are not a baker, making scones is a good way to get your feet wet in the baking world because it is so easy. I made them with currants today, but you can substitute with any dried fruits; such as dried cranberries, cherries or even apricots. I made Baked Pears with Currants and Cinnamon a couple weeks ago and I still have a bunch of dried currents in my pantry, so I decided to use them in my scones today. To me currants are like tiny raisins. They are sweet, chewy and delicious. Like they say ‘good things come in small packages’.
Let’s make some scones!
Preheat oven to 400 ºF. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.
Cut cold butter into small cubes. The key to making flaky scones is cold butter. Add them into the flour bowl. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter or if you have a food processor, you can throw the flour mixture and butter in it and pulse a few times until it resembles a coarse meal.
Here’s what it looks like.
Pure 1/2 cup of buttermilk into a measuring cup, add pure vanilla extract and mix them together.
Add buttermilk-vanilla mixture into the flour. Mix together using a wooden spoon until just combined. The trick to making light scones is to never overmix the dough.
Add dried currants and mix together. Again, mix until just combined, do not overmix.
Transfer dough on to a floured surface.
Form the dough into a round, 3/4 inch thick disk. Flour your knife and cut evenly into 8 pieces.
Transfer the scones on to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat
Prepare egg wash by beating one egg and a teaspoon of water in a small bowl.
Brush the top of each scone with the egg wash. This will make the top of your scones golden brown.
Sprinkle with raw sugar.
Bake in the pre-heated oven about 15 minutes until the top is golden brown.
Serve the warm Currant Scones with butter and marmalade or any jams of your choice.
It’s also good with lemon curd. I have the recipe for that, if you want to try. Here’s the link Lemon Curd.
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ stick of cold unsalted better
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup dried currants (or other dried fruit such as cranberries, cherries or apricots)
- 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water to make egg wash
- raw sugar to sprinkle on the top
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl.
- Cut cold butter into small cubes. Add them into the flour bowl. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter or if you have a food processor, you can throw the flour mixture and butter in it and pulse a few times until it resembles a coarse meal.
- Mix buttermilk and pure vanilla extract together in a measuring cup. Add buttermilk-vanilla mixture into the flour. Mix together using a wooden spoon until just combined. The trick to making light scones is to never overmix the dough. Add dried currants and mix together.
- Transfer dough on to a floured surface. Form the dough into a round, ¾ inch thick disk. Flour your knife and cut evenly into 8 pieces.
- Transfer the scones on to the baking sheet lined with parchment paper or siltpat.
- Prepare egg wash by beating one egg and a teaspoon of water in a small bowl. Brush the top of each scone with the egg wash.
- Sprinkle with raw sugar, bake for about 15 minutes until the top is golden brown. Serve warm with butter and marmalade or any jams of your choice.
Also, I ran out of buttermilk one time, so I used soy milk and it worked just fine.
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