Sweet Scones

Tall, flaky, and tender, these are perfect vessel for cream and jam

Flaky scones are a thing of joy. Similar to laminated pastries like croissants, scones get their texture from butter trapped between layers of dough. Unlike cakes or cookies in which the butter is fully incorporated with the dry ingredients, here the butter remains mostly intact (which is why cold butter is so crucial!). It’s flattened but still separate, sandwiched between thin layers of dough. When the cold butter melts in the hot oven, the water in it evaporates, creating steam that causes the scones to puff up and leaving behind pockets where the cold butter once was. This distinction between butter and dough is what creates the gaps that we associate with flaky pastry.

Achieving the perfect flaky scone isn’t hard to do if you avoid a few common mistakes. Below the recipe, I’ve listed some helpful tips and mistakes to avoid while making them, I recommend reading through this section before starting for best results!