Up until about a week ago, we have been without an oven for about two months. As you can imagine, that put quite a damper on baking during our self-quarantine; no home-baked bread, and no morning baked treats. Happily, we were able to resolve some installation issues in our kitchen and now have a working stove and oven at the ready.

One of my favorite breakfast pastries is a scone, so it seemed like the celebration of a return to baking should include a batch of them. This is my current favorite recipe, a guide really, for scone-making. It includes some really helpful techniques that result in flaky, buttery scones and can be adapted for different add-ins and flavors of sweet scones.

Sally’s Baking Addiction: How to Make Perfect Scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (FROZEN – this is key)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream or buttermilk (plus additional for brushing)
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups add-ins (chocolate chips, berries, fruits, nuts, etc.)
• OPTIONAL: 1/2-1 tsp ground cinnamon, coarse sugar, toppings/icings etc.)

Method

1. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl. Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add it to the flour mixture and combine with a pastry cutter (2 forkes, fingers) until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. Place this mixture in the refrigerator or freezer as you mix the wet ingredients together.
2. Whisk 1/2 cup cream/buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract together in a small bowl. Drizzle over the flour mixture, add the add-ins of choice, then mix together until everything appears moistened.
3. To make triangle scones pour onto counter and, with floured hands, work dough into a ball as best you can (dough will be sticky). If too sticky, add a little more flour, if too dry, ad 1-2 more Tbsp cream. Press into an 8-inch disk and cut into 8 wedges.
4. To make 10-12 drop scones keep mixing dough in the bowl until it comes together. Drop scones, about a 1/4 cup of dough each, 3 inches apart on a (parchment) lined baking sheet.
5. Brush with milk.
6. Meanwhile preheat over to 400 degrees F. Drop scones or place triangle cut scones on parchment lined sheet and refrigerate while oven preheats.
7. Bake for 18-26 minutes or until golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on the top. (Larger scones will take 25 minutes or so). Remove from oven and cool a few minutes before topping (optional).
8. Leftovers will keep at room temperature for 2 day or in the refrigerator for 5 days.