Should you make scones with butter, margarine or a baking spread? Butter is the best option for flavour and richness in your scones. However, you can absolutely make scones using a margarine or baking spread. I've made them many times using Stork and gotten great results.
Texture, flavor, color, and shelf life vary based on which fat source you use. Cakes made with margarine tend to be denser and lighter in color, while cakes made with butter taste more, well, buttery, but can end up a bit less tender.
Various types of oil can be used to replace butter in scones. It's common for people to use canola oil as a butter replacement when baking pastries. It's also normal to use vegetable oil, coconut oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil, soybean oil, and even sunflower oil.
Margarine can be used as a substitute for butter, and it is particularly useful in baking, since it gives baked goods a softer texture than butter, which some people prefer.
Margarine often tops butter when it comes to heart health. Margarine is a blend of oils that are mostly unsaturated fat. Butter is made from cream or milk. The type of fat found in animal products, such as cream, is mostly saturated fat.
My scones have turned out more like a cookie than a scone!
This can happen if you add too much butter. If you double the amount of butter in our recipe, they'll turn out more like cookies (we tested it for you). So, try to reduce the amount of butter.
Get Flaky Scones with COLD Butter
As the steam escapes, it bursts up and creates that beautiful tall, flaky, fluffy texture. I like to cube then freeze my butter before assembling the dough. I also always prefer to use unsalted butter for baking.
“You want lots of pockets of butter in your scone dough—when the dough hits the hot oven, the water in the butter turns to steam, and it raises the dough just a little bit.
Use cold or frozen butter: For a better rise, preferably use cold butter or even frozen butter. Frozen butter can be a nuisance to cut so we advise grating with the fine side of a cheese grater first. The colder the better when it comes to scones, we recommend a chilled bowl and pastry cutter too.
Scones can be made either with self-raising flour or with plain flour and baking powder. Sweet scones and cheese scones have an egg added to enrich them. Both will rise but whatever scone you make its important that they are handled lightly and not rolled too thinly.
Scones made with cream (rather than butter) are rich and cake-like, while scones made with butter are tender and flaky. Based on your preference, make your favorite recipe using either butter or cream: Cream scones vs. butter scones.
Margarine, which can contain more water and less fat, may make thin cookies that spread out while baking (and may burn).
Queen of cakes Mary Berry insists that margarine makes for a lighter texture than butter. This is true, especially for the “all-in-one” method, where all the ingredients are beaten to a batter in a food processor.
Can you bake with Flora? If you've ever wondered, “Can you use Flora for baking?” the good news is: yes, you can! You will be pleased to know that you do not need to give up your favourite home-baked goodies just because you have made the switch from butter to a butter substitute.
Well, according to Darren McGrady, a former chef who worked for the Royal Family for over 10 years, the Queen prefered jam first. He tweeted: “The Queen always had home-made Balmoral jam first with clotted cream on top at Buckingham Palace garden parties in the royal tea tent and all royal tea parties.”
Traditionally scones with added fruit are served with butter only; plain scones with butter and jam or cream and jam. Clotted cream and lemon curd are never served together. These days, people do spread jams on the fruited scones, but it is a good idea to use a jam that complements the fruit.
Heavy, dense scones can be caused by weak flour, overworked dough, or expired leveling agents. Tough and lacking flakiness can be caused by flour that's too strong, a raising agent that is expired or not measured well, or an oven that's not hot enough.
“Make sure your butter or fat is as cold as possible when you add it into the flour. Cool temperatures help to slow down the gluten's development, helping you achieve a delicious flaky texture," advises Vanessa. "Cut the cold fat into cubes and work it into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture turns sandy.
3. Don't forget to sift! Be sure to double or even triple sift your flour, as it takes away the clumps in the flour allowing for more air pockets in the scone dough - the result being a fluffier and more crumbly scone.
My scones have spread and lost their shape
The mixture may have been too wet or the baking tray might have been too heavily greased. Twisting the cutter when cutting the scones can also have this effect.
As part of a healthy diet, CSIRO and Heart Foundation recommend the use of margarine / table spread over butter. Using Nuttelex Original in place of butter will reduce the saturated fat intake by 2.5kg* per year *Based on 20g of margarine versus 20g of butter per day.
Flora is made with nutritious seed oils that are packed with Omega 3 and 6. That's why swapping butter for butter alternatives in your weekly shop is a good idea.
The most important difference between the two is that butter is derived from dairy and is rich in saturated fats, whereas margarine is made from plant oils. It used to contain a lot of trans fats, but as mentioned above, manufacturers have now started phasing these out.