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).
For example, if you substitute oil for butter or margarine, you can significantly reduce the amount of saturated fat in your baked goods. This streamlined recipe for Light Scones uses just 3 tablespoons of canola oil, which contains a fraction of the saturated fat found in butter or margarine.
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.
Overmixing the dough.
Overworking the dough will lead to scones that are tough and chewy, rather than light and flaky. The key is to use a light hand and work the dough until it just comes together. Follow this tip: Expect your dough to have lumps and bumps in it — once it just comes together, its ready to be used.
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.
My scones have a dense, heavy texture and poor volume
You may have used too little raising agent or over handled the dough before it was baked. The oven may have been too cool.
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.
The texture of scone dough should be quite wet and sticky as this loose texture really helps to produce the lightest, fluffiest texture once baked. The drier your dough is, the less ability the dough has to rise in the oven and the denser your scones will be.
Add some extra baking powder/soda, they might not have raised enough. If your scones barely rise in the oven, reconsider the amount of water you've added. You might want to add more. Otherwise, increase the amount of baking powder/soda.
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.
Softened butter in baking is creamed together with sugar to aerate it before the rest of the ingredients are added. The process of beating the butter and sugar together creates this whole network of fat, sugar, and air. This helps to leaven your baked good and creates a more fluffy and tender product.
“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.
So let's say you accidentally put double the amount of butter in. Simply double all of the other ingredients and mix them in the dough. Now you have the right proportions, and more cookies.
Adding healthy fats will be better than what normal butter adds to the mix. When using oil, you want to use only half of the requested butter amount. So if the recipe calls for one cup of butter, you'll add one-half of a cup of oil.
All-purpose plus pastry flour also works, but don't omit the pastry flour. "Once you've shaped your scones, chill them before baking," Youngman says. "You can use that time to preheat the oven so the kitchen doesn't heat up while you make the dough. The final chill relaxes the gluten which yields a tender texture.
THE CHILLING
Vanessa advises giving your cut-out scones a blast in the fridge before baking to stiffen up the butter again, which will stop your scones from slumping as soon as they hit the oven's heat.
Overmixing is exactly what it sounds like: the process by which a dough or batter gets mixed too much, typically yielding dense, tough, or deflated baked goods. Overmixed doughs and batters may have an unappealing look or feel, which remain just as unappealing when they're baked.
But now we've found that resting the dough overnight has another benefit: It makes for more symmetrical and attractive pastries.
Use a little of the leftover milk and egg mixture or some milk to brush over the tops of the scones to give them a lovely sheen. Place in hot oven 230°C or 450°F until they are golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve immediately, either with lashings of jam and cream (if sweet) or just butter (if savoury).
Method. Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Stir in the sugar, add the butter and rub quickly into the flour, creating a fine breadcrumb consistency.
Too much baking powder can cause the batter to be bitter tasting. It can also cause the batter to rise rapidly and then collapse. (i.e. The air bubbles in the batter grow too large and break causing the batter to fall.) Cakes will have a coarse, fragile crumb with a fallen center.
Use an oven mitt to take your scones out of the oven. Wait 30-40 minutes to give the scones time to cool. If you put your scones in a container when they're still warm, the moisture in the scones won't be able to escape and they'll get mushy and gross. Get an airtight food-storage container.
Put the scones in the microwave with a small glass of water, as the water will put moisture back into the scones without leaving them dry.