You put lemon juice in scones primarily to create a "buttermilk" effect by curdling milk, which activates baking powder for a better rise, resulting in lighter, fluffier scones with a tender crumb and a subtle tangy flavor that balances sweetness. It's a key ingredient for leavening and texture, acting as an acid to react with baking soda or simply to tenderize the dough.
Do I need lemon juice for this recipe? Yes, as the lemon juice added to the milk acts as a buttermilk substitute. You could use buttermilk if you can get a hold of it or apple cider vinegar in a pinch. The slightly acidic mix gives a boost to the raising agents in the flour and baking powder.
The secret to good scones is keeping ingredients and dough extremely cold, handling the dough as little as possible to avoid toughness, and baking in a hot oven, using techniques like grating cold butter and chilling the shaped scones before baking for maximum flakiness and rise. Don't overmix; stop mixing as soon as the dough just comes together, and cut scones with a straight, decisive motion without twisting the cutter to ensure they rise high and straight.
Freeze the dough
Alison says that by freezing the dough before baking, your butter will stay solid, creating little air pockets in the scones once cooked. This gives them a super soft and airy texture when the scones rise.
It's High in Vitamin C and Antioxidants
One of the standout health benefits of lemon juice is its high vitamin C content. Just a small amount of lemon juice can provide a significant portion of your daily vitamin C needs—a half cup provides 47.2 mg of vitamin C, 52% of your daily dietary needs.
Some say placing a cut lemon with salt by your bed can promote relaxation, purify the air, and even support your respiratory system while you sleep. The secret? Lemons release calming citrus compounds, while salt helps absorb moisture and airborne impurities.
But frozen grated butter is the real key to success. Like with pie crust, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients to create crumbs. The butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, releasing steam and creating air pockets. These pockets create a flaky center while keeping the edges crumbly and crisp.
The 15-minute rule is designed to ensure that your scones don't get too brown in the oven. Overbaking this delicate pastry will only cause it to dry out, thus rendering it dry and flavorless. Besides setting a timer, you can also look for visual cues that your scones are finished.
Avoid using a food processor to mix scones: A food processor will work, but it often overworks the scone dough. We recommend using your hands until the mixture comes together. Overworking the dough will lead to scones that are tough and chewy, rather than light and flaky.
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Baking Scones
Recipe tips
A mixture of bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar, or baking powder (which is a ready paired mixture of the two) are used as the raising agent in scones.
The secret to good scones is keeping ingredients and dough extremely cold, handling the dough as little as possible to avoid toughness, and baking in a hot oven, using techniques like grating cold butter and chilling the shaped scones before baking for maximum flakiness and rise. Don't overmix; stop mixing as soon as the dough just comes together, and cut scones with a straight, decisive motion without twisting the cutter to ensure they rise high and straight.
Many professional bakers turn to simple syrup to help keep cakes moist until they are assembled and iced. To make your simple syrup, combine equal parts water and granulated sugar and heat on the stove, stirring until the sugar dissolves.
Place pan of shaped scones into the freezer for up to 30 minutes before baking. This short rest relaxes the gluten, making scones more tender; and cold chills the fat, increasing flakiness.
Rested dough is far easier to shape cleanly than unrefrigerated dough is, and it bakes up noticeably taller, smoother, and with crispier edges.
American scones use much more butter than British scones, and they usually have quite a bit more sugar. The extra butter is what makes them so much denser. This is not really a good or bad thing, as British scones pile on plenty of sugar (in the form of preserves/jam) and butter or clotted cream as toppings.
Soft, fluffy scones come from using very cold butter, gentle mixing (don't overwork!), a good leavening agent like baking powder, and often buttermilk or cream, with chilling the dough before baking being a key secret to creating steam pockets for lift and a tender texture. The combination of cold fat and minimal gluten development creates flaky layers and airy insides.
Biscuits contain most of the same ingredients as scones, with the exception of eggs and, sometimes, buttermilk instead of milk or cream. However, they typically have a higher proportion of fat and less liquid than scones, causing them to bake up taller and flakier, rather than crumbly and tender.
The inside is soft and fluffy and moist. The thin outer crust has a bit of crunch which doesn't last, and is good guide to how fresh it is. A scone is not dry, or crumbly, or dense.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights the importance of water in preventing dehydration. Dehydration can cause problems such as changes in mood, difficulty thinking, and other physical complications. Drinking a glass of hot lemon water before bed is one way to stay hydrated.
If you place a lemon directly underneath the pillow upon which you rest your head at night, it will pick up on your energy. If the energy is good, the lemon will stay exactly as it is and, with time, turn into a dried fruit, shrunken through its natural process.
Where to Position Lemon for Feng Shui? Lemon is believed to bring positive energy to one's surroundings, further enhancing the harmony within space. Placing the plant to face East is especially favorable, as it symbolizes health, growth, and new beginnings.