One of my fondest memories of Ireland is sitting down to an afternoon cup of tea and a hot buttered scone. My mother makes delicious raisin tea scones, so when I lived in New York, I promptly tried to replicate her recipe, to impress my new husband.
What I produced were nothing like the soft, doughy textured scones of my childhood.
“Hockey pucks, with raisins,” are the words my husband carefully chose to describe my efforts. To tell you the truth, he was right. We are lucky we didn’t break our teeth trying to bite into the toughly-crusted kernels of dough, which emerged from my oven.
And so, I put my recipe away, together with my dreams of baking hot, delicious scones for all my New York area friends. I only resurrected my old recipe a few years ago, upon moving to Kentucky.
The secret to scone success, I discovered, is all in the flour. Forget about regular all-purpose American flour. It does not suit this purpose at all, at all. I learned that Irish wheat has a much softer husk, than American wheat.
The closest to soft, Irish flour, that can be found on this side of the Atlantic, is cake flour.
Upon this discovery I started making scones once again, made some minor changes to my mother’s recipe, and created a great American alternative.
These tea scones are not made with baking soda and buttermilk. The raising agent used is baking powder with regular milk. This may not be the most well-known recipe for Irish scones, but let me assure you, my mother has been using it for the past fifty years, and we love them.
Ingredients:
4 cups of cake flour*
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
4 oz or 1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of sugar**
3/4 cup of golden raisins
3/4 cup of regular raisins
2 eggs
3/4 cup of milk
1 egg and a drop of milk for egg wash
sprinkling of sugar for the top
* Note: If you wish to make a somewhat healthier version of this recipe I recommend using 2 cups of cake flour and 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour.
** When reviewing this recipe I noticed I originally wrote 1 cup instead of a 1/2 cup of sugar. Oh my! What sweet scones! I always use a half cup of sugar, so I apologize for this error. For anyone who used the recipe as I originally published it, I hope your scones were sweetly delicious with all that extra sugar.
Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. I like to use a sifter. I never think a whisk, breaks down flour clumps as finely as a sifter.
Cut the butter into small pieces, then rub into the flour using a dough blender. Or just do what I do, rub the butter and flour between your hands and fingers.
Blend the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. I use both hands to do this, but my right hand was in use taking the shot. So just imagine how it is done.
Add 1/2 cup of sugar and mix.
Add both kinds of raisins and mix well, making certain to break up any clumps of raisins.
Beat the eggs and milk together. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in most of the liquid. Reserve a little to add only if the dough is too dry.
Mix with a large spoon or your hand to pull the flour and milky eggs together into a soft-but-not-too-sticky dough. Add some extra flour if the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle with a little more flour. Regular all-purpose flour is alright at this stage of the scone making game. Knead the dough lightly. Do not overwork this mixture since it does not contain any yeast. Too much handling will only make the scones hard.
Flatten to a round about an inch-and-a-half high. This can be done with your hands or by lightly rolling out the dough. Don’t over roll this dough.
Use a biscuit cutter to cut out round shapes. A cup or a glass will work just as well. Place the scones on a greased baking tray.
Brush the top of the scones with an eggwash (one beaten egg with a little drop of milk). Then sprinkle the top with a little sugar.
Bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 400 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven when the tops are turning a lovely golden color. After about 25 minutes total cooking time, I usually check the undersides are not burning. When scones are cooked they sound hollow when their bottoms are lightly tapped.
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Don’t let them sit in the baking tray, since this can make the bottoms soggy.
Make a nice cup of tea. Enjoy your tea scones, slathered in creamy butter, or spread with jelly or jam. Perhaps, you can try some clotted cream and jam, to give them an English twist.
Happy baking and enjoy.
Here is the recipe in printable format.
Irish Tea Scones
| Serves | 15 |
| Prep time | 30 minutes |
| Cook time | 30 minutes |
| Total time | 1 hour |
| Meal type | Bread |
| Region | Irish |
Ingredients
- 4 cups Cake Flour (2 cups of cake flour and 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour can be used)
- 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 4 Butter (1 stick)
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cups Golden Raisins
- 3/4 cups Raisins
- 2 Eggs
- 3/4 cups Milk
- 1 Egg (mix with a drop of milk for egg wash)
- Sugar (to sprinkle on top of unbaked scones)
Directions
| Step 1 | Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. |
| Step 2 | Cut the butter into small pieces, then rub into the flour using a dough blender, or rub the butter and flour between your hands and fingers. Blend the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. |
| Step 3 | Add the sugar and mix. |
| Step 4 | Add both kinds of raisins and mix well, making certain to break up any clumps of raisins. |
| Step 5 | Beat the eggs and milk together. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in most of the liquid. Reserve a little to add only if the dough is too dry. |
| Step 6 | Mix with a large spoon or your hand to pull the flour and milky eggs together into a soft-but-not-too-sticky dough. Add some extra flour if the dough is sticking to the sides of the bowl. |
| Step 7 | Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle with a little more flour. Knead the dough lightly. |
| Step 8 | Flatten to a round about an inch-and-a-half high. This can be done with your hands or by lightly rolling out the dough. |
| Step 9 | Use a biscuit cutter to cut out round shapes. Place the scones on a greased baking tray. |
| Step 10 | Brush the top of the scones with an eggwash (one beaten egg with a little drop of milk). Then sprinkle the top with a little sugar. |
| Step 11 | Bake in a pre-heated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 400 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven when the tops are turning a lovely golden color. |
| Step 12 | Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. |
| Step 13 | To serve: Cut the scones in two and spread each side with butter and/or jam or jelly. |
If you would prefer to use a baking mix for making Irish scones here are a few to choose from that are available online from Food Ireland. These links are affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission should you choose to purchase through these links. The price you pay is not affected. Many thanks for your support.
Irish Fruit Scones Baking Mix is produced by Odlums Ireland’s biggest flour mill. This mix is imported from Ireland and is available from Food Ireland.
You can view all of their baking mixes here.
They stock:
Slán agus beannacht,
(Goodbye and blessings)
Irish American Mom
Thanks for the comment. My mother is from Donegal and my father is from Sligo so of course I think your blog is great! I have to try this recipe. I’ve never found a scone recipe that I made twice.
peace,
amy
Donegal and Sligo are beautiful counties. My husband is a Donegal man, so we spend a lot of time there whenever we make it home to Ireland on vacation. I hope you will enjoy these scones, so much so that you might even make them again. I think the key will be using cake flour not all-purpose flour. All the best!
I’ve just made these scones. Thank you for the recipe
Hope you enjoy them. They’re lovely with butter and jam.
All the best,
Mairead
I just ate one of your Scone’s hot from the oven, with butter, jam,creme. Reminds me of the Rock Cafe near Lahinch! Awesome….
Cindy – I am delighted to hear my scones reminded you of authentic Irish scones. They really are best out of the oven with butter melting on them. Hope you had a lovely St. Patrick’s Day.
Mairéad
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long
as I provide credit and sources back to your blog? My website is in the
exact same niche as yours and my users would genuinely benefit from some of
the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with
you. Many thanks!
Christel – You’re welcome to use some information from my blog, just so long as you credit the source back to mine.
All the best,
Mairéad
I’m definitely going to try to make these. They look amazing! Have you ever tried substituting blueberries or currants for the raisins? I like raisins in soda bread, but I’ve never tried them in scones. Either way, I’m sure they’ll be great!
Sophie – I’ve made them with dried blueberries and they’ve turned out great. They are far denser than an American buttermilk biscuit, but a typical Irish treat to go along with a cup of tea.
All the best,
Mairéad
Can’t wait to try them. We have friends in County Kildare who we visit and Helen is always make some kind of treats for us. Since they have milking cows it probably helps with the taste.
Dave – Fresh, creamy milk really helps when baking scones. I hope you enjoy this recipe. They’re different to American biscuits – more dense than fluffy, but these are the scones I grew up on.
Best wishes,
Mairéad
I made these this past weekeknd. So delicious!! They brought back fond memories from my trip to Ireland a few years ago. We would stop in a bakery whereever we were in the late afternoon for a scone to tide us over until dinner. Thanks for the recipe!
Diane – I’m so glad this recipe brought back tasty memories of your trip to Ireland. A cuppa tea and a scone is one of my favorite afternoon snacks whenever I am home in Ireland.
Thanks for taking the time to leave such wonderful feedback.
Best wishes,
Mairéad
Hello!
I just wanted to send you a message to follow up and let you know how my next few batches of scones came out. I had emailed you last week about the dough being too wet. I followed your suggetions and added the liquid gradually…it worked perfectly! And you were right it seems in thinking the humidity may have something to do with it. One day the dough was “text book” and the next , with the same amount of liquid slightly on the wet side but I have learned how to manage it. Anyway, the scones are AMAZING!! Everyone LOVES them and they are comparing them to bakery bought!! Yay me!! And you !!! And I am not even someone who has really ever baked before!! Thank you for an awesome and EASY receipe! I will never have to buy scones again…’cause I now make the best!!! : )
Hi Michelle – I’m delighted to hear your scone making success story. What a wonderful feeling to be able to master scone dough, and to know your family and friends LOVE your scones. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. In another scone post I outlined some more tips for scone making success. Here’s the link:
https://www.irishamericanmom.com/2014/06/21/blueberry-scones/
Wishing you very happy scone making, and judging by your fantastic results you’re going to be a busy baker.
All the best,
Mairéad
I’ve just make this recipe last Saturday. Everyone enjoys it! I bake it again.
Note: you changed ingredient list to have .5 cup sugar but photo caption still says 1 cup.
Thanks, David – I’ll fix that.
All the best,
Mairéad
I have been looking for a recipe that would come close to the scones we had 2 months ago at the Wynn Hotel in Dublin so I will try yours. I even got Wynn’s cook to send me her recipe but for some reason they still didn’t taste as well.
Your recipe calls for cake flour but another Irish blogger recommends White Lily flour saying it has less
protein in and therefore makes a lighter scone. what do you think about my using that? I don’t want to have to buy another kind of flour after already but White Lily all purpose and self rising flour, along with my regular all purpose flour.
Thanks for your help!!
Hi Becky – I use White Lily flour when I make buttermilk scones or biscuits. But I find cake flour works best for these raisin scones. They will turn out ok with White Lily, but tend to be very crumbly and fall apart more easily than when I use cake flour. American flours have far more protein than Irish flour, except for White Lily and cake flour. I hope your scones will be a success and come close to the ones you so enjoyed in Dublin.
Happy baking,
Mairead
Thank you for getting back to me, I will try them using cake flour. I have had previous attempts turn out crumbly so hopefully that will help. Will let you know how mine turn out.
Hope your scones are a great success.
Mairéad
II was wondering what the percentage of protein is in your cake four? I noticed with the Swan Down I bought it is 2%, same as the White Lily self rising flour I used on my last attempt. How many scones will your recipe make? There is just myself and my husband so could I havlf it? What would be the ingredients then? I want to make sure I am suppose to use a whole stick of butter; the last recipe I tried last week called for 4 oz. which is 1 stick, but the dough was way to sticky and the scones were crumbling.
Sorry for all the questions but I have now made 3 different recipes for scones and none turned out that great; first batch went straight to the garbage can.
Hi Becky – So sorry I’m only getting back to you now. I seem to have missed your reply in my comment list. My mother’s old Irish scone recipe called for 1 pound of flour to 4 ounces of butter, so I do recommend a full stick of butter. Now if you can get your hands on Kerrygold butter, your scones will be a little tastier. Kerrygold don’t know me, nor am I just plugging Irish butter, but I find the fat content is higher and richer in Irish butter than in American butter, and I find my baking is a little better when I use it.
I hope your scones are a great success, but remember these scones are not meant to be soft and doughy, like biscuits served in Cracker Barrel. They are denser than those.
All the best,
Mairéad
Just to clarify what David mentioned, I still see in the written instructions to use 1 cup of sugar but your pictures and ingredients call for 1/2 cup, which do I use? I am finally making these today. Thanks!!
A half cup is what you need. They’ll be way to sweet with a full cup of sugar. I’ll make a quick edit on my post to get that right. Thanks for letting me know about the error. If you get a chance check out my post for blueberry scones where I include some tips for successful scone baking.
All the best, and happy scone making.
Mairéad
Thank you for this recipe! It’s been a go-to for me for at least a year. The scones always turn out beautifully! I DO use a whisk to blend the dry ingredients, and I no longer bother to roll out the dough – I just form balls of dough in my hands and flatten them slightly on the cookie sheet. The cake flour is definitely a huge help, and I do use whole wheat pastry flour in part for the extra nutrition and flavor. Thanks!!
Hi Susan – Thanks so much for stopping by to leave a comment to give this scone recipe your two thumbs up. I love your tip for forming dough balls with your hands to bake perfect scones. Whole wheat pastry flour does add an extra depth of flavor to these scones for sure.
All the best,
Mairéad
Irish American Mom If want to make a smaller batch of these scones should I just cut every ingredient in half?
Has anyone done that and been successful? There is just my husband and myself so we don’t need that many scones as the recipe would normally produce.
Thanks!!
Becky
Hi Becky – You definitely can make a smaller batch by cutting each ingredient amount in half. Your scones will turn out fine. I’ve made a half batch before, and they were great. I’ve even doubled the amounts to make an awful lot of scones for a special occasion. These scones freeze well too. I often pop some in the freezer and defrost whenever I feel like an Irish scone with a nice cuppa tea.
All the best,
Mairéad
Freezing them is a great idea! I hadn’t even thought of that; glad you have experience with that. I am definitely going to make these very soon!
Happy baking! 🙂 🙂 🙂
We just had our first trip to Ireland a 12 day tour. My family were from Cork. It was the most awesome amazing breathtaking trip. Everywhere we went we has scones they were delicious. Just found your recipe gonna try them today. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Mary – It’s lovely to hear you had an amazing trip to Ireland and that you enjoyed Irish scones wherever you went. They truly are a taste of Ireland.
Best wishes,
Mairéad
I actually just tried the recipe they were good but a very dry should I add less flour?
Hi Mary – You may need a little extra liquid for your dough. It’s difficult to share the exact amount required here since I find it changes depending upon where I am making my scones. At altitude the air is drier and I find I use a little extra liquid to get my dough just right. Another tip for moister scones is to use Kerrygold butter rather than American butter. Since Irish cows are grass fed the fat content in Kerrygold is a little higher. Another tip is to always use whole milk, not lowfat milk. You can even substitute a little heavy whipping cream for some of the milk for even moister scones.
I hope these tips help.
All the best,
Mairéad
I tried you scone recipe today. They were a little dry. Not sure what I did wrong. I luv scones guess I’ll try them again.
Hi Mary – Scones are not easy to make and the amount of liquid required varies from place to place. Altitude and humidity can affect the texture of your dough. Perhaps add a little more milk next time, or even a little splash of cream for extra fat to help keep them moist. Also handle the dough lightly. Too much kneading can make them a little tough.
Happy baking!
Mairéad
Just finished making them. Wow!! Amazing!!! I did 20 minutes bake time but next time I’ll do 15 or so mintues