How to make simple lemon scones; tender fluffy citrus-scented scones that you can make in minutes!
I don’t think there’s any baked good that brings my Scottish patriotism to a burning apex quite like a scone.
Ok, maybe Dean’s shortbread, but that’s not what we’re here to muse about today.
They’re so fast, so easy, and so so satisfying. Today, I want to share with you lovely folks a recipe that truly relishes in that speed and simplicity.
When I say simple, I don’t mean the kind of “simple” that us food bloggers throw around a lot. I don’t just mean it doesn’t contain fiddly French-style techniques, or that it doesn’t require expensive ingredients or fancy equipment. In fact, aside from a set of scales and a knife, this simple lemon scones recipe doesn’t require any equipment!
For that very reason, in today’s simple lemon scones recipe I’m not even going to use the ubiquitous round cutter (whether fluted or not) to stamp out the scones. This way, we save even more time, and don’t have to faff about with re-rolling and re-flattening the dough. We’re doing this proper Scottish granny style. Maybe without the upper-body strength of a Scottish granny, but we’re working on that…
These scones contain just a handful of ingredients that I’m (almost) sure you’ll already have lying in wait in your fridge and cupboards. Oh, and you can have them ready in half an hour. Sold yet?
Fluffy, tender, buttery, and just absolutely begging to be smothered in salted butter and good strawberry jam. Or clotted cream, of course.
The recipe that follows is of course for simple lemon scones, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with customising them! You could:
- keep them plain;
- dust in some spices like cinnamon and ginger;
- replace the lemon zest with orange zest;
- add dried fruits;
- stir in nuts and chocolate chips; or
- sprinkle in some desiccated coconut!
However you wish to make them, I hope you’ll find them as speedy, simple, and satisfying as I have.
Want to save these simple lemon scones for later? You can pin the image below!
To make these simple lemon scones, simply follow the recipe below:
Ingredients
- 225g (1 ¾ cups) self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tsp baking powder (with 1 tsp extra if using plain flour)
- Generous pinch of salt
- 30g (2 tbsp) caster or granulated sugar
- Zest of ½ a lemon
- 55g (3 ½ tbsp) cold salted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1 large egg
- 5-6 tbsp milk, plus extra if needed
Instructions
- Preheat your oven – 220 C / 200 C fan / 425 F / gas mark 7 – and line a flat baking tray with some greaseproof paper.
- In a large bowl, stir together all of your dry ingredients.
- Grate in the zest of ½ a lemon, or from a whole one if you like things really lemony!
- Add the butter to the bowl, and use a table knife or pastry cutter to roughly chop the cubes into even smaller pieces inside the dry mix.
- Use your fingers to rub it into the flour until there are no little butter lumps remaining. It should look a bit like breadcrumbs.
- Stir the egg and milk together in a small bowl or jug to combine, then pour the mixture into the bowl with the other ingredients.
- Use a table knife to stir everything together into a rough dough.
- At this point you can get your hands in to help bring the dough together. Feel free to add a bit more milk or flour if needed, it should be firm, but not too sticky or too dry to work with.
- Sprinkle a little flour onto your work surface and gently flatten the dough with your hands into a thick circle. Try to work the dough AS LITTLE as possible, otherwise you may end up with flat, tough scones!
- Use a knife to cut out 6-10 triangular scones from the dough, just as if you were slicing a pizza. You can always use a round cutter for the other classic scone shape, but this way saves time and wasted dough in my experience!
- Place the cut shapes, well spaced apart, onto your prepared baking tray.
- Beat an egg yolk with some milk, and brush lightly over the surface of each scone, if you like. This will help give them a nice colour once baked.
- Bake the tray of scones for 10-13 minutes until risen, slightly golden, and firm underneath.
- Allow the scones to cool slightly before slicing in half and spreading generously with whatever you like. I love these with salted butter and strawberry jam!
- Enjoy!
BE A MAVERICK: why not add some dried fruit or desiccated coconut to the dough before baking?
These simple lemon scones will keep well in an airtight container for up to 2 days, but are best enjoyed fresh!
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I’ll take my lemon scones with a big side of Cletheroe 👌
They were great, very crumbly and delicious! Do you think they would freeze well after baking?