2020: Year of the Scone

Last summer, my husband and I traveled to and around Scotland. I took advantage of the opportunity to try scones from a variety of establishments, including bakeries and restaurants. The hashtags #sconeoftheday & #scotishscones showed up daily in my Cupola Corner Instagram posts. It was lots of fun and a delicious activity that I highly recommend to anyone planning a trip to Scotland.

I have made scones in the past, but I've decided that this year I am going to try some different recipes, hence, The Year of the Scone.

In it's very basic form, a scone is a British baked good. The original scone was round and flat, about the size of a medium-sized plate. It was cooked on a griddle and then cut into triangle shapes for serving. When leavening agents (like baking powder) became more readily available, scones began to be oven baked. Scones are usually lightly sweetened, but can be savoury.

Scones differ from biscuits in that they are typically crumbly as opposed to flaky. Some scone recipes have eggs, whereas, biscuit recipes usually don't. British scones have less butter than their North American counterparts. That's probably because in the British Isles, you put lots of butter on top of your scone!

A basic scone recipe can be changed up by adding a variety of "extras", like dried fruits. In Scotland, as in the rest of Britain, scones can have currents in them, but mostly you will find plain scones that can be enjoyed with butter, jam, clotted cream or all three. Other variations from around the British Isles and around the world include, cheese scones, potato scones and pumpkin scones.

You can follow my Year of the Scone adventure by liking and following my Cupola Corner Facebook page. I will post photos and links to the recipes in the Year of the Scone album. Another trip to Scotland is unlikely, but I can still enjoy my scones here at home. I hope that you will join the adventure and give some of the recipes a try.

Apple Cinnamon Scone

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Perry, Dawn. “A Scone Is Not a Biscuit - Bon Appétit.” Bon Appétit, Bon Appétit, 5 May 2015, www.bonappetit.com/recipes/article/scone-is-not-a-biscuit. Accessed 1 Jan. 2020.

“The Difference Between British and American Scones: Test Cook Andrea Geary Explains.” Cook’s Illustrated, 28 Mar. 2014, www.cooksillustrated.com/features/8521-the-difference-between-british-and-american-scones-test-cook-andrea-geary-explains. 

Wikipedia Contributors. “Scone.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 26 Dec. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scone.