Scones used to be the stuff of my childhood storybooks. A lot of those books used to be by British authors and they would conjure up elaborate evening teas in the homes of gentle folk (including various Dukes and Duchesses, Earls and their Ladies, the local Squire and his wife, the Vicar in his Vicarage or perhaps the local Parish priest to mention more than a few)
Sometimes the tea time scene would be at a public tea room somewhere but they all featured little tea cakes, crumpets, thin cucumber sandwiches and scones with a pat of butter, some preserves/ jam and most definitely clotted cream! I must say that since cream was never one of my favourite things, the idea of a “clotted” cream seemed even more awful.
That aside, most of these foods were then unknown to me outside the pages of the books I used to read. They lent an almost mysteriously magical quality to the 12 or 13 year old that I was, just like those midnight feasts at boarding school and picnics with ginger beer and very exciting if somewhat highly improbable adventures that happened every school holidays!
It has been many years since I left those books behind, though I did revisit them sometime back when it was my daughter’s turn to discover those books. This time only difference was that not only could I explain to my daughter what crumpets and scones were, I could make them for her and let her decide whether she liked them or not.
My daughter likes scones very much though she and my husband prefer the sweeter ones, while I prefer the savoury ones. I have a version which I make in the microwave that’s pretty quick to put together. While those scones are quite good, these oven baked ones do not really take all that much more time to make.
I adapted these Coffeehouse Scones a bit to make mine and you can see the changes I made in the recipe that follows. My daughter loves anything butterscotch but you can always replace the butterscotch chips with chocolate chips or even leave them out all together if you prefer.
These scones are sweeter than the average scone and sprinkling a bit of sugar on top of the dough before baking produces a slightly crunchy top layer to the scones.
The way I understand it, Coffeehouse Scones seem to be more of an American version of the English scone and are typically sweeter with glazing or sugar on top and triangular in shape. Looks like they get their name from the fact that they are indeed sold in coffeehouses!
Butterscotch Chip Scones
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar (or granulated white sugar)
- 1 1/4 tsps baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 100 gm salted butter chilled , cut into pieces
- 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp milk cream or for brushing on scones
- 1 1/2 tsps sugar granulated for sprinkling on scones (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Blend the chilled butter pieces into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives, or even by pulsing in the food processor a couple of times. You can do it by hand too.
- The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Add the butterscotch chips and mix. Add the buttermilk and vanilla extract to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough. Here is an excellent post/ tutorial on how to make scones.
- Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches (18 cm) round and about 11/2 inches (3.75 cm) thick.
- Cut this circle into quarters, then cut each quarter into 2 or 3 pie-shaped wedges (triangles), whichever you prefer.
- Place the scones on a parchment (or foil) lined baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with the cream or milk and sprinkle the sugar on top of this. Stack the baking sheet with the dough on another baking sheet. This prevents the bottoms of the scones from over browning during baking.
- Bake at 200C for about 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
- Serve at teatime.
I'm Aparna and My Diverse Kitchen is my ovo-lacto vegetarian food blog where you'll find recipes, food stories & photography. I've been blogging since 2007 and believe the kitchen, and the dining table (by extension) is really the heart of a home. 
Same here when i was a young girl reading in these delicous foods in the books were like a totally different world and i used to think my god these ppl live in such a luxury etc……eating all these delicous exotice food.Never made scones at home as hubby dear is not that wild unless if it is the real traditional on which he can slab cream and marmalade ones which i am not that wild for.This looks beautifuL.
15th October, seems like it was only yesterday that you announced this!I’ve had clotted cream and scones – the cream was okay, the scones were a little better, but pretty standard stuff.
Lovely click and a tempting scone…Liked the texture of this scone.
Butterscotch chip? *groan* that sounds too good!
Love the sound of these! Scones are always lovely, but butterscotch ones sound divine!
The recipes in Joy of Baking definitely turn out very good. The scone looks very good Aparna. I too love scones, but have not baked it.
Have never baked scones before. They are perfect for a tea party.
These look perfect for tea. Now I’m really beginning to wish this wasn’t a virtual tea party! 🙂
Love them. They’re beautiful. Butterscotch…mmmmmmmmm, YUM!Almost made scones for the mingle. Good that I made swirls…just trying to put the post together! xoxo
See now, I don’t think I’ve seen butterscotch chips here before- you have the upper hand! These look so delicious, Aparna 🙂
I used to drool while reading about those decadent tea time treats but on second thoughts I don’t know if I would have enjoyed eating it as much as I enjoyed reading about it:)Butterscotch scones sound like a great idea and you know what..I am in love with your pics.Just too good!!!
even i used to drool whenever i used to read fairy tale books or enid blyton series during my childhood,..scones look yum.////
Yum, I do love scones!These look very tasty and family friendly.
I was curious about the coffeehouse scone when I saw you tweet about it. Now we know! :)I’ve never made scones yet – a whole lot of other things keep getting pushed above scone on my to-bake list. But I really, really must.
Lovely idea of making a butterscotch version! It would really be a gorgeous flavour 🙂
Yeah… all those enid blyton books that I used to read as a kid would make me crave for these treats. Your post is really good… i will now dare try the scones one more time thanks to the tips you have provided.
Sounds just like a wonderful scone version… love butterscotch. Too bad they don’t sell butterscotchips (or most other flavors ) here in Holland.
I still read those books and they do indeed make me dream of scones. I love that you can now make them for your daughter as she reads. These look wonderful!
I am pretty much on savory side, butterscotchips was such an unsual flavor!
ooh… yummmy… I love scones – sweet ,savory.. anything in between… doesn’t matter.. give them to me :)yours looks lovely… love the picture 🙂
Ahh,I was planning scones for MM TG i did not make it.These look beautiful.I remember sending you jam filled scones for BBD#14.The scones look great Aparna.Lenghty post with useful info
Hey, clotted cream is just one step away from cheese, and is delicious with jam on scones. These sound very yum.