Traditional Irish Scones Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between English and Irish scones? ›

While quite similar, what distinguishes Irish scones from English scones is that they typically contain a bit less sugar. They're also made with less leavener, so they're slightly flatter and smaller. It's important to note that no two Irish families make their scones the same way.

British scones are usually lightly sweetned and contain fruit like currants or berries. Scottish scones are often closer to a biscuit and are made with buttermilk, though some Scottish grandmothers will swear you should only use sour milk.

Southerners made their scones with easily available buttermilk, lard, and low-protein soft wheat. This yielded a lighter, fluffier bread that became known as a biscuit. Northerners used a harder wheat to make their version along with heavy cream, eggs, and sugar to create what is now referred to as a scone.

Clotted cream is technically illegal in America, as it is made with unpasteurized milk, and the FDA banned milk products that haven't been pasteurized in America in 1987. When milk is unpasteurized, it means the milk is raw and hasn't been processed to remove bacteria.

According to the survey, afternoon teas in Scotland and Ulster would include scones as in “gone” while folks further south in England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland would be ordering scones in “bone”.

Biscuits and scones have the same British ancestor, but the early Southern colonists' version included butter, lard, buttermilk, and soft wheat, plentiful in the South. Over time, this fluffy and layered bread evolved into a regional commodity: the Southern biscuit.

A Biscuit (U.S.) Is a Scone (U.K.)

Both baked goodies use flour, fat, liquid and a leavening agent. The main differences are that scones tend to have less butter (because you'll add butter to it when you eating it — or else, clotted cream or jam) while American biscuits tend to have more butter and light layers.

In Devon, the scones are split in two and topped with cream followed by jam. In Cornwall, the split scones are topped with jam and then cream. While it doesn't necessarily affect the flavor of the cream tea, it's simply the order of the ingredients that are different.

Sweet scones and cheese scones have an egg added to enrich them. Both will rise but whatever scone you make its important that they are handled lightly and not rolled too thinly. If you haven't seen it, we show them being made in the cookery school.

What is an American biscuit called in England? ›

What is an American biscuit in the UK? The last piece of the puzzle, an American biscuit is a crumbly leavened quick bread similar to what we call a scone in the UK.

"The ingredients for British scones and the American biscuit are very similar," says Holly Snyder, senior culinary product developer at Amazon Fresh. "The proportions of those ingredients are the key difference; scones usually have less butter and more liquid than American biscuits."

A Biscuit (U.S.) Is a Scone (U.K.)

Both baked goodies use flour, fat, liquid and a leavening agent. The main differences are that scones tend to have less butter (because you'll add butter to it when you eating it — or else, clotted cream or jam) while American biscuits tend to have more butter and light layers.

A staple of most coffee shops, the American scone is frequently large and triangular shaped with a rustic, craggy exterior. Compared to an English scone it is more buttery and contains fruit in the center such as blueberries, raspberries and topped with a sprinkling of sugar.

"The ingredients for British scones and the American biscuit are very similar," says Holly Snyder, senior culinary product developer at Amazon Fresh. "The proportions of those ingredients are the key difference; scones usually have less butter and more liquid than American biscuits."