Baking Beginners Simple Scone Recipe Perfect For Afternoon Tea

Looking to make delicious scones for your afternoon tea party but aren’t a baker? This is by far the easiest beginner scone recipe you will ever find and you don’t need any fancy baking equipment. There’s no way you can mess it up (well unless you forget a key ingredient… but that’s it!).

Let’s just say, I can’t bake – like I can’t even crack an egg. So when I say that anyone can make this easy afternoon tea scone recipe, I mean ANYONE! This simple scone recipe isn’t only easy but it was makes quite possibly the worlds best scones. Trust me. They’re always a fan favourite whenever I make them (especially when I host afternoon tea parties).

Plus, what’s also great about these afternoon tea scones is how adaptable the recipe is. This recipe is for plain scones but you can add anything you want to them. I’ve made raspberry scones and lemon poppy seed scones as well (I share those variations at the end of the post!).

Ready to bake some delicious afternoon tea scones!?

Psst! This blog post contains affiliate links in it which sends me a bit of extra money if you use them… at no extra cost to you!

Shoutout To The Original Recipe

I found a lemon poppy seed scone recipe few years ago from the wonderful blogger Beth over at Budget Bytes which inspired my own version of afternoon tea scones. You should definitely check her out.

This is my updated recipe with some tricks and tips to make the worlds best scones. As I mentioned this recipe is for plain scones but I’ve also made them with raspberries and you can also make lemon poppy seed scones instead.

The Perfect Recipe For…

Loving tea as much as I do, I like throwing afternoon tea parties. And the best thing to go with tea at your parties are undeniably, scones. This way you can dress them up with tea party classics like clotted cream and lemon curd or jam.So I decided to try to make them myself.

This recipe changed my life. I use it for everything, not just afternoon tea. Whenever I’m invited to any party I bring these for dessert and they’re always a party favourite. Even if it’s a last minute invite, they don’t take that long to make. So I can easily whip up a batch in 30 minutes. And yes, I make sure to keep all the ingredients on hand – at all times.

The only problem is that people now think I’m this incredible baker – but really I just found a great recipe.

Beginner Scone Recipe – If I Can Make Them So Can You!

I’m not a good chef, but I’m an even worse baker. It’s mainly because I’m in my 20s and still can’t manage to crack an egg. A shell always mysteriously finds its way into my batter.

But besides cracking eggs, I can’t even make Betty Crocker mixes. I always mess one thing up. Baking and I just don’t seem to get along. It’s all about proper measurements and whisking talents – that I just don’t have.

So now you understand why I’m saying anyone can make this recipe. If I can make it and people think I’m an incredible baker, so can you.

This recipe only has 5 ingredients, (none of which are eggs)! You don’t have to cut anything or whisk. So there’s very little to mess up. 

And if you can mess something up, chances are I’ve already done it. So I’ll take you step by step through the recipe, and I’ll also tell you what NOT to do.

So now you don’t have to make the same mistakes I did.

Simple Scone Recipe

Recipe makes 18 two-bite scones. People can easily eat 2 but usually find people will sneak 3-4. I’ve finished a whole batch between 4 people.

Total time from start to finish is about 45 minutes. That includes measuring out your ingredients and waiting for them to cool so that the icing doesn’t melt off.

Ingredients List For Plain Scones

• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (35% is the heavy whipping cream, you can buy the small cartons and use all of it)
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar, divided (you’re going to split it up into 1/4 cup for the scones and the rest 1/2 cup for the icing)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• Optional for icing: 1 fresh lemon and some frozen raspberries

Kitchen Essentials – What I Used For This Recipe

Quick Scone Recipe

1. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Pour the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl (1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/4 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup powdered sugar).
3. Mix dry ingredients and slowly add heavy cream.
4. Once mixed, separate dough into three equal sized balls. Squish them to 1 inch thickness.
5. Cut diagonally across the circles to get 6 triangles
6. Bake for 15 minutes – until golden brown.
7. Optional pink drizzle: While baking, make your glaze: defrost 4 frozen raspberries, strain out the liquid. Combine 1/2 tbsp raspberry liquid with 1/2 tbsp lemon juice, and 1/2 cup icing sugar. Mix well. You’ll want to read my tips for how I make this.
8. Let scones cool for 5 minutes before adding the glaze.
9. Enjoy!

Easy Afternoon Tea Scone Recipe – Explained!

This is where I go into all my tips and tricks for this beginner scone recipe. If you aren’t used to baking, you’ll probably make some of the mistakes I did when I first made this simple scone recipe.

So, to avoid that and save you some time, here’s the plain scone recipe simply laid out with how to properly make them!

Step 1 – Prepping

To start, preheat the oven to 400 degrees right away. Measure out all the ingredients that you’ll need. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet – I’ve tried both parchment and tinfoil for this recipe.

I find I like the bottom of the scones are better when I use parchment paper and I don’t have any issues with them sticking to the paper. Tinfoil works just as well, but I did find the bottoms ended up darker when I used it.

Step 2 – Add The Ingredients

Pour all the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl (1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/4 cups flour, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1/4 cup powdered sugar).

Step 3 – Slowly Adding The Heavy Cream

Mix the dry ingredients (well) then gradually pour in the heavy cream. I like to mix with a wooden spoon, the first time I tried to use a whisk – that didn’t work out so well.

Don’t have a wooden spoon? Easily order one on Amazon (shop in Canada).

Step 4 – Creating Dough Balls

Make sure all the cream is soaked up and you have a sticky dough. Then you’re going to split up the batter into 3 balls.

Squish the three balls with the palm of your hands on a lightly floured surface until they’re about an inch thick circles.

Step 5 – Cut It Into Triangles

Cut diagonally across so that each circle gives you 6 triangles and place those on the baking sheet.

Step 6 – It’s Baking Time!

Place the scones into the oven and set a timer for 15 minutes. Check them often towards the end, you’ll want to take them out when they’re golden brown on top.

Step 7 – Making The Glaze

While you’re waiting for your delicious afternoon tea scones to bake, it’s time to prepare the delicious glaze (if you want a glaze). I made a pink raspberry lemon glaze, but you can also simply make a lemon glaze if you’d prefer.

Defrost 4 frozen raspberries in a small bowl. You’re going to want to strain all the liquid from these until you have 1/2 tbsp. In a small bowl add the remainder of the icing sugar (1/2 cup) with 1/2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice and the 1/2 tbsp of raspberry juice you just made. If you’re making just a lemon glaze, add 1 tbsp of lemon juice instead.

Mix it together until it’s a nice paste (I use a regular metal spoon for this). When it’s all nice and pasty use the spoon to put it into a Ziploc bag.

Tips For Making The Glaze…

The glaze was one of the hardest things to make as part of this simple scone recipe. I tried a few things that didn’t seem to work out.

I tried using store bought lemon juice for the icing once, but I found it just didn’t taste the same.

I also didn’t feel like measuring a few times when I made these simple scones and I tried to eyeballing the measurement. Don’t do this. This measurement to make the glaze is a science. It won’t become a paste if you have even a bit too much juice. If you do find it’s too liquidy, add more icing sugar and it should thicken up. 

Step 8 – Time To Glaze Your Scones

Before jumping into glazing your scones as soon as they come out try to wait at least 5 minutes for them to cool. I would also take them off the baking sheet onto a cooling rack to speed up the cooling process.

Then when you’re ready to glaze away you’re going to cut a tiny hole in the corner of your Ziploc bag and drizzle it on top of your scones! This is a messy process, so you’ll want to either put them back on the baking try when you drizzle, or make sure there’s something underneath your cooling rack to catch the excess icing.

Step 9 – Enjoy!

Enjoy and rake in all the praise you’re going to get for these wonders!

Simple Scone Recipe Variations

Make Your Scones Vegan

It can also easily be made vegan because there aren’t any eggs in it. You’ll just have to switch out the heavy cream – see these substitutes for it. Just need to make sure it has a high-fat content.

It’s A Boy! – Blueberry Icing

I made pink drizzle using raspberries which made them the perfect dessert to bring over to a baby shower when the parents were expecting a baby girl. But, you can also make the icing blue with a few tweaks to the recipe.

Instead of raspberries, simple add frozen blueberries instead. Everything else is the same!

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones – Tips!

As I may have mentioned, the original recipe from Budget Bytes was to make lemon poppy seed scones. They are just as delicious!

You’ll need a lemon to use the juice and the zest (I just use as much as I want – the more lemon the better in my mind!). And add 2 tsp of poppy seeds into the dough.

I like to zest the whole lemon but the OG recipes only calls for 1 tsp. I also find the zest clunks together, so I would zest directly into the bowl after all the dry ingredients are in. If they’re at the bottom I find they stick to the bottom.

Also, don’t forget to wash the lemon before zesting!

More From Afternoon Tea Reads

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Last update on 2024-05-11 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API