Marion’s Fabulous Scones
Tea time… afternoon tea… scones and clotted cream with clotted cream on the bottom and jam on the top… or is it jam on the bottom and clotted cream on the top?? Sweet scones, savoury scones, classic scones, wacky scones. Big scones or bite-sized scones. Whichever way you like them, scones are fast and easy to make in the Thermomix!
I was doing a bread- and baking-based Recipe Date with my lovely Scottish neighbour Marion when my “Fast and Easy Cooking” magically fell open to the scones recipe page. When Marion said to me “I’m famous for my scones” I couldn’t resist using her recipe and my Thermomix to create this superb result. Marion’s recipe in the Thermomix produces light, fluffy, beautifully risen scones that she can be proud of. I’m not at all surprised that she’s famous for them!
Marion’s Fabulous Scones – Thermomix style
Marion’s recipe calls for much less butter than other recipes I have seen, and it uses an egg for added richness. It can be adapted for sweet or savoury scones for a real afternoon tea treat. Makes 10 to 12 thick, gorgeous scones or dozens of bite-sized ones!
Ingredients
450 g self-raising flour
50 g butter
50 g sugar for sweet scones or 1/2 tsp salt for savoury scones
1 egg
250 g milk or buttermilk
Method
- Pre-heat your oven to 210° C. Weigh butter, flour and sugar OR salt into TM bowl. Turbo pulse for 2 seconds to cut the butter into the flour.
- Add egg, milk and any other ingredients and knead 20 seconds/Dough setting. Scrape sides of bowl and knead again 10 seconds/Dough setting.
When you take them out of the oven, cover your scones with kitchen roll and a tea towel to keep them moist when cooling - Turn your TM bowl upside down on a floured work surface, release the base and allow the weight of the dough to pull the blade out. Carefully remove the blade from the dough and set aside. Gently pat the dough into a thick round and use a biscuit cutter, a cup, a clean tuna tin or a glass to cut out your scones and then place them on a floured or paper-lined baking tray. (Madame Thermomix’s Top Tip: make sure you dip your cutter in flour to ensure easy cutting and releasing!)
- Bake 7 to 10 minutes at 210° C or until scones are just golden brown (FYI mine took 10 minutes). Remove the baking tray from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Cover your scones with some kitchen roll and a tea towel to keep them moist as they cool. Serve warm or cool.
Get creative
Scones are hugely versatile and suit all sorts of occasions and taste combinations. You can make them “normal” sized for a sweet or savoury afternoon tea, or make small, bite-sized scones for a cocktail party, a “café gourmand” or just a quick bite. Here are some quick thoughts:
Classic dried fruit scones:
raisins, sultanas, currants, chopped dates, dried cranberries, dried apricots
Not-so-classic dried fruit scones:
dehydrated apple, pear, peach or other fruit
Savoury scones:
Grated cheese – cheddar, Swiss, parmesan
Crumbled cheese – blue, Roquefort, goat
Herb scones – basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, etc.
Pesto scones – add up to 1 Tbsp Thermomix pesto and a bit less milk
Italian scones – chopped sundried tomatoes and oregano or herbes de provence
Seedy scones – sunflower seeds, chia seeds, linseeds, etc
Marion likes sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan – yum!
What are your favourite scone combinations?
Bon appétit !
What a shame to have thrown away good food 🙁 A good rescue method for too-wet-to-cut dough is to make drop scones or what we Americans call “biscuits” by plopping tablespoons of mix on the baking tray and popping them into the oven, perhaps for a couple of minutes longer than usual. They look like little craggy mountains and they taste just as great as cut scones.
And just as you did, Erika, I would have added 50 or 60 grams of grated cheese to the dough, so I don’t think the cheese was at fault – or you 😉 Grated cheese in general is a relatively dry ingredient and shouldn’t add much moisture to the dough. It is more likely to have been the size of your egg or the exact quantity of milk that made the difference. Here’s what I suggest you do:
I do hope you’ll make another batch of cheese scones soon and let us know how you get on, Erika !
Thanks for reading Why is There Air, Happy New Year to you, and
Happy Thermomix cooking!
Jane
Help! I used the above recipe and added 60g of grated cheese and the recipe was way too wet (added extra flour) but it was an epic disaster. Threw out whole mix as impossible to cut them for baking.
What are the exact quantities to make this into a cheese scone recipe please?
Well, Lilluz, yesterday I had tea and scones with the Fabulous Marion of Marion’s Fabulous Scones. I asked her your reader question about the scones tasting like uncooked flour in the middle, even after being put back in the oven for a bit. Without hesitation, Marion said not to forget to place a clean tea towel over your scones for a few minutes when they come out of the oven. They keep cooking this way so the flour gets done, and they also stay nice and moist. I hope this helps.
Good luck with your next batch of scones, don’t forget the tea towel, and happy Thermomix cooking!!
Hmmm… Good question, Lilluz! What savoury ingredients did you add to your mixture? Offhand, it could be that your dough was too wet, which caused the flour to cook more slowly. Perhaps your oven was too hot for your particular mixture so the outsides got cooked before the inside. Can you please tell me a little bit more? Where are you located? What was the weather like, humid or dry? Are you at a hiugh altitude? Unfortunately, all these things make a difference when baking.
I have posted your question on both of my Facebook pages and hopefully someone will have another answer for you!
https://www.facebook.com/Why-is-There-Air-137609556277263/timeline/?ref=hl
Thanks for reading Why Is There Air and I hope we come up with a good answer for your should-have-been Fabulous Scones!
Hi. These scones looked beautiful after being cooked. Sadly, they tasted like uncooked flour in the middle. I chose to do the savoury scones. I put them back in the oven for longer but still no improvement. I cut them into 14 scones. Any idea where i might have gone wrong? Thank you 🙂
Glad you liked my Thermo-adaptation of Marion’s Fabulous Scones, Petite Apple! I like the idea of adding dates to the scones. Sounds delicious!
I think you missed out the sugar in your list of ingredients; there’s a mention of 50 g with 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the right of it. Oops! How easy it is to miss things when you’re a busy lady 😉 So glad Thermomix is there to help us put a meal on the table in a hurry – and isn’t it grand to be able to whip up a batch of homemade scones in those rare spare 10 minutes?
Good luck with your move and Happy Thermomix cooking!
Thanks very much and merci beaucoup, Elizabeth. I look forward to hearing back from you!
thank you! i will let you know what size that gives…
Bonjour, Elizabeth and welcome to my *French* Thermomix world! Thanks for your question which is a good one for those of us living in France.
I actually found “farine à gâteaux avec levure incorporée” at my local Carrefour Market the other day! If you can’t find it near you, here’s what Nigella Lawson has to say:
“Just add 2 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/6oz/1 cup plain flour. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl before using, to make sure the baking powder is thoroughly distributed (or you can put both ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together).” Feb 10, 2012
Self-Raising Flour | Kitchen Queries | Nigella Lawson
http://www.nigella.com/kitchen-queries/view/Self-Raising-Flour/3056
To answer your question then, you would add 6 teaspoons (that’s 2 tablespoons) of baking powder/levure chimique for 450 g of plain flour. Let me know how many grams and how many packets that is, would you please?
Happy Thermomix cooking and thanks so much for reading Why Is There Air! If you read French, you might want to take a look at my French-language blog, http://www.saveursetsouvenirs.com. I’ve just started it so the recipes are pretty much the same. The layout is different and you might find it interesting in and of itself.
A bientôt !
hi, i live in france like yourself and wondered what you used for ‘self-raising flour’ – for example how much levure chimique did you us for 450g of flour? thanks!!
Well thank you so much, Sarah! I’ll have to tell Marion that her scones have once again been a big hit. “Little pillows of yum,” eh? What a lovely description 🙂
Thanks for reading Why Is There Air and Happy Thermomix cooking!
I made the worst scones on Sunday and after finding your recipe I have now made the best!! They are like little pillows of yum.
LOL I was able to insert a smiley face for you 😉
No problem, Tylah. I’m delighted to have been of some help. I just bought some butter today so it looks like I’m going to prepare some scones and freeze them raw myself. Sunday morning brunch with hot scones, here we come!
Not sure why its showing up as question marks hehe was supposed to be a smiley face. But thanks for a great reply! Was much help.
Thanks for a great reply ???????????? 🙂
Thanks for a great reply ????
Hi Thermo Lover, thanks for your question. I didn’t know the answer myself so I did a quick search on the internet for you.
King Arthur Flour suggests that refrigerated scone dough doesn’t rise as well. http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/simple-scones-recipe
The consensus seems to be to FREEZE the shaped or cut scone dough, take the tray out of the freezer while you preheat the oven, and then pop the tray in to bake for a few minutes longer than fresh dough. It sounds a bit extreme to freeze them just for one day, but the results are reported to be excellent.
On freezing scone dough: http://www.thekitchn.com/fresh-baked-treat-frozen-ready-to-go-scones-196817
Other make-ahead methods include mixing the dry ingredients, weighing out the wet ingredients and refrigerating them separately until just before you bake. Mix and cut the scones while your oven preheats. http://themessybaker.com/2012/12/10/2-make-ahead-options-for-buttermilk-scones/
Thanks again for your question, I learned something from it myself! I’m sure you’ll love Marion’s Fabulous Scones!
Cheers, Madame Thermomix
Hi
Im just wondering if i make the dough and cut into shape, can i then just refrigerate untill i am wanting to use it?
Im thinking of making the dough in the morning for that same night? Would i need to cook for any longer or get the dough back to room temp etc?
Well aren’t you just a star now!! Congratulations on your scones, they sound really great with the sultanas and I’m so very pleased that my friend Marion’s recipe came through for you. As Helene Meurer says in her fantastic blog http://www.superkitchenmachine.com, “Thermomix owners are passionate about their machines because regardless of the individual skill level of each user, this machine becomes an ally in the kitchen.” You are a case in point, my Thermomix friend, and you are no longer a “totally incompetent 67 year-old male” either!! Good on you and good on Thermomix for unleashing the cook within!
P.S. I think I may steal your idea and make myself some savoury parmesan & chives scones myself!
My wife bought a Thermomix about 3 weeks ago and LOVES it. I had my first (nearly solo) attempt at using it this past weekend and Marion’s recipe was my choice. I added a cup of sultanas to the mix and, “Hey presto!”, this totally incompetent 67 year-old male (I can just about boil an egg!) produced a fabulous batch of 18 fruit scones in about 30 mins.
Thank you Marion — thank you Thermomix (the dumb male’s kitchen friend!)
PS: Next time round will be savoury parmesan & chives scones……..
So sorry, Ankita! But just think – you can treat yourself in two weeks and have one of Marion’s fabulous scones 😉
Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment for us all to share. And good luck on your diet!
Oh that’s cruelty, I have just started the South Beach Diet Phase 1 yesterday for 2 weeks. They look utterly delicious.
Thanks for your comment, Nora! I just love raspberry scones, too. Thanks for sharing your favourite!
Oh I love scones! My favourites are the raspberry version. Thanks for all the fabulous tips and variation ideas!