Victoria Scones are traditional English treats that are crumbly and flaky on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside. These scones are like biscuits but richer in texture.
If you’re tired of your regular tea-time snacks, perhaps it’s time to try these Victoria Scones with your tea! This is an original recipe from a Be-Ro recipe book.
Love scones recipes, check also Sultana Scones and Pumpkin Scones.
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What Are Victoria Scones?
Victoria Scones are beautiful golden-brown delicacies originating from the United Kingdom. The classic dish looks like a fluffy biscuit adorned with four glace cherries placed symmetrically on top.
They’re prepped with roughly the same ingredients used in biscuits and even baked like one. However, the quantity of ingredients is different, resulting in the flaky and deeply textured good that comes out of the oven.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- A delicious afternoon teatime treat.
- Besides the fact that they bring versatility to your tea time, they’re super easy to make. And with the glace cherries on top, kids can’t resist them either!
- Perfect for breakfast with a cup of Chocolate Milk Tea, Iced White Chocolate Mocha or Chocolate Bubble Tea.
- The recipe is easy to make and calls for simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- All purpose flour: This is what makes the scones extra fluffy.
- Baking Powder: Found the baking aisle of the grocery store.
- Salt: Whatever you have at home should work. We will use Just a pinch of salt.
- Caster Sugar: Finer than granulated sugar but coarser than powdered sugar.
- Butter: Preferably unsalted.
- Whole Milk: Whatever you have at home.
- Egg: To make the scones extra moist and soft.
- Glace Cherries: Also called candied cherries.
“See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.”
Variations & Substitutions
You can customize your scones with ingredient variations of your choice. Here are some of our suggestions:
- Add vanilla essence or extract for some enhanced flavour.
- Instead, or in addition to the glace cherries, add dry fruits of your choice. We recommend walnuts, raisins, cashews, currants or sultanas.
- If you’re a chocolate fan, you can add chocolate chips of your choice to the scone mix before kneading.
- Although this recipe calls for All-purpose flour, use any flour of your choice, such as gluten-free flour, self-raising flour or whole-wheat. However, the texture and lightness of the scones will differ from flour to flour.
How To Make Victoria Scones?
One: Making Victoria scones is a reasonably easy task. Before you begin, though, don’t forget to preheat the oven. Preheat the oven to 200°C / 392°F and also line a large baking sheet with parchment pepper or grease with butter.
Two: Then take out a large mixing bowl. It should be large enough to fit all the ingredients. In this bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt. After which, you’re going to mix in the sugar as well (photo 1 & 2).
Three: Add in the cold butter. You want to rub it in the flour mixture with the tips of your finger. The consistency of this mixture should look like that of moist sand by now (photo 3 & 4).
Four: Add the milk and the beaten egg. Mix the milk and beaten egg well until it is well combined within the dough. The final dough should be soft, slightly sticky to the touch (photo 5 & 6).
Five: Now, knead the dough by folding the dough upon itself and using your palms and fists to press it all together. Keep kneading the dough until it is no longer sticky.
Six: Once the scone dough is no longer sticky, divide it into four equal quarters. Now roll each quarter into a nice round ball and then place them onto the baking sheet (photo 7 & 8).
Seven: Make sure to leave a large space in between them, for they will rise and spread a little while they’re baking. Once placed, using your hands, gently flatten them. Just a little, don’t put too much pressure.
Eight: Now, using a sharp knife, score a neat cross on top of each of the scones. Lastly, brush the tops of the cones with a beaten egg and place half a glace cherry between the lines of the scones that you just scored. 4 half cherries should fit nicely between the cross that you scored.
Nine: Bake until they are nice and golden brown. This should take about 12 to 15 minutes tops. However, you know you’re oven best. That’s it! Once out of the oven, you’re Victorian Scones are ready to be devoured.
Top Tips
- Although it is necessary to knead the dough until it is no longer sticky, it’s important not to overdo it. Remember, scones are meant to be crumbly and flaking. So, the lesser you knead the dough, the lesser the gluten will tighten. In summary, stop right after you think the dough is merged in itself well enough.
- We often tend to add extra flour on the counter where we’re kneading the dough. Which helps in preventing the dough from sticking to the surface, but it also adds to the weight of the scones. Keep this flour to a minimum if you want light and fluffy scones.
- Unlike many recipes where you’re advised to start with all ingredients at room temperature, this one is different. It is important that you add very cold butter into the mixing bowl while preparing the dough. If you add warm butter, the batter will be very wet. We want the butter to warm up in the oven and create light scones instead.
- For well-rising scones that look even from all sides, make sure that you sieve the flour with the baking powder and salt well.
How To Serve
Though scones are traditionally served with a hot cup of tea or coffee, there are plenty of ways to relish them. Here are some we recommend:
Up for dessert? Lather your scones in some fresh cream and jam, and enjoy your fruity-sweet treat.
Fan of fresh fruit? Top your Victoria Scones with blueberries, strawberries or any berries of your choice and a drizzle of maple syrup.
In for a summer treat? Then top your scones with a scoop of your favourite ice cream like Red Bean Ice Cream, Melon Ice Cream or Black Raspberry Ice Cream. You can also top them with chocolate chips or sprinkles of your choice.
Recipe FAQs
Victoria scones are best consumed the day they are made. This way, you can relish their fresh, flaky goodness. However, if you do have some leftovers, they are best stored in an air-tight container at room temperature for at most 2-3 days.
If you’d like to store it longer than two days, then it’s best to plop the container in the freezer. In the freezer, the scones can last three months. To reheat them, just place them in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes at 160°C/ 320°F.
Victorian scones, just as the name implies, are more rich and dense. The quantities of ingredients are different from that of biscuits and regular scones. They use more butter and also egg.
There is evidence of the word “scone” originating from more than one language. The first one is Dutch, where “schoonbrot” means fine white bread. The second is German, where “sconbrot” means fine, beautiful white bread. Either way, it is rightfully termed, as the texture and light density of the scones is art in itself!
Fluffy Scones Recipes
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Recipe Card
Easy Victoria Scones
Ingredients
- 250 g All-purpose flour
- Pinch of Salt
- 2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 50 g Caster Sugar
- 70 g Butter , cold
- 1 large Egg , beaten
- 100 ml Milk
- 8 Glace Cherries , cut into halves
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C / 392°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment pepper or grease with butter.
- In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt, mix in the sugar.250 g All-purpose flour, Pinch of Salt, 2 teaspoon Baking Powder, 50 g Caster Sugar
- Add in the cold butter and rub it in the flour mixture with the tips of your fingers until sandy consistency forms.70 g Butter
- Add in the milk and the beaten egg, mix well until combined and a soft, sticky dough forms.1 large Egg, 100 ml Milk
- Gently knead the dough until no longer sticky, then divide it into 4 quarters.
- Roll each quarter into a ball, put them on the baking sheet, leaving a little space between each one, and gently flatten them.
- Let your scones rest for 5-10 minutes and then, with a sharp knife, score a cross onto the top of each scone.
- Brush the tops with beaten egg, then add half a glace cherry into each part of your scored scones.8 Glace Cherries
- Bake in the preheated oven for 14-15 minutes or until golden.
Notes
- Although it is necessary to knead the dough until it is no longer sticky, it’s important not to overdo it. Remember, scones are meant to be crumbly and flaking. So, the lesser you knead the dough, the lesser the gluten will tighten. In summary, stop right after you think the dough is merged in itself well enough.
- We often tend to add extra flour on the counter where we’re kneading the dough. Which helps in preventing the dough from sticking to the surface, but it also adds to the weight of the scones. Keep this flour to a minimum if you want light and fluffy scones.
- Unlike many recipes where you’re advised to start with all ingredients at room temperature, this one is different. It is important that you add very cold butter into the mixing bowl while preparing the dough. If you add warm butter, the batter will be very wet. We want the butter to warm up in the oven and create light scones instead.
- For well-rising scones that look even from all sides, make sure that you sieve the flour with the baking powder and salt well.
Elizabeth
This is exactly like my Grandmother's famous recipe, and I love it so much.
Nancy
I inherited the Bero cookbook from my Great Grandmother and used it often to make many recipes.
Jana
Me too; I made this bero scone recipe so many times.
Caroline
I love Bero's recipes!
Monira
Delicious and easy to make!