Last Updated on January 31, 2019 by Fiona Maclean
It’s a long time since I tried making scones. I can remember making batches of the things when I was in my teens because my mum, as doctor’s wife in a small town, was ‘volunteered’ to cater for the local tennis tournament each year (apparently the doctor’s wife ALWAYS did the catering!). It sounds trivial but the event ran for two weeks in July or August and was a qualifying tournament for Junior Wimbledon. Since we lived by the sea, it was always busy…and we provided lunch and tea for around a hundred hungry tennis players and their families a day during that period. Mum relied on donations of cakes and home-made biscuits (cakes you could buy from the shops at that time were really quite inedible), and when the donations started to run out, I would be sent home to make flapjack, victoria sponge or scones.
I know where her recipe came from – the New World Radiation Cookery book, published in 1954. The page for scones is beautifully stained from my attempts to cook the things. It’s a ‘no-frills’ recipe, but it DOES rely on cream of tartar as one of the rising agents – something I didn’t find in Delia or even in the WI jubilee cookbook (another of my mum’s old recipe books).
Here’s the ingredient list
1/2lb flour
1 level teaspoonful cream of tartar
½ level teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
½ level teaspoonful salt
1-2oz butter margarine or lard
¼ pint milk
As you can see, it’s very basic – no fancy sugar or egg, no buttermilk – apart from the cream of tartar, absolutely nothing you wouldn’t have in your store cupboard or fridge anyway. I remember mum using these as the base for savoury canapés as well as offering them to us with jam and (if we were lucky) a dollop of cream. I don’t think she ever varied the basic mix. But, in my quest to see if there were other recipes around, I’d found a lot of votes for yoghurt scones. And, I just happen to have a lot of yoghurt in the fridge at the moment…
So, here are my lemon yoghurt scones in a printable format.
A traditional scone recipe perked up with tangy lemon and yoghurt
- 1/2 lb flour
- 1 level teaspoonful cream of tartar
- ½ level teaspoonful bicarbonate of soda
- ½ level teaspoonful salt
- 2 oz butter
- A scant ¼ pint plain yoghurt
- One tablespoonful of caster sugar
- 1 egg
- Zest of one lemon
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Preheat the oven to 220c
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Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, bicarb and salt. It’s important to do this because otherwise the raising agents won’t necessarily get fully mixed in with the flour – I think that’s why sometimes you bite into a scone and get a bitter taste.
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Cut the butter into the flour mix and then rub in lightly.
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Mix the lemon zest with the sugar and then stir through the flour mix
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Beat the egg lightly and mix into the yoghurt, before adding most of it to the flour mix. Save a little to use to glaze the scones.
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Mix into a very soft dough and turn out onto a well-floured board. Either press out with your fingers or roll out gently to about ½ inch thick.
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Use a 2 – 2 ½ inch cutter to cut out your scones, place on a well greased baking tray and brush the tops with the remaining egg/yoghurt mix
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If you like you can sprinkle a little caster sugar on top
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Bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden
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Serve warm, split with a little butter and jam.
These were a lot lighter than I remember and there was a definite tang of yoghurt and citrus. And, worth the (very small) effort! Who knows, I might even try them again;). But, that depends on whether I carry on trying to learn how to bake!
I love this cookery book I have 1935 edition whichever belonged to my grandmother. Ihave recently bought the same 1935 edition off Amazon
My favourite is the Christmas cake
A delicious and easy recipe for scones!
Considering you’re not much of a baker, these look very good indeed! I love making lemon yoghurt cake so I know I will love the flavour of these scones. Thanks for sharing this idea 🙂 x
aww thanks! I will have to go find a lemon yoghurt cake recipe now;)
Lovely recipe – a keeper for sure. Thanks for sharing.
thank you!!! I am feeling quite encouraged!
I love the sound of these scones and they look so soft and delicious. Have not yet ventured into baking scones – must give it a go soon. Love your blog x
Thanks Jaime, I am not really a ‘baker’ so I am kinda proud that my scones worked! I love your blog too!:)
These look great, forgotten how cream of tartar is a goodsubstitute for buttermilk and frugal! Down on the shopping list this week, thanks!
I will try the ‘other’ scones next time…I’m curious about taste differences. These were amazingly light and moist, not sure how much that was down to the yoghurt which I hear you can use instead of buttermilk…
These look yummy 🙂 I love the idea of the lemon and yoghurt combination, and would think the yoghurt gives them a lovely texture.
Definitely carry on baking!
Nell
thanks Nell…they are good;) I just have to find a bit more of a reason to bake!
lol Karen, I am now eating monkfish ceviche for supper to repent!
Well these look wonderful Fiona, so light and well risen. Ad you keep saying you don’t do baking! If you’ve got jam and cream, no need for anything fancier than a plain scone, but your lemon and yogurt ones sound delightful. I usually use cream of tarter if making scones too – that’s just how my mother made them, so…….!
thanks;) I really don’t bake very often…the ‘challenge’ is that everything I bake I get to eat, unless I happen to have friends over for tea (which is rare). I have to admit, I am about to use the lemon juice for something else and while I was looking at the various recipes on the web saw orange and grapefruit scones…so I thought the idea was fun. I have some damson jam and I think they will go brilliantly with that:)