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Dessert

Currant Scones

A quick baked scone made with flour, butter, powdered sugar, currants, baking soda, cream of tartar, and buttermilk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Currant Scones

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Rub the butter into the flour.

  3. Add the powdered sugar, currants, baking soda, cream of tartar, and buttermilk.

  4. Mix quickly and roll out on a floured surface.

Shape and bake

  1. Divide the dough into 3 pieces and shape each into a round scone.

  2. Flatten each scone with your hand and place on a baking sheet.

  3. Brush with beaten egg or sprinkle with flour.

  4. Bake for 10 minutes.

  5. Alternatively, bake on a greased griddle.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + buttermilktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Cream + buttermilktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together674 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Flour
Provides the structure that holds the scone together as it bakes.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and acidity that reacts with the leavening to help the scones rise.
Baking soda
Reacts with the acid in buttermilk and cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the dough.
Cream of tartar
Adds acidity that works with baking soda to leaven the scones and keep them tender.
Butter
Coats flour particles when rubbed in, giving the scones a tender, crumbly texture.
Currants
Add sweetness and concentrated fruit flavour throughout the dough.

The step that matters

Mix quickly and handle the dough lightly. Once the buttermilk meets the baking soda and cream of tartar, gas forms and gluten develops with overworking. Mixing quickly and handling gently keeps the scones light and tender rather than tough and dense.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, cream, buttermilk):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, cream, buttermilk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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