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Dessert

Currant Scone

A scone made with Graham flour, white flour, sweet currants, and cream, baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,481 recipes. Both carry acetaldehyde, which smells pungent, ethereal. The science ↓

Currant Scone

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the dough

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, stir together the Graham flour and white flour.

  3. Add the baking soda and cream of tartar, and sift the mixture two or three times.

  4. Stir in the currants and wet the mixture with cream to form a stiff dough.

  5. Knead the dough as little as possible until it holds together.

  6. Roll the dough to a thickness of ½ to ¾ inch, ensuring no dry flour remains.

Bake and serve

  1. Prick the dough deeply with a fork or draw shallow lines across the top with a knife.

  2. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until nicely browned on top and bottom.

  3. Let cool, then cut into pieces and serve as a dessert.

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. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  2. Flour + curranttop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,077 recipes
  3. Cream + curranttop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,829 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Graham flour
Gives the scone a coarse, nutty texture and a hearty body.
White flour
Provides the gluten structure that holds the scone together.
Cream
Adds fat and moisture, making a tender crumb in the stiff dough.
Baking soda
Reacts with the cream of tartar to release gas, helping the scone rise.
Cream of tartar
Acts with the baking soda to produce lift and a lighter texture.
Currants
Add sweetness and small pockets of fruity flavor throughout the dough.

The step that matters

Knead the dough as little as possible. Overworking develops too much gluten, making the scone tough and dense rather than tender and light.

Swap the currant

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, cream. 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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