Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Cream Scones
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Make and shape the dough
Fill the cup used for beating with cream, then add sugar and flour.
Mix in cream of tartar and baking soda.
Roll out the dough to ½ inch thick.
Cut into rounds and bake until golden.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + flourtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Add richness and structure, helping bind the dough and give the scones body.
- Thick sweet cream
- Adds fat and moisture, making the dough tender and rich.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the main structure as its proteins form gluten with the liquid.
- Cream of tartar
- Acidifies the dough so it reacts with baking soda to help the scones rise.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in the dough to release gas, lifting the scones.
- Sifted sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the scones brown as they bake.
The step that matters
Mix in cream of tartar and baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to release carbon dioxide. Mixing these evenly into the dough, rather than leaving pockets, gives an even rise and avoids bitter or soapy patches.
“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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