Last Updated August 9, 2024

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Scones come in all different shapes and sizes.  Whether they're flat or fluffy, dry or moist, sweet or savory, round, square, or triangular.  I've never had the honor to eat a real British or Scottish scone, but I have a few favorite recipes that I only hope the real thing could live up to.  

This particular recipe is not too sweet, with only a 1/4 cup sugar aside from the glaze, and lovely with a cup of tea or coffee, although drinking liquids with them isn’t necessary because they are moist enough by themselves.  I always think bright citrus flavors are marvelous in scones, but you can never go wrong with coconut.

If you’re familiar with making biscuits, this recipe is very similar to a biscuit recipe. In fact, you may be wondering what the difference is between a biscuit and a scone. The main differences that I’ve understood, is that scones are a bit drier than biscuits, and biscuits have more acidity and are considered “flaky” where scones might be more described as “crumbly.” This also appears to be much debated, with everyone having their own opinion. I, for one, want my scones to be just as moist and flaky/crumbly as my biscuits. Plus, biscuits are usually just buttery, maybe flavored with some cheese or herbs, or with a touch of sugar to be served as stawberry shortcakes. Scones? So many flavors!

Recipe adapted from Food Network.

Coconut Scones

Makes about 20

Ingredients:

For the Scones

• 4 1/4 cups / 510g all-purpose flour

• 2 Tbsp / 30g baking powder

• 1 tsp / 5g salt

• 1/4 cup / 50g sugar, plus more for sprinkling

• 2 cups / 160g shredded unsweetened coconut

• 1 1/2 cups / 339g butter, cubed, or 1 1/4 cups / 277g oil

• 1 cup / 237g unsweetened coconut milk

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 tsp / 5g coconut extract

• 2 cups / 250g pecans, finely chopped, plus more for sprinkling, optional

For the Glaze

• 1 cup / 125g powdered sugar

• 2-3 Tbsp / 30-45g unsweetened coconut milk

• 1/4 tsp / 1g coconut extract

• 1/4 tsp / 1g vanilla extract

Directions:

Oven 400°F / 205°C.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Make the Scones

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and coconut.  Add the butter or oil, and beat until mixture is coarse and crumbly.  

2. In another bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and coconut extract.  Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.  Do not over mix.  Gently stir in pecans.  

3. Scoop dough onto prepared baking pans into approximately 3 in / 7cm mounds, leaving enough space between scones so that they can brown evenly, about 2 in / 5cm.  Sprinkle with extra sugar and pecans, if desired.   

4. Bake for 13-16 minutes, until starting to turn golden and the center no longer feels doughy to the touch.  

Make the Glaze

1. In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar, extracts, and 2 tablespoons of milk.  Add more milk to get a drizzling consistency, if needed.  

2. Drizzle over scones while they are still warm.  

Jenny's Notes:

• When you first add the liquid into the flour mixture, you may notice the dough seems too wet/soupy. Let it sit just for a minute or two (great time to prepare your pans), and it will magically thicken. My biscuit recipe is like this too. I always think it’s too wet when I first stop mixing, but then it ends up being fine.

• You might notice I don't always give the weight for measurements less than 1 tsp and never for eggs.  Unless a recipe needs to be very exact (such as plenty of French classics), I find eggs don't need to be weighed.  A little less or extra egg in a recipe like this one is not going to make a world of difference, and the 1/4 of an egg you had to remove to get an exact weight would probably go to waste.  That’s a shame, so I always round the egg measurements or weight to the nearest whole egg.  As far as the teaspoon measurements, I find scales tend to be less precise than an actual teaspoon, unless you have one of those smaller and more precise (to the nearest .001g) scales.

• Some family members of mine don't appreciate nuts in their baked goods, so I omit the nuts in the batter and sprinkle some on half of the scones.  

• An ice cream/cupcake scoop works great to transfer the dough onto the baking sheets.  

• Don't have coconut milk?  Use any kind of milk you have on hand!