Scones are a type of quick bread deeply connected to Scotland, England and Ireland. They’re usually made with such ingredients as wheat flour, baking powder, sugar, etc. The shape of a scone is traditionally triangular; however, rounds, squares and diamonds are also common. In the past, they were made on baking stones, but today they’re baked in ovens using a scone pan. Scones are mostly eaten for breakfast and brunch, but they’re also associated with English afternoon tea. Scones are also a major component of both cream tea and Devonshire tea.

Where exactly scones came into existence is not quite clear, although most of the evidence points toward Scotland. The first known printed reference to a scone was made by a Scottish poet in 1513, and many believe the word “scone” to be a derivative of the term “Stone of Destiny,” a stone upon which Scottish kings sat during their coronations. However, other scone-theories do exist, including one which claims the word “scone” is derived from the Gaelic “sgoon” (rhymes with gone), which apparently means “shapeless mass” or “large mouthful”. Other possibilities include the Dutch “schoonbrot,” meaning “fine white bread,” and the German word for “fine or beautiful bread,” “sconbrot.” In any case, it’s clear that scones have been around for quite some time.

Centuries ago, scones were made using oats and shaped into a large, flat, cake-like round before being baked over an open-fire. Today, some might call these cake-like rounds bannocks, and in Scotland the words “bannock” and “scone” are often interchangeable. After baking, the scones, or bannocks, were cut into four or six triangular slices in order to be served. Today, people make scones with wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, milk and eggs. Another obvious difference is the use of a scone pan and a modern-day oven to bake the scones. Also, as mentioned above, scones are now cut into various shapes, such as rounds, squares and diamonds.

Scone mix is also now widely available, some of which is prepared by hand in small batches using quality ingredients. Scone mix makes preparing scones extremely easy, and it’s available in a variety of flavors, such as Chocolate Chip, Cranberry, Raspberry, Orange, Blueberry and Cinnamon. In most cases, one simply needs to add water or milk to the scone mix, place it inside a scone pan, and then bake. The English Tea Store has a great selection of ready-made scones mixes by Ivy Cottage, one of England’s premier manufacturers, available online.

Clotted cream, it should also be noted, goes great with scones. Clotted cream originated in Southwest England, in the counties of Cornwall and Devonshire. It’s made by cooking the milk of cows known for producing high-fat milk, such as Jersey Cows, and then skimming the cream off the top. Together, scones and clotted cream play an important part in something known as cream tea, which is simply tea that’s taken with, well, scones and clotted cream! Cream tea is extremely popular and is offered in tea rooms all over Europe as an afternoon snack.