CHELSEA SCONES for EASTER (versatile).....

"Easter is the one morning in all of history where the dawn came twice; once on the eastern horizon and again in Eternity.." - Craig D. Lounsbrough

Every Easter it was a pan of Hot cross buns, with sticky icing crosses slathered over top of  candied peel, raisin buns. I used to lick off the frosting, pick out the peel and dispose of the bread to the birds outside.......These Chelsea Scones are way different. Made of tender dough, which can be rolled with anything you wish: make as  the recipe for something sweet,  or with cheese, ham, mushrooms, etc. Versatile...never fail scones. My mother/grandmother's recipe from the 1930's

MAKE the SCONE BATTER first: 2 cups  flour

½ cup sugar, 1 tbsp baking powder, Pinch salt, ½ cup cold butter or margarine

1 egg, 2/3 cup milk ( I use Oat Milk instead, sometimes) and a splash more to make a soft dough. If your dough is stiff, the scones will be tough.

1. Prepare a 13x9 pan with veggie sprayed foil. Preheat oven to 450 F. Mix all dry ingredients together. Plop butter or margarine into this, blend with pastry cutter.

3.Dump egg into milk/cream/ oat milk or regular milk, and beat till blended.

4.Make a well in centre of mixture, pour liquid into this well. 

5. Combine with dry ingredients. Do NOT knead. The mixture should resemble pastry. Takes about 20 seconds. Work quickly, as if it were pastry.

The margarine/ butter should be incorporated loosely, as if it were puff pastry.  

6. Drop onto floured silpat liner/clean counter and  pat out in a weird shaped rectangle. 

Don't worry if it looks unfinished. Don't roll with rolling pin or it gets overworked.( Less is more!)

7. Melt a 1/3 cup marg or butter, spread some of it over the scone dough. Sprinkle with fillings of YOUR choice:

Here I used a cup or raisins, handful of br sugar. You can add a smidge of cinnamon, or be creative and use cooked mushrooms, ham, cheese, whatever you wish. But nothing runny, or it adds too much moisture.

8. Roll up like jelly roll.

9. Tuck in the long and short ends, and pat down slightly.

10. Slice into 12 segments with a large, sharp knife . 

11. Place into prepared pan, brush with remaining melted marg/butter, sprinkle br. sugar over top if doing sweet version, or cheese if doing savoury version. or leave plain after brushing with marg.

12. Bake at 450 f for about 12 minutes. Add 10 minutes to bring to a nice brown on surface. Add 5 more minutes if needed. If you just shove the pan in the oven for 20 minutes the tops might be too brown. 

Let sit on a cooling rack or board. Pull apart and serve. The scone recipe, alone,  is also good molded into a ring, like round bread, cut into wedges, then baked, or cut into rounds or wedges, and baked in 450 F for about 16 minutes... 

“On Easter Day, the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer.” —Douglas Horton

Photographs 2025