Delicious British scones come in a range of flavours including plain, fruit and savoury cheese.
Whichever kind you prefer, a basic recipe is great to have nailed down that can be experimented with using other ingredients; blueberries, chives, and more.
Typically, these sweet bread-like treats are cooked in an oven, but this BBC Good Food recipe makes use of an air fryer.
The efficient appliance makes scones easy to whip up in a hurry, taking just 18 minutes to bake.
Promising “fluffy” results, the recipe makes for the perfect cream tea – just serve with jam, clotted cream and a pot of tea.
Air fryer scones recipe
Ingredients
175g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
Half tsp baking powder
50g butter, cut into small cubes
Two tbsp caster sugar
Half tsp vanilla extract
90ml buttermilk or milk
Milk, to glaze
Jam and clotted cream, to serve
Method
First, heat the air-fryer to 180C. Meanwhile, combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl with a pinch of salt, then rub in the butter with your fingertips constantly until the texture resembles breadcrumbs.
Alternatively, call upon a food processor to blitz everything at once. Simply add all of the ingredients listed above and pulse in short intervals until breadcrumbs form – take care not to overmix it.
Now fold in the sugar. Mix the vanilla with the buttermilk or milk in a separate bowl or jug, then add to the flour mixture a little at a time until you have created a soft dough.
Now dust a clean work surface with flour and tip the dough onto it. Using your hands, bring it into a ball, then flatten it slightly until the dough is around 4-5cm deep.
Take a 5cm round dough cutter, and cut out the scones (do two or three at a time before reshaping the dough).
Continue to repeat the process until all of the dough has been used up. Carefully transfer the rounds into the air-fryer basket, brush each one lightly with milk and bake for 14-18 minutes until golden and risen.
Serve the scones immediately or, wait for them to cool and keep them in an airtight container for up to three days.
