Oatmeal currant scones are essentially Scottish biscuits, these chock full of buttery flavor, currants and a hint of caraway.
Oatmeal Currant Scones
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
Oatmeal currant scones are my recipe of the day with my monthly blogging group Baking Bloggers. We’ve voted on a topic for March and scones was the winner.
Classic Scottish Biscuits
Scones are a Scottish thing- usually made plain with heavy cream to add richness and flavor.
Across the pond in the United States we tend to call these biscuits. Which flummoxes our European friends because in their minds, biscuits are quite different (and we Yankees call those cookies). But the confusion stops there since “cookies” does not have another secret “across the pond” meaning.
Baking Bloggers
March 2020: Scones
- Baileys Irish Cream Almond Scones from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
- Basic Tea Time Scones from Sid’s Sea Palm Cooking
- Coconut Mango Scones from Caroline’s Cooking
- Cran-Cherry Orange Scones from Making Miracles
- Irish Cream Scones from Tara’s Multicultural Table
- Lemonade Scones from Sneha’s Recipe
- Oatmeal Currant Scones from Palatable Pastime (You are Here!)
- Orange and Cranberry Scones from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Savory Mediterranean Scones from Food Lust People Love
- Sourdough Mango Scones from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Oatmeal Currant Scones
I have to admit that most scones don’t have one of the more unusual ingredients I have added.
And What Ingredient Is That?
I have another recipe that I love, which is an Americanized version of Irish soda bread, that includes oatmeal, currants and caraway seed.
It adds a little bit to the overall flavor without being in your face. It works in the soda bread and also works out very well here.
Another Little Trick
One other thing I like to do is to use frozen sticks of butter and shred those in the food processor using the cheese grating blade. This way it can be easily worked in very cold without handling it too much.
The Result?
This will achieve a nice buttery flavor and superior texture. Try it and see! I think you’ll like it. You might also be able to grate frozen butter on a box grater, but that causes a bit more handling.
The biggest bonus is that for those who bake often and know you have to set your butter out early to soften it up, none of that is required here, so you can set right to it without advanced notice.
Which is especially good in the morning, just in time for a faster breakfast!
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Oatmeal Currant Scones
Oatmeal Currant Scones
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup dried currants
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup frozen stick butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon Bob's Red Mill sparkling sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Use a food processor fitted with a shredding blade to grate the frozen butter as you would cheddar cheese.
- Mix together the oats, flour, currants, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Separately, whisk the egg into the heavy cream; take out about two tablespoons of this wet mix and set aside.
- Pour the remainder into a center well of the dry mix and toss from underneath to blend, trying not to touch it too much, until the flour works almost completely in.
- Turn out onto a parchment lined baking sheet and pat into a disk one inch thick, touching up the sides.
- Use a chef's knife to cut the dough into wedges.
- Brush the top with the reserved egg/cream, then sprinkle with sparkling sugar.
- Bake for 25 minutes, then take out of oven, score the cut lines again with a chef's knife and separate the scones using a pie server.
- Return to oven and bake for 8-10 minutes more, until nicely browned.
Notes
What a lovely flavor combination! I have never gotten all that comfortable with caraway seeds – but this has me curious!
You had me at currants. I’d love to try your variation with the oatmeal as well.
Actually as you might have heard watching the Great British Baking Show, the judges use cookie to mean something that looks like a biscuit but is chewy or soft. The judges say biscuits should snap. I think most British people do not make that distinction and I rarely hear cookie used. Meanwhile, your oatmeal scones look satisfyingly filling and rich!
Interesting! I didn’t think they used that term at all. Thanks for the info! (And I need to spend more time watching TGBBS!
I love the trick of shredding the butter too! I’ve never been very good at cutting the butter into the flour. Love your addition of the caraway seeds too.
Oats and currants, the epitiome of a classic scone. Thanks for hosting.
I love that you grate the butter using the food processor. Great way to achieve that perfect texture! These scones sound incredible with the oats, currants, and caraway seeds.
Definitely if I have to grate the butter I’d rather do it in two seconds down the food processor chute. It grates up nicely, just like cheese.
These sure look delicious! I love the addition of currants and oatmeal in the scones!
Indeed, as a Scot I grew up with scones fairly regularly – they were one of the main sweet snack we made until my mum discovered muffins on our first visit to Canada. And adding to what Stacy says above, I’d tend to agree that while the term “cookie” wasn’t traditionally used in the UK, it would nowadays generally be associated with softer, American-style cookies like chocolate chip, but crisp ones are most definitely biscuits.
Your scones sound like they have some lovely flavors in there, look forward to trying!
Yes, when I think of biscuits in cookie form, I generally think of teething biscuits and things like rusks which are all harder and dry. It all gets confusing- like the ambiguity between terms like grilling and broiling, i.e, getting it straight whether it is meant to be cooked over a grate or under a salamander.
I love your shredded butter technique…I may have to try that and see if it makes a difference. I’m always making biscuits or scones…so it would be nice to know how it works for me.