Scone (bread)

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Scones with honey. Jam is also a favoured topping.

Scones are also commonly served with jam and clotted cream (commonly known as a cream tea).

A scone is a bread thicker than a bannock. It is made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, usually with baking powder as leavening agent. The pronunciation in the United Kingdom is open to debate. Some sections of the population pronounce it as IPA: [skɒn] (to rhyme with gone), and the rest pronounce it /skəʊn/ (to rhyme with cone).

The scone closely resembles an North American biscuit (many recipes are, in fact, identical) — itself not to be confused with the Commonwealth biscuit, which equates to what North Americans call a "cookie". In the United States, there is a growing tendency to refer to sweet variations as "scones" (perhaps under influence from espresso bars, where they are popular fare), while savoury ones are known as "biscuits"; in Canada, both tend to be called "biscuits" or "tea biscuits".

In the Commonwealth, scones frequently include raisins, currants, cheese or dates. In the United States, scones sold by coffee shops often include sweeter and more elaborate fillings, such as cranberries, blueberries, nuts, or even chocolate chips. More original fillings include smarties. However, most fillings tend to be spices, including cinnamon and poppy. In both the Commonwealth and North America, mass-produced scones tend to be doughier than home-made scones.

Clockwise from bottom: Hot buttered tattie scones next to a cheese scone, shiny and flat treacle scones, and a milk scone above a fruit scone.

In Scotland and Ulster, savoury varieties of scone include soda scones, also known as soda farls, and potato scones, normally known as tattie scones, which resemble small, thin savoury pancakes made with potato flour and resemble the Jewish latke. Potato scones are most commonly served fried in the local equivalent of the full English breakfast. As well as fruit scones (with raisins) or cheese scones, common varieties include milk scones, cream scones, bran or wheaten scones and treacle scones.

The scone is a basic component of the cream tea.

The griddle scone is a variety of the scone. In some countries one may also encounter savoury varieties of scone which may contain or be topped with combinations of cheese, onion, bacon etc.

In the Scots language, a griddle is referred to as a "girdle". Therefore "griddle scones" are known as "girdle scones". This should not be confused with the girdle as a piece of ladies' underwear.

In the US state of Utah a "scone" commonly refers to a deep fried flattened bread which serves as the basis for "Navajo" tacos and is commonly consumed by itself with honey butter. It is similar to frybread or sopapilla.

A fresh batch of homemade English buttermilk scones.

[edit] Slang terms

In Scots language the verb scon means to crush flat or beat with the open hand on a flat surface, and "scon-cap" or "scone-cap" refers to a man's broad flat cap or "bunnet". The term "scone-faced" means someone who is dour (sullen or grim) looking.^[1]