How to make Traditional Irish Scones with Einkorn

These traditional Irish scones made with einkorn flour are amazingly light, have a delicious flavor, and come together fairly quickly. They are a perfect accompaniment with a hot cup of tea in the morning or afternoon.

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When I started baking, scones were one of the first recipes I worked with. Having a little Irish in my blood, I was intrigued by making something authentic, but what I made were the large, sweetened, and usually filled with different fruits and nuts American scones that you see in many bakeries here.

Those definitely hold their own and are delightful, but the traditional Irish scone is made from simple ingredients that you most likely have in your pantry, and maybe you might find currants in them. They are lightly sweetened but are plain and often eaten with homemade jam and clotted cream.

Why Einkorn Flour?

I have been replacing all of my old recipes with einkorn flour or sourdough starter made from einkorn. Einkorn is ancient wheat that has not been hybridized. Not only is the flavor excellent, but einkorn is so much easier to digest and has more vitamins and minerals. Einkorn is also known to have an anti-inflammatory property, unlike all-purpose flour and other modern kinds of wheat. I was not sure how the traditional Irish scone would hold up using a flour that has less gluten and more protein and was very pleasantly surprised.

How to make Traditional Irish Scones using Einkorn Flour

Ingredients

• Two Cups Jovial Einkorn Flour
• 2 TBSP Sugar
• 1 TBSP Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Sea Salt (Maldron Salt Flakes are my absolute favorite)
• 4 TBSP Cold Butter (Irish butter is best!)
• 3/4 Cup Heavy Cream

Glaze Topping: 1 Egg Yolk, 1 TBSP Heavy Cream, 1 tsp Sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

Chop the cold butter into cubes and add it into the dry ingredients.

Using your hands, and this is important for traditional scones, rub in the cold butter with your fingers to create a coarse texture that is like breadcrumbs.

Pour your heavy cream into your flour mix. With your hand, loosely mix your dough until it comes together.

Turn your dough onto a very lightly floured work surface and knead it a few times to form a ball.

Pat your dough down with your hand until it is around 1 inch thick. Rollover your dough lightly with your rolling pin for a more even surface. (Rolling is not necessary and your preference.)

With a 2″ round scone cutter, or small jar, cut your dough into about 10 circles, re-rolling the dough to make more as needed.

In a small bowl, mix together, egg yolk, 1 tbsp heavy cream, 1 tsp sugar.

Dip your cut scones into the egg mixture and place on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 10 -12 minutes.

Allow to cool completely, and enjoy with homemade jelly, freshly whipped cream or homemade clouted cream.

Tips and Notes for making these Traditional Irish Einkorn Scones:

• You can replace the heavy cream with half and half by adding in 1/2 cup liquid first and then a little more as needed, up to 3/4 cup.
• All-Purpose flour can replace the einkorn flour in a pinch.
• When cutting scones out from dough, press your cutter straight down and up. Twisting the cookie cutter will lessen the rise of your scone while baking.
• These freeze well. If you don’t eat them right away, place in your freezer to keep them fresh.

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Find more Irish and einkorn sourdough recipes:

• Vegan Sourdough Piecrust
• The Best Vegan Irish Soda Bread
• Cast Iron Sourdough Baked Pancake (Finnish Pannukakku)
• How to make your own Irish Cream from Home

If you try this recipe and love it, it sure helps me if you could come back and give it 5 stars!