Lemonade Scones are the fastest and easiest scones you will ever make! Incredibly fluffy, moist scones made from scratch using only 3 ingredients – self raising flour, cream and lemonade. The secret ingredient is lemonade – but they don’t taste of lemon at all!
This is the faster way to make classic scones which call for butter to be rubbed or blitzed into flour. Lemonade Scones rise ever so slightly less, but the difference is barely noticeable!
Lemonade Scones
Scones are as Australian as Meat Pies and Lamingtons. Made the traditional way, butter is rubbed into flour using your fingers – or a food processor. Not particularly difficult, but it does take time, calling for fridge cold butter to be diced into cubes.
I don’t know who discovered this genius shortcut way of making scones, but I am forever indebted to them. Sometimes I do enjoy taking the time to make scones the traditional way. But I usually make these Lemonade Scones which honestly come out so similar and yet take less than half the time to make.
If you’ve never tried these before, you’re honestly going to be amazed. Seriously AMAZED!
Scones are an afternoon tea favourite in Australia, brought to our shores when the British settled here just over 200 years ago. It’s a regular at quaint tea houses, especially in the countryside, and at local bake sales!
What’s the difference between an American biscuit and a scone?
🇺🇸That’s biscuits as they’re known in America that look like our scones! A southern classic served savoury, fabulous with grits, sausage gravy and eggs.
A comparison of the classic Aussie scone recipe with this New York Times Biscuits recipe is all it takes to verify that they are indeed made the same way – just used for different purposes. 🙂 Lemonade Scones are slightly more different because they are a touch sweeter than classic scones.
What you need for Lemonade Scones
Here are the 3 ingredients you need:
Self raising flour – this is just plain flour (all purpose flour) and baking powder that’s already been combined. It’s sold as “self raising flour” in the UK, Australia, NZ. It’s easy to make your own self raising flour simply by mixing 2 tsp baking powder for every 1 cup of flour.
Cream – thickened or heavy cream works best I find. But it does work fine with ordinary cream too, but it needs to be full fat (I found low fat didn’t work as well, not as soft inside); and
Lemonade -the “secret ingredient”, the namesake of this scone recipe!! I don’t know the science behind why it works. I like to think the fizz activates the baking powder to make the scones rise and make them fluffy, but I’m totally guessing here!
What type of Lemonade to use?
Schweppes and Kirks Lemonade are the two brands I use. I’ve made it with “no frills” too and it worked fine, so I am pretty sure any lemonade brand should be fine. Sprite and 7 Up also work – tried it and it comes out exactly the same!
How to make Lemonade Scones
Just dump the flour, cream and lemonade into a bowl, mix, turn out onto board, cut out scones and bake.
Yep. That’s it. Really!
Lemonade Scones – Tips!
Few tips to share to ensure your scones come out soft and fluffy every time!!
Less dough handling = fluffier scones. So only mix the batter until the flour is almost fully incorporated (ie can still some flour), then scrape onto work surface and knead as few times as possible to bring together into a disc shape with a pretty smooth surface (I aim for 5 kneads, 8 is ok).
Do not twist the cutter – press the cutter straight down and up, resist the urge to twist! If you twist, the sides of the scones gets “smeared” which affects how well they rise.
Avoid touching sides of scones – use a big kitchen knife or similar to transfer scones to tray to avoid touching the sides of the scones.
Place so they’re touching each other ever so slightly – because they help each other rise (isn’t that just so sweet? 😍)
Don’t be tight with the jam and cream – there’s nothing sadder than running out of cream mid scone scoffing!!
Whether Lemonade Scones or traditional made scones, they are best served warm but MUST be served with copious amounts of cream and jam. There’s just really no getting around that part. It’s like having a grilled cheese sandwich without cheese. It just ain’t right. Just saying.😇
– Nagi x
Watch how to make it
More Aussie favourites
Scones – made the classic way
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Lemonade Scones – 3 Ingredients From Scratch
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups self raising flour , plus extra for dusting (flour sub – Note 1)
- 1 cup thickened cream (heavy cream), not whipped!
- 1 cup lemonade (Note 2)
To serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan). Line tray with baking/parchment paper.
- Combine the flour, cream and lemonade in a bowl and mix until flour is mostly combined. Do not over mix, it will make the scones dense! The dough should be soft and fairly sticky.
- Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead gently just 3 – 5 times to bring dough together, then gently pat into a disc shape 2.5cm/1" thick.
- Use a 6cm/2.5" round cutter to cut rounds – press straight up and down (don't twist), flour cutter in between. (Note 4)
- Use a knife or similar to scoop up (avoid touching sides) and place on tray, slightly touching each other (they help each other rise).
- Brush the tops lightly with milk. (Note 5)
- Bake for 15 minutes until golden on top. Place on rack to cool. Place tea towel over them to stop the tops from getting crusty.
- Serve with copious amounts of cream and jam, and of course tea!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published January 2014. Long overdue to add a recipe video and fresh new photos!
Life of Dozer
Now you see it… now you don’t! (Except for the smear of cream on his snout 🐽)
In the past week I have made 100 scones for family and friends I do not use a cutter to cut them out when I am making this many I cut rows with a knife and cut them into squares and just gently round them as I put them into the baking tray always work out great some more rustic than others but the taste never fails to impress lol
Hi Nagi.
These scones look very easy to make and look fabulous.
I will be making soon.
My question is, can one add cheese or dried fruit to this recipe.
June
Ive now made them 3 times. They are the fluffiest ever
YAY! So glad you enjoy these Julie!!
Hi June! Yes you absolutely can! I have made it with cheese and dried fruit pieces (chopped) would be no different. 🙂 Thank you for reminding me of these, I’m going to make it again soon!
Hi Nagi,
I can’t get self-raising flour here. How much baking powder should I add to regular flour?
The sconces look delicious – can’t wait to make them. I hope they turn out at least half as nice looking as yours!
Thanks
Ally
Hi Ally! These are really great, I remember first time I made them years and years ago, I was shocked how amazing they turned out!! It is usually 2 tsp of baking powder per 1 cup of flour. But if you have the baking powder container, just check the label and it should say! Hope you love them! I should repost this recipe with better photos, they deserve it! 🙂 N x
I am curious about measurement in the self raising flour. In the states it only has about 1 tsp per cup. That is quite a bit different.
Hi Nagi love your website
The scones look amazing. I am about to make some for afternoon tea.
Cream scones are so much easier and almost foolproof compared to cutting cold butter through the flour.
I have a question; can soda water or carbonated mineral water be used in place of soda lemonade?
The bubbles in the lemonade soda make the scones light and fluffy, however I’m not sure if the sugar in the lemonade is also necessary.
What do you think?
Ps: I use soda water when I make batter for fish etc. makes them so light.
I also use half soda water/half milk when making Hungarian style pancakes (similar to thick crepes)
I used soda water instead of lemonade very successfully once but the next three batches were very dense and horrible. I have no idea what happened since they were so delicious the first time.
Love your site Nagi
Thank you Eileen! I did not think soda water would work!! I am surprised it worked for you the first time!! 🙂
Hi Jules! I am right with you – I know it isn’t hard to cut the butter through but cream is so easy! And you’re right, they are almost foolproof. I am very curious to know if it with work with soda water! I might have to try it and see 🙂 Because lemonade is just effectively fizzy water with sugar, isn’t it?? I know Solo does not work (but who knows what’s in that!) and diet lemonade does not work (another blogger experimented with that!). I will try to remember to give this a try over the holidays!
When you say lemonade do you mean fresh squeezed not from a mix? I don’t know what solo is..LOL..I know silly me..
I mean bottled lemonade, bought from a store! Like Sprite. Solo is a yellow “lemonade” here in Australia. Sorry, I should have been clearer, I will update the recipe now 🙂
Thanks for specifying Sprite – here in the US, Sprite is not lemonade, it’s a “lemon-lime soda”. Lemonade here is a non-fizzy drink of lemon juice, sugar, and water (a million different recipes, proportions to your liking really). Or a vile, excessively-sweet, wee-yellow concoction made from a powdered mix of unnatural flavorings and colorings and all sorts of ick, which is what you virtually always get when you buy a bottle of lemonade in the US!
I always save myself a step and drop scone/biscuit (biscuits here are like un-sweet scones, your biscuits are our cookies) dough right on my baking sheet, then dip fingers in the flour bin to (gently!) pat down the peaks on top to make them an even thickness – it just takes a couple of light taps once you’ve got the hang of it. They may not be perfectly round but they taste just as good, and it saves time and cleanup. A delicious trick my father always used was lightly pressing a slight depression in the middle of the dough with his thumb and putting a little piece of butter in the divot before baking – it makes the top crust especially lovely.
That’s such a great tip Mari! I never thought of that, I must try it. I completely agree about doing whatever you can to save time and clean up. And your dad’s tip is great! I’m going to try both those suggestions next time! And you’re welcome re: sprite vs lemonade. After making the mistake myself, I had to clarify! 🙂
Wow Nagi, I’ve never seen a scone like this before! These scones sound delicious, and they look so fluffy like a cream biscuit! Pinning; can’t wait to try!
Oh wow Allie, thanks so much for dropping by! I was going to share this with you, but then I thought that would be ridiculous sharing a 3 ingredient baking recipe with the Queen of Baking! Ha ha!
they look lovely!
Thank you Dina! And they taste darn good too, if I don’t say so myself!