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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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 🐽)
Can I use normal fridge instead of heavy cream
Sorry I’m not sure what you mean here? N x
Sorry I meant normal fridge milk
Heavy cream would be best as it is fattier.
I love this recipe. I have found that I can use any carbonated drink to make these. It’s fun experimenting with different flavors.
I’m so glad you love the recipe Kristene, thanks so much for letting me know!! N x
This is a brilliant recipe! My husband keeps asking me to make it for him (ai should teach him how to make it so he can make it himself as it’s so easy!)
Jam question – which brand did you use in the photos and video?
It looks so bright and soft (some jams are like jelly, and i’m not a fan).
We use St Dalfour because it’s 100% fruit, no added sugar, but would love to know which one you choose xx
Love the simplicity of this Lemonade Scones recipe and they never fail. Have used this as a base recipe, added dates and spices; Lemon rind with Lemon Myrtle powder, even made it as Pumpkin scones. Use all different types of soda drinks too; lemonade, gingerale, lemon squash. As loing as its fizzy it works. Going to try raspberries with raspberry soda next.
How much pumpkin do you add?
Super simple and tasted great. I used the low gluten cake flour I had on hand and added a cup of chopped dates. Super soft and fluffy scones.
Coming from The Netherlands, but love scones from my visits to the UK, I decided to make your easy scones. I used 7Up without sugar. The second time they were delicious! Thank you for this receipt!
Love the simple recipe, but what did I do wrong? I followed the recipe exactly but the dough was so wet & sticky when I was trying to roll onto flour, that I ended up using my hands to pile on a dozen lumps of dough on the pan. Because they were so sticky I omitted brushing milk on the tops. They came out tasting fine, but the dough wasn’t firm at all like the pictures.
Add more flour at the first mixing stage so the dough isn’t quite so wet. Different flours have different hydration points depending on brand, season etc so better to go by feel and use flour measurements as a starting guide
Thanks Sarah, I’ll give it another go with another flour brand and see how it turns out!
I absolutely looooved these scones! I have made so many kinds of scones over the years, and they all turned out dry and crumbly, but these 3 ingredient scones were easy to make and definitely a keeper. Gonna make these again!
Amazing ‘fluffy’ scones!
I made them for my family and they all loved them. I definitely would make these again. I have made so many kinds of scones over the years, and they were all dry and crumbly, but these were so airy and delicious!!! Thank you!
Hi Nagi, would I be able to use gluten free self raising flour and have them then out the same?
Hi Holly, unfortunately I’ve found that they aren’t as light when using gluten free flour. N x
Happy Australia Day. I have made these many times now and they always turn out great. I substitute the lemonade for soda water which no one seems to notice. Have made them today for Australia Day.
Perfect Helen!! N x
I have made so many of your recipes, the Mongolian lamb was sensational, the keens curry classic, yummy nostalgia on a plate, one pan Spanish chicken was flavour some and so easy. The scones were super easy but I popped them in my pie maker. Your recipes plus video are the best, you make everything so easy to follow. I don’t have a favourite because I love everything you publish because you don’t worry about the calories – it’s all about the flavour bomb!
Turned out amazing first time I made them (unlike other recipes I’ve tried) thanks to the good tips given. Everyone commented how light they were. Thanks Nagi!
I made these using sparkling water w/lemon flavouring & they were, meh. But, I thought I’d give them another try using 7 Up and then if they weren’t so great move on. They were FANTASTIC!! Actual soda pop makes a difference. THANK YOU for this recipe. It’s a keeper!
Hi Nagi,
Happy New Year 😘
Could this Recipe be used with Soda water or Mineral water instead of the Lemonade?
Many Thanks
Cathy x
Hi Cathy, yes you can, they won’t have a sweet edge as it will be missing the sugar in the lemonade though – more like a savoury scone! (Just use this as an excuse for extra jam and cream) N x
Yes! Any excuse will do for Extra Jam & Cream 😛
Thankyou x
While I realize this is not the typical scone I’m used to, whatever this recipe makes (a good old fashioned southern biscuit) was pretty good. I added the zest of a lemon, a hefty squeeze of juice and a couple handfuls of frozen blueberries. I had to sprinkle in a bit more flour since the berries were wet and made the dough a little too sticky. I bought a tiny clotted cream just to be fancy (I’d never tasted it before and didn’t care for it at all) but made a simple glaze to add some sweetness. These were fast, tasty and simple. All in all I’d say it was a success. Mine didn’t look as nice as Nagi’s but for a first time not too bad.
I used to be an expert at making traditional scones. Last night I tried this method – wonderful results. No going back. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hi could I use cream fraiche? Instead of cream.
Hi could I use cream fraiche
I love your recipes!! I gave it five stars for the simple ingredients and taste. But today I don’t know what I did but the mixture was so sticky. I just scoop mixture in and baked them anyway. To my surprise it turned out really well. It didn’t look great. But the taste is light and yummy. Will try again.
so easy and delicious