Roasted Irish Rhubarb Scones Recipe
There are few things an Irish person takes as seriously as scones. Joe.ie even created “The Great Scone Map” based on how people in Ireland and the UK pronounce the word scone. Is it scone or scon?
These Roasted Irish Rhubarb Scones Recipe create light, buttery soft scones with a crunchy exterior and added fruity, bursts of roasted rhubarb. Perfect with butter or jam and/or whipped cream. Looking for more scones recipes? Check out my Blueberry Buttermilk Scones Recipe, my Irish Strawberry Scones Recipe (With Secret Ingredient- Mashed Potato!), my Pumpkin Spice Scones Recipe, my Apple Buttermilk Scones Recipe, my Irish Roasted Plum Scones or if you’re looking for something savoury, my Wild Garlic Mature Cheddar Scones Recipe.
So how do I make these Roasted Irish Rhubarb Scones from scratch?
To begin making these scones, we need to roast the rhubarb just a little. Toss the sliced rhubarb with sugar, water (and vanilla if you’d like) and place onto a baking tray cover tightly with tin foil and bake in a hot oven for 10- 15 minutes until soft when pierced with a knife. Allow to cool before placing into a small sieve and allowing the liquid to drip off. For the full details follow this link on how to make Roasted rhubarb that keeps it’s shape.
For the next step, add all the dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Add in the soft, room temperature butter and rub together with the flour with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs. Next add in the eggs and buttermilk. Mix together briefly until a shaggy dough has formed. Be careful not to over mix , I usually have a little unmixed flour left at the bottom of the bowl. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and pat down gently. If you prefer to keep your scones plain, skip the next steps and go straight to shaping, egg wash and baking.
And how do I add the roasted rhubarb to the scone dough?
I have a little system to be able to fit maximum amounts of fruit into the scone dough without it turning soggy. Add half the rhubarb to the patted down dough. Fold over the dough in a “letter fold”. This means you take one third of the dough and cover it over the middle of the dough. Fold over the other third to seal. Roll out the dough a little bit and repeat with the remaining rhubarb.
Dust the dough well with flour and roll out dough to cutting size. You want them very thick, almost the same height as the pastry cutter. Transfer to a lined baking tray with plenty of space in between. Roll out any leftover dough gently and cut until all the dough is used. Egg wash lightly and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.
What do I do with the leftover dough?
After cutting out the scones from the dough, you will have a lot of dough leftover. This can be gently squished together again to make a few more scones. Be careful and try to move the fruit to the inside of the dough. If there is a lot of exposed fruit it has a tendency to leak and potentially burn. This might create a bitter, unpleasant taste in the scones. You can also pat the dough out a little thinner than the original dough as for some reason scones from the leftover dough tend to rise a bit more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely you can. If you are using raw rhubarb, slice into small chunks and place into a bowl with 40 grams of sugar. Mix together and leave to one side while you prepare the dough, making sure to strain any juices out before adding to the dough.
Whether you use roasted or raw rhubarb, I would advise draining off any liquid. Rhubarb is quite high in water and can release a lot of liquid during cooking or macerating. If you add a lot of liquid to a scone dough it becomes quite sloppy and difficult to handle. Plus, most of the rhubarb flavour comes from the rhubarb itself, not the liquid.
My recipe uses soft, room temperature butter. This helps the butter incorporate into the flour quicker and evenly. If your butter is too cold or hard, pop into the microwave for 5 second bursts to soften slightly.
Try to handle the dough as little as possible and gently. An overworked doughy results in a tough, chewy scone that won’t rise as well. Dust the dough with flour whenever needed for easier handling but don’t be too heavy handed with it.
I have never frozen scone dough raw, but according to Nigella, you absolutely can freeze them raw. For best results, follow the steps up until the egg wash. Place them directly onto a lined baking tray, don’t egg wash them and freeze like this. After a few hours, once frozen you can place them into airtight containers or ziploc bags and can keep for up to one month. Bake these straight from frozen, just pop them onto a lined baking tray, egg wash and extend baking time by 5-10 minutes.
You can also freeze baked scones. For best results, freeze them on a tray as soon as they are cooled from baking. Once frozen, place them into an airtight container or a ziploc bag. These can last for up to one month. Defrost for an hour and pop them into a hot oven for 5-10 minutes.
For more Rhubarb Recipes, you can check out my Rhubarb Recipes, here.
Looking for more breakfast and brunch recipes? You can take a peek here.
Irish Rhubarb Scones
Equipment
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 scone or biscuit cutter
- 1-2 Flat baking trays
- 1 Small Bowl
- 1 Fork
- 1 Pastry brush
Ingredients
- 450 grams plain or self raising flour
- 10 grams baking powder
- 60 grams caster sugar
- 120 grams butter, cut into small cubes soft, room temperature
- 170 grams milk or buttermilk
- 2 whole eggs
- 200 grams roasted rhubarb or raw rhubarb
- egg wash 1 egg with 1-2 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°c (400°f) or 190°c (380°f) if fan assisted.
- if you are using roasted rhubarb, try to remove as much juice from it as possible by placing into a small sieve and leaving to drain while you prepare the dough. If you are using raw rhubarb, slice into small chunks and place into a bowl with 40 grams of sugar. Mix together and leave to one side while you prepare the dough, making sure to strain any juices out before adding to the dough.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder and sugar. Mix together to remove any lumps.
- Add in the cubed, room temperature butter and using your hands, rub the butter together with the flour until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.
- Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add the milk and eggs.
- Using your hands, mix together until it resembles a crumbly dough. Be carefuly not to mix until smooth or you will over mix it. Mix it until there are a few crumbs of flour still left at the bottom of the bowl.
- Lightly flour a clean work surface and transfer the scone dough to the surface.
- Sprinkle some flour on the dough and carefully flatten the dough out a little, taking care to try to form a rectangle. See pictures in the post for reference.
- Take half of the rhubarb and add to the dough, spreading it out evenly.
- Fold the dough over itself in thirds, this is called a letter fold in pastry.
- Dust the dough with more flour and roll it out a little, taking care to keep it in a rectangle for easy cutting.
- Scatter the remaining rhubarb over the dough and fold the dough over itself in thirds again.
- Dust the dough with a little more flour and carefully roll it out, trying to keep that rectangle shape. Roll the dough out quite thick, about the same height as the cutter.
- Gently cut out the scones using the cutter until the dough has been used. Carefully knead the scraps together and cut out the dough using the cutter once more.
- Place onto flat, lined baking trays with a little space in between each scone.
- Make an egg wash by whisking together an egg and 1-2 tbsp of milk in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of each scone with egg wash.
- Bake in the hot, preheated oven for 18-20 minutes, making sure to turn the tray halfway through cooking. The scones are ready when they have risen well and have an even brown colour on top.
- Allow to cool slightly before serving.
- Cooled leftover can be stored wrapped tightly or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
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