Cheat Scones – Only three ingredients!

Scones (or, as I sometimes like to call them, ‘an excuse to eat jam and cream’) have always been a favourite of mine. They are perfect for picnics, girly afternoon teas, bringing a plate along to family lunches, sharing at the office or packing in kids lunchboxes! They are also extremely versatile. Into the scone batter, you could add chopped dates, sultanas, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, caramel bits, berries, pumpkin, cinnamon, nuts and much more! You could also drizzle the baked scones with a simple glaze or melted chocolate for some extra decadence. You could also try other spreads rather than the staple jam and cream — why not try peanut butter, Nutella, or lemon curd? The possibilities are endless!

I am a big fan of shortcuts in the kitchen. Any way I can make recipes faster, cheaper and with less washing up is a huge plus for me! I do love cooking, but the less time spent cooking and cleaning up is certainly an attractive option! I always have plenty of other things to do, including reading up on my fave food blogs, catching up with friends and my TV shows (yay for the return of Dexter, Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Merlin and more!).
Fortunately for me, these scones are an absolute snap to put together! I borrowed this recipe from a work colleague who is famous for these scones and have heard many other friends say they enjoy this simple, tried and tested recipe.
Are you ready? … I hope you have your notebooks ready, because if you blink, you’ll miss it!
Some call this recipe “Lemonade Scones”, but I like to call them “Cheat Scones” because they’re so dang easy to make, it feels like cheating!
Cheat Scones
Ingredients List : Makes 1 large batch of scones – about 20, depending on how large you make them
- 3 cups self raising flour
- 1 cup cream I used Coles thickened cream
- 1 cup lemonade I just used a homebrand version
Method:
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
- Measure flour into a large mixing bowl.
- Pour over cream and lemonade and mix together to form a sticky dough.
- Turn onto lightly floured surface so the dough will not stick and knead lightly.
- Press the dough into your workbench until it is about 2-3cms thick.
- Cut with scone cutter (I dip it into flour before cutting each time to avoid sticking) and place on a lined baking tray and place all following scones together so they touch lightly (they will bake together but don’t worry – they will be easy to pull apart.) Optional – you can brush the tops with milk before baking.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and sound hollow when tapped.
- Serve warm with freshly whipped cream and jam of your choice. These taste best fresh from the oven while still warm but are still delightful later, microwaved for 1 minute on high. This recipe also freezes well. (I just pop them in ziplock bags and throw them into the deep freeze for easy scone goodness later on!).

Freshly baked golden scones just waiting to be covered in jam and cream!

I always buy the 600ml container of cream from Coles — it’s the perfect amount because you can use one cup for the scones themselves and the other to whip and serve with them! I usually add a spoonful of caster sugar and cornflour to each cup of cream to slightly sweeten and stabilise the whipped cream. Any leftovers I keep in the fridge for scone goodness later on

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! It’s so sad it was over so quickly but I hope you managed to sneak in a bit of relaxing in with all the hustle bustle!
Here’s to another week, cheers!
xoxo
C
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October 15th, 2012 at 9:16 am
Dear Christine,
I have a baking phobia because I always think I might over or under bake cookies etc. This might just be a recipe simple enough for me to handle.
October 15th, 2012 at 9:20 am
This recipe is definitely worth trying I reckon! And the good news is that if you do somehow manage to wreck them (although I doubt that’s possible!) the recipe is SO easy to whip up another batch to try again. And with ingredients so cheap, there’s nothing stopping you!
Give them a try, I have faith in your baking abilities
October 15th, 2012 at 9:28 am
This is genius! I’ve never made scones and I love how easy this sounds. It sounds foolproof
October 15th, 2012 at 9:35 am
Definitely a foolproof recipe. Hehe thanks Tara! x
October 15th, 2012 at 9:31 am
I love lemonade scones, and they really are foolproof, and so SO good! I’d love for you to submit them to the High Tea blog hop I’m hosting as they fit the theme perfectly!
October 15th, 2012 at 9:36 am
Oh great idea Jennifer! I’d love to submit them! x
October 15th, 2012 at 9:36 am
unbelievable as to how easy this is! i want this for breakfast this weekend
October 15th, 2012 at 9:37 am
Hahah I will admit to occasionally having these for breakfast.. Well they have to be eaten right?
October 15th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Oh Christine, you do know how to make me salivate! (charming I know lol!) have had this recipe before and it was delightful, however I have also tried my hand at the same recipe and they turned out like rock cakes. Hmmm… maybe it’s time to put that disaster behind me and give it a whirl again. I didn’t knead the mix when I tried it, but used a flat edged knife like my grandmother taught me, so maybe that is where I went wrong… we will see!!
October 15th, 2012 at 12:33 pm
Ah yes I too have known the pain of baking mishaps! Maybe time to get back on the horse and give it another go! I love that this recipe is very cheap to put together too, so you can always give a couple of tries if need be
Hmm I sometimes use a butter knife, but also a wooden spoon works pretty well for me too
Good luck Allysia! xx
October 15th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Awesome! Last week I had a desire to bake lemonade scones (never tried them before), so thank you!
Can you use pure cream, or must it be thickened cream?
October 15th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
I guess I read your mind?
Hehe. Pure cream would be totally fine! In fact its probably better than thickened cream but I usually buy the thickened stuff cos its usually a tad cheaper
October 15th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Wow, lemonade scones? That’s not something I’ve tried before but it sounds interesting. What effect does the lemonade actually have?
October 15th, 2012 at 10:28 pm
It adds sweetness to the scone dough and I think it also has some kind of reaction with the cream/flour to help it rise..although I’m not very scientific myself so i’ll call it… ‘baking magic’ lol
October 15th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Lemonade scones are the best! I actually did a bit of an experiment at the start of the year using other kinds of fizzy drinks, instead of lemonade, you may find it amusing. I tried creaming soda, ginger beer and apple cider as well as the staple lemonade http://bellyrumbles.com/2012/01/creaming-soda-scone-anyone/
If you are in the mood to, go the experiment route, was a lot of fun
October 15th, 2012 at 10:28 pm
Oh what an awesome idea Sara!! Thanks for linking me the post, I shall definitely give it a try!!
October 15th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
The first scones I ever made after moving to Australia were lemonade scones. I thought I was very clever.
October 15th, 2012 at 10:30 pm
It’s definitely a clever recipe I think
Thanks for dropping by Maureen! x
October 15th, 2012 at 11:02 pm
It’s such a great shortcut! And there’s no need to buy scones when they’re this easy. A friend told me that she had seen Fanta scones once :O
October 16th, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Yeah I agree! Fanta scones, I wonder if those would taste orangey..hmm. Sara from Belly Rumbles was saying she made creaming soda ones which is pretty cool too!
October 16th, 2012 at 7:40 am
Now that is result! I love this recipe
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
October 16th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Hehe thanks CCU x
October 16th, 2012 at 7:46 am
I…still can’t believe it only uses 3 ingredients. AMAZING! I know scones is one of kinds hard to bake, but yours looks so awesome. Will definitely try it out. Yum!!!
October 16th, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Me either! Its such an easy recipe as well – foolproof so anyone can make them, even kids would whip a couple out I reckon! Hehe thanks x
October 16th, 2012 at 9:15 am
OMG i had to reread the title of this post twice before it sunk in
WOW! Scones with only 3 ingredients? And I have them all at home? I can whip up scones in a couple of minutes? YES PLEASE!
Thank for sharing can’t wait to try it out soon
October 16th, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Glad to help
Hope you enjoy these Daisy!! x
October 16th, 2012 at 1:12 pm
For three ingredients, these look perfect… Yum. Thanks for sharing.
October 16th, 2012 at 3:38 pm
My pleasure, thanks for reading Tania! x
October 16th, 2012 at 2:54 pm
Um….these are brilliant. Like Albert Einstein level. Who would’ve though you could make something so soft and puffy that serves as the BEST vehicle for add ons with such little to begin with? Book marking to make VERY soon!!!
October 16th, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Hahahah I like to think so too
Hope you like them! Thanks xx
October 16th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Hi Christine, these scones look so good with the jam and cream on top, I’m craving one right now. Will definitely have to try this recipe soon. Catherine
October 17th, 2012 at 9:03 am
Hope you enjoy it, thanks so much for dropping by Catherine!
October 16th, 2012 at 8:00 pm
Add dried mango or dates chopped finely. You can also replace the cream with coconut cream. Tastes amazement!!
October 17th, 2012 at 9:03 am
Fantastic idea Nat! I will definitely try this, thank you!! xx
October 16th, 2012 at 10:17 pm
It’s amazing to me that such delicious looking scones can be made with so few ingredients. I just love lemonade scones – they always turn out brilliantly xx
October 17th, 2012 at 9:03 am
Me too! Thanks Charlie x
October 17th, 2012 at 9:11 am
looking good! My scones could double as door stops, must practice more! Yours looks perfect x
October 17th, 2012 at 9:18 am
Aww thank you
I find that hard to believe with all your cooking prowess on your blog!!
October 18th, 2012 at 2:13 am
I agree that scones are little more than an excuse to eat jam and cream! Nothing wrong with that in my book.
Nice, easy recipe – really simple recipe, my favorite kind. Good stuff – thanks.
October 18th, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Hahah I’m glad
x
October 18th, 2012 at 9:21 am
Yep! This is the exact recipe my grandma taught me. It’s basically fool proof! My hubby asks me to make these at least once a month, but really it’s only a carriage for his jam and whipped cream obsession ;P
October 18th, 2012 at 11:15 pm
Heheh awesome! I love that its such a widespread recipe. May it live long on for many generations to come!
October 18th, 2012 at 11:51 am
I have heard about lemonade scones but I didn’t realise they are so easy to make!
October 18th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
Oh yes, definitely worth a try. Thanks for visiting Ai-Ling
October 18th, 2012 at 6:35 pm
Hi Christine! Nice to meet you! Just 3 ingredients to make scones? WOW!!! These don’t look like some recipe that is made easily! Looks wonderful!
October 18th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Hi Nami, lovely to meet you too! Thanks for visiting my blog
And thanks for your lovely comment xoxo
October 18th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Awesome recipe!! I had no idea you could make scones with only 3 ingredients. Also love your idea for putting corn flour in the cream to stabilise it.
October 18th, 2012 at 7:31 pm
Awesome recipe Christine! Love the simplicity of the recipe yeilding such a fantastic result!
October 18th, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Thanks Anna! I love simple recipes too..especially finding good ones! Thanks so much for dropping by x
October 19th, 2012 at 11:23 am
These look fantastic, I can’t believe you only need 3 ingredients!
October 19th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Fantastic. I think the best scones involve the least number of ingredients
October 19th, 2012 at 5:45 pm
Looks fantastic! I’ve bookmarked these to try. Do you think this would work with soda water instead of lemonade?
October 21st, 2012 at 3:49 pm
Thank you
I think it would work with soda water but you might need to add some sugar to compensate for the sugar in the lemonade to sweeten the scone dough
October 20th, 2012 at 8:16 am
I don’t need an excuse to eat jam and cream but these look like a pretty good reason!
October 20th, 2012 at 10:21 am
only 3 ingredients?? thanks for posting!
October 22nd, 2012 at 9:52 pm
I miss these lemonade scones. So easy and yet so delicious!
October 26th, 2012 at 7:29 pm
This is so interesting! I’ll definitely be trying them…3 ingredients?! I’m so in!
October 30th, 2012 at 8:25 am
Whattttt these sound so good!!! I just made oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip scones last night and am totally on a scone kick. I will have to try these–thanks for an awesome recipe!!
October 30th, 2012 at 10:58 am
Wow those sounds pretty amazing! Thanks for dropping by Erika