What to do I do with leftover buttermilk??? Make Buttermilk Scones!!!

What do you do with leftover buttermilk??? Sometimes you’re left with too much buttermilk when you bake. If you don’t have a use for it you can always freeze it and use it later. I got into the habit of making things for breakfast. I’ve made buns for breakfast (bear buns from a previous post) but with buttermilk you can make scones!!!

The nice thing with scones is that you can make them sweet or savoury. You can add different dried fruit such as currants and cranberries or even add cheese. Today I decided to make plain scones.

Unlike baking where you need ingredients at room temperature, scones and flaky doughs such as pie crusts need cold ingredients. Therefore you want to make sure not to take out the butter till you are ready to mix your ingredients. I use a pastry blender instead of my hands since the heat from my hands will melt the butter. When mixing the butter into the flour, mix the butter just enough to make it look like coarse bread crumbs. I even like to leave my butter in larger chunks.

Cold chunks of butter helps make the dough flaky. As the butter melts in the oven, a gap forms between the layers of dough. The more chunks of butter, the more gaps and the flakier the dough becomes.

You can see in the picture above that there are lots of chunks of butter!! At this point, before adding the wet ingredients, I would add additional flavours into your scones.

After the butter is mixed into the flour mixture, add the cold buttermilk. Keep the buttermilk cold so that the butter does not melt before it reaches the oven.

As you incorporate the buttermilk into the flour, you want to knead as little as possible. This makes the scones tender and flaky. The more you knead the dough, the chewier the dough. I knead the dough just enough to incorporate all the wet ingredients.

I decided to make circular scones. Some people make triangular scones. It is up to you to decide what you would like. To make them circular, I rolled the dough into a log and then with a sharp knife, I cut the dough into circles (I recommend cutting them thicker. My scones didn’t rise as much as I thought and I ended up with flat ones).

Line them on an oiled baking tray. To make a nice golden colour, brush milk onto the scones. I didn’t have heavy cream for brushing the tops so instead I used regular milk. You can also try doing an egg wash as well.

I love to make extra scones and freeze them. In the morning for breakfast, I pop a frozen scone into the toaster oven and just like that it makes an easy and delicious breakfast.

Buttermilk Scones

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup currants (optional)
1 tablespoon heavy cream, for brushing (I used regular milk)
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Add butter and mix with your fingertips to a coarse meal. Add buttermilk and mix just until combined. Add currants, if desired.

Transfer dough to a floured board and divide into 2 parts. Roll each to 3/4 inch thick rounds. Cut each round into 8 wedges and place slightly separated on a greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with the cream, and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. Serve warm, split in half with butter and marmalade.

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