Orange-Currant Scones

These scones hit that British tea-shop balance: tender inside, golden and just-crisp outside, with juicy pockets of currants and a bright hum of orange zest running through. The mix of butter and vegetable shortening is the technical move worth paying attention to. Butter brings flavor and browning, shortening keeps the texture tender past the second day. Use all butter and they harden fast as they cool. Use all shortening and they taste flat.

Work the chilled fats into the flour with your fingertips until you have coarse meal. Bigger flecks of fat are fine. Those create steam pockets in the oven that translate into flaky layers, not dense crumb.

Don’t overknead. Three or four turns is the entire mandate. Past that, you develop gluten and your scones go tough.

A buttermilk brush and sugar shower before baking gives the tops their lacquered, glistening finish.

Pro Tips

• Keep everything cold: butter, shortening, buttermilk, even your hands if you can. Cold fat is the difference between flaky and dense.
• Don’t twist the knife when cutting wedges. A clean down-and-up motion preserves the layered edges so they rise tall.
• Eat them the day they’re made, or freeze on a tray and reheat in a 350F (175C) oven. Day-three scones go stale fast.

Variations

• Swap currants for dried cranberries and use lemon zest instead of orange for a tarter winter scone.
• Add 1 teaspoon of cardamom to the dry ingredients for a warm Scandinavian-leaning twist.
• Replace shortening with cold lard for an old-fashioned, slightly savory take.