Name: Irish or Scottish Soda Scones (White Bannocks)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Scottish, Irish
Ingredients: 1 lb (3 1/2 cups) flour; 3/4 tsp baking soda; 3/4 tsp cream of tartar; 1 tsp salt; 12 oz buttermilk

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Soda scones, whether they be traditional Irish or Scottish, (also referred to as white bannocks) aren’t just for St Patrick’s Day! After you try this recipe, soda scones may become a favorite in your household quite quickly!

I may ruffle some red hair here, but did you know that Saint Patrick was born in Scotland?

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Do your own google search if you don’t believe me, but it’s true. I’ll give you a minute. See, I told you!

And if that’s not news to you, did you also know that he was Italian? Just like me–born in Scotland to Italian parents! How cool is that? Now that you’ve learned something new, let’s get to the cooking part.

I’m going to show you how to make a quick and easy recipe for soda scones to celebrate the day of the patron saint of Ireland. Both the Irish and Scots make these versatile scones, or white bannocks.

Once you try them, I bet you just won’t be making them once a year!

Looking for an Irish cake or dessert recipe? Try my delectable Irish Whiskey Cake!

How to Serve Soda Scones

Soda scones, or white bannocks, can be split in half and fried for breakfast. Or they can be served as a traditional afternoon tea scone, with jam and cream, or toasted and spread with some good quality salted butter (I like Kerrygold, and it’s Irish) for a wonderful snack.

My favorite way of eating soda scones is the traditional way: frying them. It’s usually done in the same pan after cooking some bacon (YUM)! This doesn’t necessarily have to be served before 9 am–I mean, who doesn’t have breakfast for dinner now and then?

A few days ago, a friend (who is originally from Scotland) gave me a book to borrow, called Maw Broon’s Cookbook. I LOVE this book! Children in Scotland (including me) used to receive a comic/cartoon book at Christmas called “Oor Wullie” or “The Broons.” Maw Broon (Mother Brown) was the matriarch of “The Broons” (The Browns), and she and Paw had 8 children. This cookbook is a representation of her supposed actual cookbook, complete with tape, marks, tea stains, handwritten recipes and notes and scribbles and drawings by her “weans” (children).

After perusing the book, I decided to try the soda scone recipe. Super simple, very quick to make, and almost perfect (I’ve made a few changes–sorry, Maw, noo (now) they’re pehrrrfect!)

How to Make Irish or Scottish Soda Scones
(White Bannocks)

adapted from Maw Broon’s Cookbook makes 4 large scones (serves 6-8)

FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW

Ingredients

flour
baking soda
cream of tartar
salt
buttermilk

Sift all the dry ingredients together into a mixing bowl, holding the sieve high above the bowl to get as much air into the mixture as possible.

Pour in the buttermilk.

Then mix to a fairly soft dough, first with a spatula, then with your hands. Dough will be a bit sticky, but don’t overwork it, or the scones won’t turn out light.

Roll out onto a floured board and form into a round shape about 1/2″ thick.

Cut into quarters.

Cook on a hot griddle or non-stick pan on high, for about 5 minutes, then turn, lower the heat and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.

These turned out very large, so you can make half the recipe, or make 8 scones with the full recipe too if you prefer a smaller size.

You can also cook the entire dough as a whole, just scoring it into quarters first.

Remove from pan and cool slightly before cutting in half (horizontally;) using a fork gives a better texture.

Serve as desired, as part of a Scottish or Irish breakfast, or with afternoon tea, or as a snack, especially for St. Patrick’s Day.

This is another stove top scone recipe you may enjoy, Cream Girdle Scones!

Or my friend Nancy’s Irish Guinness Beer Bread

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