Treacle Scones
Treacle Scones are a classic Scottish bake, packed with the rich flavour of black treacle and a gentle warmth from spices. Soft, fluffy, and best enjoyed warm with plenty of butter, they’re a proper teatime treat. If you love traditional scones but fancy something a little richer and more comforting, these treacle scones are well worth baking!
I truly believe there’s a scone for everyone.
Growing up, I was only ever a fan of Plain Scones. These days, I’m first in line whenever there’s a Cherry Scone on offer, and I will always devour a Cheese Scone – especially when it’s cold and dreich outside.
Treacle Scones, though, are ones I hadn’t baked all that often myself. They’ve always been more of a favourite of my Mum’s – the original Granny behind Baking with Granny – and it’s a recipe readers have asked me for time and time again. Good old-fashioned Treacle Scones are a proper Scottish classic, and once you try them, it’s easy to see why.
In many ways, treacle scones are made just like any other traditional scone. The texture is still soft and fluffy, with that familiar golden top. What really sets them apart is the flavour.
Rich black treacle, combined with warming spices, gives these scones their deep, comforting taste. Served warm with a generous slathering of butter and a mug of tea… Perfection!
You might think of treacle scones as more of an autumn or winter bake. But here in Scotland, with our fair share of cold and rainy days year-round, they’re just as welcome in the middle of summer too.
Top Tips for Treacle Scones:
• Cold Butter: For perfect treacle scones, you want cold ingredients and a hot oven. Use margarine or butter straight from the fridge, and ensure you fully preheat your oven.
• No Need to Melt: Many treacle scone recipes will advise you to warm your wet ingredients first. Granny advises against this, partly because it’s not necessary – simply mixing your treacle well with the milk will allow them to combine. However, it also contradicts the cold ingredients/hot oven concept, which helps you achieve perfectly baked treacle scones.
• Full of Air: Try to get as much air into your dough by sifting the dry ingredients from a bit of height and raising your fingers as you rub in the butter.
• Use a Soft Touch: Scottish treacle scones require a soft touch, so don’t be too rough with your mixing and kneading. Less is more.
• Put Down the Rolling Pin: Simply stretch out your dough with your hands. And always leave it a little thicker than you think it should be.
• No Twisting: When you cut your scones from the dough, DO NOT twist your cookie cutter. This will twist the edges of the dough and prevent them from rising as well. And by doing so, you will make Granny want to cry.
• Have a Rest: Always leave your scones to rest before baking. This lets the gluten in the flour rest & calm down a little. 10 minutes is ideal, but if you can do longer, even better. I’ll usually take this time to wash my dishes.
• Give it a Glaze: A beaten egg gives the best colour to scones when brushed on top, but milk is my personal preference. Just be careful that you don’t let it run down the sides of your scones, or it could affect the dough’s ability to rise.
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Treacle Scones
INGREDIENTS
- 100 g Treacle (Molasses)
- 220 ml Milk (cold)
- 60 g Soft Light Brown Sugar (Light Brown Sugar)
- 450 g Self-raising Flour
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Baking Powder (Baking Soda)
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice (Pumpkin Spice)
- 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
- 80 g Butter or Block Margarine (cold)
EQUIPMENT
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pre-heat your oven to 220°c (200°c for fan assisted oven, Gas Mark 7 or 425°F). Grease two baking sheets with a little butter and set aside.
- Measure your milk into a jug, before adding the sugar and treacle. Mix together with a fork/whisk, until the sugar has dissolved and the ingredients have combined – this may take a few minutes of mixing. Set aside.
- Sift the flour, salt, baking powder, mixed spice and ground ginger into a large bowl, holding the sift up to allow some air into them.
- Using the tips of your fingers, rub in the margarine/butter to the dry ingredients, again lifting as you do to allow air in. Continue until you have a sandy consistency.
- Create a well in the middle. Pour in the milk/treacle mixture. Using a wooden spoon, gently bring the ingredients together to form a soft, slightly sticky dough.
- Turn out onto a floured work surface and gently knead together, before stretching the dough to about 2-3cm (1 inch) thickness.
- Using a cookie cutter of your choice, cut your scones out and place them onto your pre-greased baking sheets. The smaller your cutter the more scones you will get. Reform and stretch the dough as required to use all of the dough.
- Leave your scones to rest on the tray for about 10 minutes before brushing the tops with some extra milk.
- Bake in your pre-heated oven for 10 minutes. If you are making smaller scones, keep a close eye on them as you may need to reduce the baking time to suit. If bigger you may need to give them slightly longer.
- Once cool enough to touch, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely or enjoy whilst still warm.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won’t always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
NOTES:
Storage:
Treacle Scones are best enjoyed fresh on the day they are baked. Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Warm slightly before serving to soften them again.Freezing:
Treacle Scones freeze well. Allow them to cool completely, then store in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 3 months. Defrost at room temperature and warm in the oven for a few minutes before serving.Substitutions:
- Treacle: If you cannot find black treacle, dark molasses can be used as a substitute. The flavour will be slightly different, but it still works well in the recipe.
- Spices: Mixed spice is commonly used in treacle scones, but you can adjust the spices to suit your taste. A little extra cinnamon or ginger works particularly well with the treacle flavour.
If you are baking Treacle Scones in the US:
- Molasses is a close substitute for treacle.
- Pumpkin spice mix is a close substitution for mixed spice.
Similar to golden syrup, treacle is a by-product of the process of refining sugar. It is a similar texture to golden syrup, although usually slightly thicker. Treacle is dark in colour with a strong, sweet & somewhat bitter taste – it’s commonly used in traditional British and Scottish baking.
Treacle and molasses are very similar, and both occur as part of the sugar refining process. The main difference between the two is that molasses is boiled down for longer than treacle, so it becomes thicker, darker and less sweet.
Generally, you can swap treacle for molasses, if you cannot get your hands on treacle (and vice versa), but the degrees of sweetness and consistency of dough may vary as a result.
Our treacle scone recipe is made with treacle in mind, so we would always recommend trying to get your hands on some proper treacle for treacle scones, if you can.
In theory, treacle scones are incredibly easy to make. You start by mixing your treacle, sugar, and milk together, before setting aside to prepare the dry ingredients. You then sift your flour, salt, baking powder, mixed spice & and ground ginger into a large bowl. Next, you rub in the butter with your fingertips. Finally, you add the treacly liquid before gently mixing all the ingredients together to create a soft, sticky dough.
You’ll then take your dough and flatten it out on a well-floured worksurface, before cutting your scones to your desired size. Next, you pop them onto a baking sheet, before brushing with a little milk and baking in a hot oven for about 10 minutes.
Like I say, “easy” in theory. But scones can take a bit of practice to master.
Yes, treacle scones are considered a classic Scottish bake. They are commonly served in cafés, bakeries, and tearooms across Scotland, often enjoyed warm with butter and a cup of tea. You will also find this recipe in my debut cookbook, Scottish Bakes.
Yes, dark molasses is the closest substitute for black treacle and works well in treacle scones. The flavour may be slightly stronger, but it will still give a similar rich taste.
Free-from & Vegan:
Nut-free: There are no nuts used in this Treacle Scone recipe but, as always, be sure to double check your individual ingredients allergens list.
Dairy-free: To make this a dairy-free Treacle Scones recipe, simply use a dairy-free milk & margarine.
Vegan: As there is no egg in this scone recipe, so simply follow the dairy-free tips above to make this a vegan Treacle Scones recipe. The scones pictured are actually vegan, made with dairy-free margarine and soya milk.
N.B. Any advice or suggestions to make recipes “free-from” or vegan are purely that – suggestions. Please be careful to double-check all ingredients individually, taking extra caution when serving to those with allergies & intolerances.
For more info on common food allergies, please see food.gov.uk | For more info on coeliac disease, please see coeliac.org.uk | For more info on a vegan diet, please see vegansociety.com
My mum used to make the best scones in the world, but when she died the recipe died with her, but I do know she used to use ‘gone off’ milk or natural yoghurt, have you ever heard of this before? I have never had a better scone and am constantly disappointed.
Buttermilk comes to mind. Often used in scone making.
I made these for a friend who loves them but you rarely see them in the shops these days. I found the recipe easy to follow. I bake scones often but usually plain. I found the dough a bit wet and sticky but managed to work it by sprinkling a little more flour onto the work surface. Flouring the cutter was essential to get a good clean cut. They were perfect and soft and moist. I will be keeping this recipe and making it often. I managed to get about 15 scones from the mix but next time I will cut thicker scones as I felt some were a bit shallow the thicker ones has a better rise. Highly recommend and a really good treacle flavour. I added a half teaspoon of cinnamon as I like them spicy. My friend rated them 5 star.
I don’t know whether you can help me. I’m from Germany and can not buy treacle here. Maybe I can substitute it with ‘Zuckerrübensirup’? It tastes sweet with a little bit of bitterness.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuckerr%C3%BCbensirup?wprov=sfla1
Am I right that golden syrup is no good substitute for treacle? I can’t buy it here neither but found a recipe to make it at home.
Does it make sense to mix golden syrup with Zuckerrübensirup?
Thank you in advance and thank you very much for your wonderful recipes!
The dark Zuckerrübensirup
Is the closest you can get to Black treacle
Thank you Liam.