Drop Scones (Scotch Pancakes)
A favourite on Pancake Day, or on any day of the year. Drop Scones (aka. Scotch Pancakes) are delicious little pancakes that are easy to make and even easier to devour! If there’s one type of baking I feel I’ve mastered, it’s pancakes! I’ve even joked about writing my own recipe book solely of different…
A favourite on Pancake Day, or on any day of the year. Drop Scones (aka. Scotch Pancakes) are delicious little pancakes that are easy to make and even easier to devour!
If there’s one type of baking I feel I’ve mastered, it’s pancakes!
I’ve even joked about writing my own recipe book solely of different pancake recipes. And it all started with these little beauties. Drop Scones, also known as Scotch Pancakes, are something I’ve been baking since my childhood and something that Granny has always been on hand to help perfect. Similar to American Pancakes but way simpler, they make a great treat for breakfast or just for snacking.
We best enjoy Drop Scones for breakfast, straight from the griddle with a little bit of butter on top. They also make great snacks for wee ones, topped with fruit, yoghurt or lashings of jam – our boys can’t get enough of them!
Best of all, you can even freeze them, popping them in the toaster for a minute or so to bring them back to life whenever you fancy one. And if you plan on batch baking some Drop Scones, then Granny’s top tip of adding a little oil to the batter is a clever way of stopping them from drying out and tasting stale.
So whatever your preference this Shrove Tuesday, you won’t go wrong with a plate of Drop Scones!
Ingredients for Scottish Drop Scones:
Self-raising Flour
Using self-raising flour as opposed to Plain Flour will help give your Scotch Pancakes a little extra lift, keeping them nice and light.
Pinch of Salt
This works hand-in-hand with the raising agents in the flour, creating a chemical reaction that helps make bubbles in the pancakes, making them rise.
Caster Sugar
These pancakes are definitely sweeter than they are savoury! Try swapping the sugar for Golden Caster Sugar for a more caramel-y taste.
Free-range Eggs
The traditional binder ingredient for Drop Scones. I don’t tend to stress too much about the size of eggs in a loaf cake, as long as they’re free-range. For vegan alternatives, see below.
Milk
The moisture in your batter! You can use whatever milk you have to hand, but for extra indulgent pancakes, opt for full-fat milk.
Oil
A little trick from Granny: pop a little oil into your batter before cooking, as it’ll stop the pancakes drying out, and they’ll keep better if you don’t finish eating the batch in one sitting.
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Drop Scones (Scotch Pancakes)
EQUIPMENT
- Griddle Pan (or frying pan)
INGREDIENTS
- 220 g Self-raising Flour
- Pinch Salt
- 50 g Caster Sugar
- 2 Free-range Eggs
- 280 ml Milk
- 1 tbsp Sunflower/Vegetable Oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Sift the flour, salt & sugar into a large bowl.
- Whisk the milk & eggs together in a separate bowl with a fork and then gradually add them to the dry ingredients whilst mixing together. Once combined add the oil and mix again until just combined.
- Grease your griddle or frying pan with a little oil. Once hot, spoon a small amount of the batter (around 2 tablespoons) onto the gridle.
- Your pancakes are ready to flip once bubbles have started to pop on top & they appear dry. Using a spatula, flip the pancakes & cook the other side for around a minute or until a golden brown.
- Remove from the heat & enjoy with your topping of choice.
Video
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.
In Scotland, your ‘griddle’ is traditionally called ‘A GIRDLE’ which is a thick metal plate no sides and a high overhead handle across the diameter.
I’ve always known it as a GIRDLE..pancakes are made on a girdle, girdle scones on a girdle oatcakes, tattie scones…always on a GIRDLE. I still have my granny’s girdle. Black and flat with a handle arching over it. It was used on an open fire or latterly on a range thus the high arching handle so that it didn’t get too hot to handle. Sometimes I use the girdle on our BBQ, a modern twist on the open fire that I knew as a young child in the 40s. Bringing my pancake recipe up to date for the family I serve them at breakfast with loads of bacon and maple syrup. Make them in advance, load up the freezer so that when they all descend from Sassanach land we have dozens to hand without the hassle of weans shouting for more and stressing me out!!
I’m so jealous of you having your Granny’s girdle. In my case it would have been my Granda’s. I wonder where it went… Now I’m keeping my eyes open at car boot sales and the like. This recipe is excellent and very similar to my mother’s. She would make pancakes when expecting a “visitor”. She didn’t have money for boughten baked goods and she would have these, plus home-made jam and a sponge cake of some kind. We were banished from the kitchen when she made them and laid them in overlapping rows in a clean folded tea towel. They were wonderful but we had to wait till the visitor left before we could have any!
My mother didn’t have a girdle so used a thick baking tray on gas hob. Didn’t have scales so everything was done with spoons. Always made the night before but no fridge so covered in a jug and kept beside the cold water sink. A bit of suet in a rag rubbed over the hot plate for cooking. Best drop scones I ever had. I got the first ‘raggy’ one.
I think you mean “griddle” flat bottomed pan.
What we in England refer to as a “griddle” those in Scotland refer to as a “girdle” if you had of taken the time to read all the comments or even comments made early on you would picked up on this! And yes also known as a flat bottomed pan, long winded but if it tickles your fancy go for it
Thanks for a great recipe. I’ve tried a few fo drop scones and these consistently turn out the best. Thank you for sharing :)
I live in Denmark where self-raising flour is not available so my question is very simple :how much baking powder do I need per 100 grams of plain flour?
Your recipes look delicious and I’m looking forward to trying everyone or at least a whole lot of them
1/2 teaspoon to 100gms
My grandmother used to make these,using a bakestone, only difference is she used to thinly slice a cooking apple into small bits and stir the apple into the mix before cooking, result = magnificent
This is what my granny did when I visited at lunchtime from primary school! Fabulous. Im 74 now and this is the first time I have seen anyone acknowledging this can be done. I was beginning to think I had dreamt it!! Off to get some cooking apples.
I have added grated orange peel to the recipe and it was absolutely yummy.
I have tried hundreds of scotch pancake recipes and this recipe is by far the most delicious, making moist fluffy pancakes. You have found just the right balance of ingredients and far easier than CoT and baking powder recipes which I find always taste odd. Thank you!