Scones Alternative Glaze | Ask Nigella.com (2024)

Our answer

Nigella's recipe for Lily's Scones (from HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS) includes beaten egg, which is used as a glaze. The egg gives the scones a golden and shiny finish once they are baked. It is however possible to omit the egg and use 1-2 tablespoons of extra milk as a glaze for the scones instead. They will not quite have the same colour and shine but they will still be delicious to eat.

The ingredients use cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) as raising agents. The cream of tartar is acidic and reacts with the bicarbonate of soda to help the scones to rise. Unfortunately we would not recommend using buttermilk in this particular recipe as this would add extra acid and could cause a faster reaction, causing the scones to spread and become a little mis-shapen. If you did use buttermilk you would need to reduce the amount of cream of tartar and we have not tested the recipe with this combination. You could however add a little sugar if you like the scones to be slightly sweet. We would suggest adding 2 teaspoons-1 tablespoon of caster (superfine) sugar. However don't add too much sugar as this can cause the crust on the scones to darken too quickly and become a little hard.