These simple spelt drop scones, made with spelt flour, honey, and a little vanilla, are a slightly denser small pancake. Not like American pancakes and not like unleavened typical European pancakes, they’re from Scotland and northern England. While the modern versions aren’t usually made with spelt flour I don’t think it would be a stretch to think that people may have used spelt or other ancient grains historically.

Using spelt flour makes for a more flavourful Scotch pancake, as does adding honey and vanilla. Most recipes call for self-raising flour which (I don’t think) exists with spelt flour, and either way, self-raising flour isn’t readily available outside of the UK and Australia.

For some more delicious alternatives to everyday pancakes, try ancient grain einkorn pancakes, fluffy gluten-free banana pancakes with buckwheat flour, or green spinach pancakes with chickpea and buckwheat.

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Milk: use any milk you like here. I always use homemade oat milk.
• Flour: use light (sifted), whole grain, or a blend of the two. I particularly like 50:50 for this recipe for the best flavour and rise.
• Honey: depending on the type you use, the taste of the honey may come through quite strongly. A dark honey is very nice here but a creamed one will be more neutral. Substitute maple syrup or any type of sugar if preferred.
• Vanilla: this can be omitted or you can use another spice, like cinnamon.

Step by Step

Step 1: beat the egg and honey to combine, then whisk in the milk and vanilla.

Step 2: mix in the flour and other dry ingredients.

Step 3: spoon the batter into a preheated pan and cook until bubbles appear throughout.

Step 4: carefully flip and cook the other side, until cooked through.

Recipe Notes

This recipe came about pretty much because I found a Skeppshult scotch pancake pan secondhand (this one, but mine cost about eight euro) when we lived in Sweden, and I wanted to use it! You can use a normal pan though, don’t worry, it’s probably easier than trying to get the scones to flip perfectly in the specialist pan!

There’s no added oil in this recipe, so be sure to add some to the frying pan. Eggs contain fat so that will help to prevent too much sticking but if your pan isn’t well-seasoned you’ll definitely need a thin layer of oil.

How to Store

Storage: keep in a sealed container at room temperature for up to three days. Leftovers can be toasted to reheat, or popped back into a frying pan for a minute or two.

Freezing: transfer fully cooled scones to an airtight container and freeze for up to two months. Thaw at room temperature and reheat if desired.

Expert Tips

• Don’t worry if the batter seems thick: these are drop scones, not fluffy pancakes, and the batter is definitely thicker than you might expect. It’s cooked at a slightly lower temperature to account for this.
• Keep the heat low: because the batter is thick, too hot too fast will result in scones that are raw in the middle and too brown on the outside. Low-medium is probably ideal, but every cooker is different.
• Don’t over-mix: if the batter is mixed for too long, the resulting pancakes will be too dense and chewy. Mix until just combined and know that a few streaks of flour are fine.

More Easy Pancakes

Spelt Pancakes
Lemon Pancakes
Oat Milk Pancakes
German Pancakes