Queen Elizabeth II died at her home in Balmoral, Scotland, on September 8, 2022. She was Queen of the United Kingdom, but also Queen of Australia as well. I want to pay tribute this remarkable woman with this recipe. This recipe was written by her in her letter sent to the US president Eisenhower in 1960, the year I was born. You can find the images of her letter and the recipe on the internet. I heard that these Drop Scones are also known as Scottish Pancakes. Her recipe was for 16 servings. That was too much for many of us. I halved the recipe. And also she used a teacup for measuring. I translated 1 teacup is about 3/4 measuring cup.
Makes
8 Scones (Pancakes)
Ingredients
1 & 1/2 cups Plain Flour *1 cup is 250ml
2 tablespoons Caster Sugar
3/4 cup Milk
1 large Egg
1 teaspoon Bi-Carbonate Soda
1 & 1/2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
1 tablespoon melted Butter
Oil OR Butter for cooking
Queen Elizabeth II’s Original Ingredients
4 teacups Plain Flour
4 tablespoons Caster Sugar
2 teacups Milk
2 whole Eggs
2 teaspoons Bi-Carbonate Soda
3 teaspoons Cream of Tartar
2 tablespoons melted Butter
Method
- Beat Eggs, Sugar and about 1/2 of Milk in a mixing bowl.
- Add Flour, Bi-Carbonate Soda and Cream of Tartar, and mix adding remaining Milk as required. (I think you will need all Milk.) Fold in melted Butter. *Note: This batter is very thick. It’s like Bread Dough.
- The Queen suggested not to leave the batter for too long, that means you need to cook it straight away.
- Heat a large thick-base frying pan such as cast iron pan. When it is hot, lower the heat to very low and cool the pan slightly. Lightly oil the pan, drop large spoonfuls of batter on pan and form pancakes. I recommend to cover with a lid.
- Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then flip them over, and cook for 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and cover with a tea towel to keep warm while you cook the second batch.
- Serve with Jam, Cream, Butter, Golden Syrup, etc.
Comments
MC
3/01/2026
Hello Hiroko. It’s true than Queen Elizabeth scottish scones dough is much thicker than most of the recipes we can see here and there on websites. I made them (direct from the Queen recipe) and my opinion is that they are much closer to real scones (except they are made on a pan and not in the oven), when the traditional scottish drop scones are thiner, closer to pancakes (a bit tmore dense and firm, and smaller). In fact, what I can see from my scottish friends, and on very traditionnal scottish cooking websites, concerning the famous scottish drop scones, is very far from the Queen recipe.
A question : I wonder why you don’t mention the famous “bubbles” which really are the specificity of the scottish drop scones, and even mentioned by the queen in her recipe ? And another question (not as serious, but anyway… :-) ) : why all those capital letters for very basic words as milk, flour, sugar…) ???. I had to suppress them all when copying/pasting your text :-( Well not very important… Have a nice new year, full of good recipes ! MC
Hiroko
3/01/2026
Hello. Thank you for your comment. You probably know I’m Japanese who is living in Melbourne. I have never been to Scotland and never tasted real Scottish food. This is my guess work, and I just wanted to share Queen’s recipe that I found on the internet. It is always interesting to hear from Scottish people about their drop scones. My husband’s ancestors came from Scotland. I am hoping to visit the land one day.
By the way, about the usage of capital letters. It is because capital letters make it easier for me to recognise the ingredients in writing. It’s has become my habit.