What are Tattie Scones?

Tattie scones are a Scottish breakfast food made with mashed potatoes, flour, salt, and butter. You may also hear them called potato scones, and they are a popular item in Scotland, where they often appear as part of the traditional full Scottish breakfast. You can also see variations on tattie scones in Ireland, where they are better known as fadge or sometimes potato bread. In the United Kingdom, tattie scones are generally readily available; you can also make them at home quite easily.

The term “scone” is a bit misleading here, as it conjures up a fluffy, bready pastry which Americans think of as a biscuit. Tattie scones are more like oatcakes, being much thinner than scones, and made with a dough which cooks into a flexible sheet which can be eaten plain, rolled around a variety of ingredients, or used to sandwich things like cheese and jam. Tattie scones are also heavier than traditional scones, because they lack leavening.

To make tattie scones, cooks mix potatoes and flour in a roughly two to one ratio, adding in one third cup of melted butter for every cup of mashed potatoes, and a pinch of salt, creating a flexible but slightly stiff dough. The dough is classically rolled out and cut into rounds, which are fried either on a griddle or in a heavy pan on the stovetop. Before cooking, the tattie scones are pierced with several small holes to ensure that they cook all the way through, and after cooking, the rounds are cut into four quarters.

Other ingredients may be added to tattie scones for more texture and flavor. It is important to remember that these scones are naturally savory, rather than sweet, unlike many other breakfast pastries, so things like dried or candied fruit sometimes go awry in tattie scones, but cooks can add cooked oatmeal or cheese with success. Cheese also makes an excellent topping for tattie scones, especially when melted.

There's nothing to stop you from making tattie scones at other times of the day than breakfast, and they also make a decent cold lunch, especially when wrapped around ham, cheese, or other ingredients to make a sandwich. You can also toast tattie scones to revive their freshness, serving them with butter, cheese, or other toppings to choice.