The American scone is a confection in crisis. Puffy and pale, supersized and supersweet, it has lost its purpose. Is it a muffin? Is it a pastry? Does it exist to be frosted with icing, or spread with jam — or only to crumble into the crevices of car upholstery?

This need not be. To taste a lofty, tender scone just as it should be, all you need is 30 minutes and basic pantry ingredients.

And once you’ve mastered scones, you’ll automatically know how to make biscuits. All that separates them is two tablespoons of sugar and an egg.

British scone purists and Southern biscuit purists (and there are plenty of each) may shriek at this. But from a baker’s perspective, “They are pretty much spot on the same,” said Heather Bertinetti, the pastry chef at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City.