We hadn’t made this recipe for a while until only just recently. However it was a little treasure of the weekend. My daughter and I made a couple of batches. Easy enough to make by herself, and delicious enough to be a fantastic reward at the end. We made half the batch plain, and the other half we added some soaked raisins, however it could have been any other dried fruit or even chocolate chips. Once you have the basic recipe, the world is your oyster. You can even make the scones savoury by adding cheese and other herbs.
| Preparation time Less than 15 mins | Cooking time 12-15 mins | Diet Vegetarian |
| Pre-heat oven 220C/200C fan/ gas 7 | Grease and line A shallow, 37cm x 28cm tin lined with baking paper | Portions Serves 16 |
Ingredients
700g self-raising flour, plus more for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
170g butter, softened and cut into cubes
6 tbsp caster sugar
300ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 squeezes of lemon juice (to create buttermilk)
2 beaten eggs
jam and clotted cream, to serve
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven.
Step 2
Sieve the flour, salt and the baking powder together into a mixing bowl.
Step 3
Add the butter, rubbing it into the flour mix until your mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Use your fingers (cooler) rather than the palms of your hands.
Step 4
Stir in the sugar. It is at this point you can add dried fruit if you wish.
Step 5
Warm up the milk (this can be done for half a minute in the microwave) and then add the two sqeezes of lemon juice and the vanilla extract. You are creating the buttermilk needed for the recipe. Add the beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly.
Step 6
Put your baking tray into the oven.
Step 7
Make a “well” in the dry mix in the bowl and add the liquid mixture. Using a normal cutlery knife cut into the mixture, combining it gradually. It might seem sticky at first but once the ingredients are well combined, you will have a workable dough.
Step 8
Flour a kitchen surface and tip out the dough, dusting flour over the dough before starting to work it. Fold the dough a few times before you pat it smooth to a depth of around 4cm.
Step 9
Using a 5cm cutter, start to cut out the scones. You can dip the cutter into the flour so the dough doesn’t stick to the cutter.
Step 10
Brush the tops of each scone with milk to glaze them. Put them into the greased lined tin that has been in the oven, and cook for 12-15 mins. They should have risen and be slightly golden on top.
Enjoy warm out of the oven, or cool!
Tips
Scones are similar to a sweet soda bread which means it should not be over-handled or else it becomes tough. Put the scones onto a hot tray before putting into the oven to kickstart the cooking process.
You can introduce 170g of soaked sultanas when mixing in the sugar to make a fruity scone.
Freezing the scones is simple. Just ensure that they have cooled down. Place into a airtight container. They can be kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. You might want to put greese-proof paper between layers to stop them sticking together.
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