Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Scones

If it can be served at high tea, you can be dadgum sure I will want to eat it, make it, pet it, love it, and call it my own.

Scones fit neatly into that category.

I still remember my first attempt in eighth grade home economics... nasty, hard little pebbles of... well, nastiness.

Since then I've baked scones more times than I care to remember, and thankfully have never recreated those disasters. My tricks are a phenomenally hot oven, as little handling as possible, and an old-school grandma recipe. They always make the best, don't they?



Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
30g butter
3/4 cup milk

Method

1. Preheat your oven to astronomical proportions. Ok, 350-400C. I usually take it up to as hot as it will go, but my ovens have all been models from 1872* and don't get very hot.

2. Put flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. (I absolutely hate this bit, as I cannot stand getting my hands dirty. Feel free to sponsor Veggie Mama with a pastry cutter!)

3. Mix in combined milk and water, very carefully. I like to use two knives, pulling away from each other. Turn onto a floured surface and knead very lightly until the flour is all mixed.

3. Pat dough out to about 1inch thick, and cut into rounds. I didn't have any cutters for these scones, so I cut them like a pizza into triangles. It's just not the same!

4. Place quite close together in a greased tray. Brush tops with a little milk and bake 10-15minutes until golden brown, and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped.

5. Put the kettle on. It's the law.


* I KNOW there were no electric stoves in that time. You may or may not substitute 1965 for 1872...


13 comments:

  1. This is great! One of the thing on my cooking list is to make scones...I make steal your recipe when I do. : )

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  2. They are gloriously crunchy on the outside! So yum.

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  3. Your scones look really delicious!

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  4. I knew not to handle the dough much, but I'll have to try the hot oven. And your scones look absolutely delicious!

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  5. Oh, scones. How I love thee! Haven't made them in a while, so I had better give it a go.

    Scones were one of the first things I made myself in cooking class in high school! My mum was amazed how high they got when I made them at home, and I can still feeling 100 feet tall when she praised them so much (she's a really great baker).

    These look delish. Ok - official craving starting now....

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  6. I do love a good scone. Have you ever tried lemonade scones? Mmm mm...

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  7. Lemonade scones, sound yum!

    Good tip on not handling the dough much...I didn't know this. I have only made scones a few times and they have been a bit hit and miss. I will have to give this recipe a shot

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  8. I am totally going to do lemonade scones soon... I've been meaning to since about 1999, so should probably stop procrastinating! Anything to avoid doing that whole rubbing in the butter business.

    This is just the weather for scones and a great cup of tea, so get cracking the lot of you!

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  9. I am totally going to do lemonade scones soon... I've been meaning to since about 1999, so should probably stop procrastinating! Anything to avoid doing that whole rubbing in the butter business.

    This is just the weather for scones and a great cup of tea, so get cracking the lot of you!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I do love a good scone. Have you ever tried lemonade scones? Mmm mm...

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  11. I knew not to handle the dough much, but I'll have to try the hot oven. And your scones look absolutely delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is great! One of the thing on my cooking list is to make scones...I make steal your recipe when I do. : )

    ReplyDelete