Can I Interest You In Some Earl Grey or Darjeeling, Maam?

There’s nothing quite like a hot scone dripping with jam and cream. Dieting folks, look away now.

Down here scones can be savoury (made with vegetables such as pumpkin, or combinations like ham and cheese) sweet (fruit scones) or plain - a good basic scone recipe tends to go down a treat for afternoon tea along with a cup of tea. They’re perfect winter fare, conjuring up images of comfort food, aprons and Grandmas. Of course, it’s summer down here, but we’ve just been through a particularly wintery rain spell so a batch of these were very much welcomed by my testers, Talented Hubby, Master J and Moo. Oh, and for the record, we pronouce them ’sconn’, not ’sc-own’, LOL.

Basic Scones
Makes 20

Ingredients:

4 cups (600g/1.3 lbs) self-raising flour
2 tablespoons icing (confectioners) sugar
60g (a little over 2 oz) butter
1 ½ cups (375ml/12.5 oz) milk
¾ cup (180ml/6 oz) water
* thickened/whipping cream to serve
* jam to serve

Method:

Preheat oven to 200ºC (430ºF/very hot). Line a shallow 20cm x 30cm (8″x11″) pan with non-stick baking paper.

Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl; rub in butter with fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, add milk and almost all of the water. Use a knife to ‘cut’ the milk and water through the flour mixture, mixing to a soft, sticky dough (begin by adding the milk and then add the water only as needed to form the right consistency - the last time I made these, I didn’t need any water at all and they still turned out lovely). Knead dough on floured surface until smooth.

Press dough out to 2cm (¾ inch) thickness (no need for a rolling pin, just use your hands). Dip a 4.5cm (1 ¾ inch) round cutter in flour, cut rounds from dough. Knead together the dough scraps and repeat until all used up. Place scones, side by side, just touching, in pan.

Brush tops with a little extra milk; bake about 15 minutes or until scones are just browned and sound hollow when tapped.

While the scones are baking, pour some cream into a small bowl and attack it with a stick blender to make it lovely and thick. Serve these mounds of deliciousness with jam and cream.

Note: Scones are best served the day they are made, fresh and hot out of the oven. You can freeze them but they never really compare to fresh-baked so for best results, keep the batches small (and just bake them more often!)