Scones

I've been making some scones here in England lately as my sister 'T' claims I make the best scones ever... but it seems, to keep getting the compliments, one has to keep making the scones ;-)


On the snow days when school was closed I made some scones for the wet, cold hungry troops to eat after a long day tobogganing down the slope. It seems the most popular scone in 'T's' house is the 'plain scone' with the obligatory jam and whipped cream - we are in England after all :-) 
Just because I love them though, I made 'sultana scones' too, which also were eaten quite quickly.


Yesterday I asked the family down to our house for afternoon tea - well actually 'T' rang me and asked me to invite them down for afternoon tea ;-)
 As we're house sitting at the moment, and I don't have a full range of ingredients at hand, I was a little constrained with my choices for afternoon tea, but of course scones had to be on the agenda. I baked the popular 'plain scone' but for a change, I also did a 'cheese scone' and an 'apple roll' too.  


As far as the children were concerned, the 'plain scones' still won out, but there was one eater of the 'cheese ones' and he even took the left overs home. 


Sadly, the 'apple rolls' weren't the most successful, but still eminently edible.


I have no photos, but I do have the recipes! 

'Plain scones'

2 cups plain flour

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine

skim milk

Preheat oven to 200°C. 

Sift the flour and a large pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. 

Add the spread and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. 

Stir just enough milk into the scone mixture to make a soft, dough. Turn onto a surface sprinkled with a little flour and knead lightly for a few moments

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm. Use a biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds. Place the scones on a baking sheet, brush with the remaining milk mixture. Bake for about 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden brown. 

'Cheese scones'

225 g self-raising white flour 

2 tbs butter or margarine

40 g Grated Tasty Cheese

2 teaspoons of mixed dried Italian herbs 

25 g grated parmesan cheese 

skim milk 

Preheat oven to 200°C. Sift the flour, baking powder and a large pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the spread and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Stir the cheese into the rubbed-in mixture.

Stir just enough milk into the scone mixture to make a soft, dough. Turn onto a surface sprinkled with a little flour and knead lightly for a few moments.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm. Use a biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds. Avoid twisting the cutter as this prevents the scones from rising well. 

Place the scones on a baking sheet, brush with the remaining milk mixture and sprinkle with the reserved cheese. 

Bake for about 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden brown.