Saturday, January 29, 2011

The English Scone

For as much "bad" food there is in England, the one thing they do seem to get very right here is the scone. A perfect English scone is light and fluffy, and when served warm with clotted cream and jam it is a little taste of heaven. Up against the triangular, dense scones topped with frosting or sugar that you may find at your local Starbucks in the US, the English scone is pure and doesn't compare to its US cousin in my eyes.

I was at a coffee at a British lady's house earlier this week and upon arrival, she had homemade scones coming out of her oven ready for her guests to enjoy. One bite into these scones, I knew I had to have the recipe! Luckily the kind hostess shared her recipe with me and when I woke up the next day, my first order of business was to make these English scones.
They turned out quite nice and while my version was not as perfect as the ones I had enjoyed in the week, they were my best attempt at traditional English scones so far. I had a friend stop by later in the day when I made them, so she & I indulged in scones and jam with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

Here is the recipe that was shared with me which is pretty easy and quite tasty:

English Scones (courtesy of Fran)
200 g plain flour
2 1/2- 3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
40 g butter
40 g caster sugar
40 g raisins (optional)
1 beaten egg, made up to 125 ml with milk (I guess you beat the egg in the cup first and then add the milk up to the 125 ml line)

Preheat oven to 230 degree C (convection), 210 degrees C (fan)

Sieve flour, baking powder and salt.
Rub in butter until like fine bread crumbs.
Stir in sugar and raisins if using.
Add egg & milk and mix until dough is soft
Roll out (gently) on a floured surface to thickness of 2-3 cm, then cut into rounds. Brush with milk or egg or dust with flour.
Place on greased baking tray and bake 8-10 minutes. (My recipe only yielded 7 scones)

Serve warm with jam (and if you dare, clotted cream!) and enjoy....

1 comment:

Kris said...

Yummy. I will have to try this recipe. I love English scones with clotted cream. One of the best things about living here.