Sunday, May 24, 2009

Ridiculously Simple Scones

It's Sunday morning, you may well have all these ingredients in your house, make something lovely.

Preheat oven to 425F

In a large bowl blend:
2 cups flour (all-purpose is fine)
2 tbls white sugar
1 tbls baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Cut into this 1/4 cup (half stick/four tbls) butter or vegan margarine until it is uniformly coarse. A pastry cutter works best, but a couple of knives or a large serving fork can do the job in a pinch.

In a separate bowl blend 1/2 cup light cream (whole milk/soymilk work fine, skim won't do) and one large egg.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix quickly until you have a soft slightly sticky dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently until it comes together (you'll feel it happen)

Press, pat or roll out until it's about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds using a 2.5 inch biscuit cutter, round cookie cutter or the edge of whisky tumbler* leaving as little space between them as possible, re-roll and cut out the rest of the dough.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in hot oven for 12 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the sheet before moving to a rack.

Eat soon (or right away) with a little butter and jam and a cup of tea.





tarabu's 2 cents:

Cutting - I use a 7 oz neat whisky glass and my scones still separate easily for filling, so you do not necessarily need to have a fancy knife-edged metal cutter. A proper metal cutter does make the job easier, and is necessary if you are making very light biscuits that need room to rise. If you don't have a dedicated cutter and are worried about rising, roll your scone dough out into a rectangle and use a very sharp knife to cut 5" squares, then cut the squares into triangles.

Wash - if you want scones like in a shop, brush a little milk over the top and sprinkle with pearl sugar before baking.

Yes, that's a Highlander mug, and yes, I am a dork.

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