Passed down from my grandmother to my mother to me – this is a wonderful recipe for scones from Cornwall.
Ingredients (makes approximately 12)
The following are the ingredients for plain scones to which you may vary (as indicated below) for fruit or savoury varities.
450 grams of plain flour
2 teaspoons of cream of tarter
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of fine salt
100 grams of unsalted butter, room temperature
225 ml of milk
1 beaten egg (to brush on the top before baking)
(Fruit Scones: add 100 grams of sultanas & 50 grams of caster sugar; Savoury: add 100 grams of a strong cheddar cheese, grated, plus 1 teaspoon of mustard powder).
Pre-heat your oven to 210c.
Sift all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. If using, stir in the additional dry ingredients/cheese. Cube the butter with a knife, add to the mix and rub together using the tips of your fingers until fully combined.
Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk; now bring together with one hand into a large ball of dough.
Lightly flour your work surface and, using only your hands (not a rolling pin) gently form the dough into circle that it’s roughly 20cm across and 3cm deep.
Using a serrated cutter (my medium cutter measures 6.5cm) cut out the scones and place on a silicon lined baking tray. Bring the excess pieces of dough together again to reform and cut out.
Brush the top of each scone with the beaten egg and bake for 10-12 mins until golden brown.
Transfer to a cooling rack and eat whilst still warm. Scones are best eaten the same day or frozen, on the day of baking, for later use.
I think I am going to make another batch this week for our breakfast buffet!
Please Note – if serving the fruit of plain scones; they are best eaten with strawberry jam and Cornish Clotted Cream and, ALWAYS, spread your jam on the scone first with the cream on top! You can experiment with different ingredients too – like finely diced chorizo in your cheese scone mix.