Three days before my first exam paper this semester and all i have to show for are these scones. You would think that having spent the first couple days of Swot Vac moving all our stuff into my little sister’s new apartment, i would have spend the precious remaining days i had left studying. But nooo, in typical me fashion, studying was the last thing my brain wanted to do it seems. So my days were spent looking longingly at recipes and beautiful pictures of gooey sinfully chocolate brownies, light fluffy scones, tarts of all sorts, oh i could go on forever. So yes, i’ve hardly done anything academically productive, even with my first paper looming near in three days.
But i do have these scones to show for, and that counts for something right?
There’s nothing more English than scones, in my humble opinion and i’m sure i’m far from the only one who feels that way. The mere mention of scones conjure images of English ladies, all in their finest dresses, sitting around at a tea party, sipping tea while daintily nibbling on their scones. The English sure were onto something with the scones quickly growing in popularity around the world.
As unadorned as a scone might be, there are surprisingly many variations around the world. In some states in the United States, a scone often refers to a deep fried flattened bread, commonly used as the base of tacos or consumed with honey butter. Of course, like everything else that surpasses a certain level of popularity, there’s a fried version of scones as well, known as the griddle scones.
I don’t know about you but i much prefer my scones traditional, topped with a sliver of butter and strawberry jam or a generous drizzle of honey. Either way, these scones were pretty damned good; light, fluffy with a slight crusted top and just a hint of butter.
I had a little trouble with the dough as it was really sticky and i didn’t want to overknead it so i simply divided the dough into 16 portions as opposed to using a round cookie cutter like the recipe suggested. It worked out fine. Just as a couple of tips, avoid flouring the workspace you’re kneading the dough on with too much flour as this will upset the balance of ingredients. Also, be careful not to overknead the dough which will result in dense scones.
Still I couldn’t have asked for more with these scones, they really hit the spot for an mid afternoon snack. Now if only they could do something about that paper i have on Friday.
Scones [adapted from Women's Weekly's Home Baked]
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups plain flour
3 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cold water
- Preheat oven to 200C. Grease a deep 19cm cake pan and set aside.
- Sift flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Rub butter in using hands.
- Make a well in the centre and pour in milk and almost all the water. Using a knife, “cut” the milk and water through the sifted ingredients to make a soft, sticky dough. The dough should just hold its shape when turned out. Add a little more water if needed.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead quickly and lightly till smooth. Divide dough into 16 portions, rolling each portion into a ball. Place them in prepared pan, just touching each other.
- Brush the tops of scones with milk and bake for 15 minutes. When done, turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 16
