It’s no secret that for years I’ve been trying to bake decent scones and each batch always comes out resembling hockey pucks more than anything you would want to eat, so I swore that this was going to be my last go. Jack was going to get the gig if these ones failed, he’s the keen scone eater anyway!

To my surprise though, these ones are the best yet, although as Jack says the texture is a bit more cake-ish than scones should be, a plus as far as I’m concerned. The recipe is for plain scones but cherry scones are our favourites and most of the shop bought cherry scones are very disappointing. I swear they stick a few pieces of cherry on the outside of them as often on the inside there isn’t so much as a hint of cherry.

Plain Scones

225g (8oz) of self-raising flour
40g (1 and a half oz) of sugar
75g (3 oz) of butter or margarine, diced
30 ml ( 1 fl oz) of milk
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 220 C (425 F) Gas mark 7

Lightly grease a baking sheet and dust with a little flour.

Put the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar and then rub in the diced butter or margarine, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the milk and beaten egg and briefly mix it all together.

Turn out onto a floured surface, knead lightly and form a dough. Roll out to a thickness of at least 2.5 cm or 1 inch. Cut out the scones using a 6.5 cm cutter (2.5 inches)

Brush the scones lightly with a little bit of milk if you are that way inclined, I don’t bother.

Bake for about 10 minutes until risen and golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool.

If you want to add fruit as I did do so just before the milk and agg are added. Use 3 oz of cherries (halved) sultanas, dates or cheese if you wish.

I decided to try this recipe because I thought that as it uses self-raising flour there was a better chance of it working. So it isn’t quite as dense as normal scones. I left mine in slightly too long, next time I’ll check them after just 8 minutes I think.

I forgot to re-do the ingredients using a US set of cups, so if anyone wants me to do that let me know and I’ll do it next time and amend the post.

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