Sunday, June 25, 2006

Everyday scones (that work every time)

Before anybody asks, this is the standard scone recipe. It came to my rescue twice last weekend, and on many other occasions. I was given it by a former colleague, Margaret, and have since passed it on to many other people. If you're American, I believe these are what you would call 'biscuits'. Here in Oz, a biscuit is what you would term 'cookie.' Isn't it great that we all speak English?
Measurements are Australian standard cup and spoon measurements. There is a conversion chart here if this helps you.

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup thickened cream
3/4 cup milk
pinch salt

Put the flour and salt in a bowl, mix and make a well. Pour in the cream and milk and mix until just combined. Put the dough on a floured board, flatten gently and cut with a floured cutter. Place in a baking tin lined with baking paper (one quantity fits in a lamington tin with the scones just touching). Makes about a dozen.
Bake at 200degCelsius for about 10-15 min.
You can paint them with an egg or milk wash before baking, if you wish, but I like them floury rather than glossy.
Serve with butter, or jam (raspberry or black cherry are both good, or home-made) and whipped cream.

It's good to have some things sorted in your life - so much does change, nor am I averse to it, but to have settled on a standard scone recipe is comfortable, and simplifies life. Oh, I get told about lemonade scones and other magic recipes, but I'm never going back to rubbing butter into flour - A. I hate the stuff under my fingernails and B. I believe it involves too much handling of the dough, toughening the scones. With this recipe and a 600ml bottle of thickened cream in the fridge (some for in and some for on the scones), you can have them in the oven five minutes after the visitors arrive.

2 comments:

Brenda said...

I have some unexpected (but welcome!) visitors landing on my doorstep tomorrow so plan on whipping up some pumpkin soup and cheese scones. Sorry to be dense but what kind of "thickened" cream do you use? I assume it's not regular whipping cream?

rooruu said...

Regular thickened cream is sold in supermarkets, in 300ml and 600ml bottles, brand name and generic, and it does just fine. Its purpose is liquid and as the substitute for butter, so I'd avoid anything 'lite' (low fat) as an alternative.