Simple scones

We are well and truly into winter, with the icy mornings and the smell of lounge room fires in the air, and what better way to spend an afternoon than with a plate of freshly baked scones? They're a relatively healthy afternoon treat, as these scones have no sugar and a lot less butter than those favoured Anzac or choc chip biscuits. Plain scones can also be a lovely afternoon tea for your little ones - my 1 year old loves to nibble on plain pieces, while we devour ours covered in butter, jam and even cream - whatever tickles your fancy.

This recipe is from my mum. Very simple, with easy ingredients that you probably have in the cupboard, and only takes about 20 minutes to make - just enough time to put on the kettle for some tea and get the fire (or heater) going in the lounge room.

One of the most important parts of making scones is the rubbing of the butter and flour mixture between your finger tips. This process is needed to mix the butter in, and also to create a nice airy mixture. It's also important to ensure you don't squish the dough too much, so that the end results are fluffy and soft on the inside, with a crispy outer shell.

You could add in some natural sweetness with dried fruit such as sultanas, chopped up dates or dried apricots, allowing you to have the scones by themselves, packed in a school lunchbox or taken to work. You could also make them savoury, but that's a whole other post!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

240g self raising flour (plus extra for rolling in)

1tsp baking powder

60g butter at room temperature (not melted!)

150ml milk

Makes ~12 scones.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and spray a baking tray with olive oil spray.

2. Add the flour and baking powder to a medium sized bowl. Then sprinkle a handful of the extra flour on a clean working bench, and spread it out with fingers (ready for dough to be rolled in later).

3. Cut butter into ~1cm cubes or chunks and add to flour mixture.

4. Wash hands thoroughly before picking up handfuls of mixture and rubbing the butter cubes into the flour between your thumb and pointer and middle fingers. Try to lift your hands enough to add some air into the mixture as it falls. Continue until the mixture resembles bread crumbs (as in picture below).

5. Add the milk, then stir mixture together with a knife. Do not try to go straight in with your hands as they will get covered in sticky flour and milk! Once the mixture has clumped together well using the knife, then you can get your hands in to gather the dough into a ball.

6. Collect as much dough from the bowl as you can, and softly squish into a round shape. Place the dough ball on the floured working surface, sprinkle a little extra flour on top, and rub over your rolling pin.

7. Gently roll the dough out to about 1-1.5cm thickness, moving it around if necessary to keep it even.

8. Using a scone or cookie cutter, or a glass with a sharp edge, cut out the scone shapes from the rolled dough as close together as possible. Place each cut out scone on the greased oven tray. When as many scones have been cut out as possible, gently squish remaining dough together again, and repeat rolling and cutting process until all dough has been used up.

9. Bake in oven for approx. 12 minutes, or until nicely risen and browned on top.

Serve with butter, jam and cream, as you like. I hope you enjoy making and eating these as much as I do!