Sweet, Sophisticated, English Scones
You need to put together a quick tea time spread and running short of time. If there is one thing you’re going to make, let it be this! Light and dainty English scones ooze sophistication, yet are unbelievably easy to make and will have people talking your simple yet sophisticated spread for days.
Tips for Making Perfect Scones
- Use cold butter straight from the fridge
- If possible use a food processor to combine the butter and flour and don’t knead the mixture ever!
- When placing the scones in the baking tray they need to be touching, this helps them to rise evenly in the cooking process.
English Scones Recipe
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 22 minutes | Yield: 8 scones
INGREDIENTS
- 350g/12¼oz self-raising flour + extra for dusting
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 85g/3oz butter (cold)
- 45g/2oz caster sugar
- 175ml milk
- 1/8 tsp lemon juice
- Milk for glazing
FILLING
- Room temperature butter
- 200ml double cream
- Good quality preserves (strawberry/blackcurrant/raspberry)
- 2 tbsp heaped icing sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 220C/ 200C fan /428F/Gas mark 7, putting a baking tray in the oven to preheat as well.
- Sieve the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl and mix well. Transfer it to the food processor add the cold butter and pulse to fine breadcrumbs
- Mix in the sugar. Add the lemon juice to the milk and then add this to the flour mixture. Stir quickly and then use your hands to make a loose dough ball.
- Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper or if you’re planning to freeze the scones, prepare a few trays that will fit in your freezer.
- Roll the dough out to roughly 2cm thick, then cut out the scones with a round 5cm fluted pastry cutter. Gather the left overs of the dough, roll, cut and repeat.
- Place the dough scones directly on the preheated baking tray, brush the tops of the scones with a little milk and return to the oven.
- Bake for 10 – 12 minutes until lightly golden on top.
- Leave for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring to a cooling rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve with double cream and jam.
And voila! super easy, delish scones.
