Sultana Scones

Scones are one of my favorites, especially with sultanas or raisins in them. So I decided to make some.  The texture of the English style of scone is different to the North American one, it is less cake-line, and should be light and fluffy and slightly crumbly as well.  Best eaten fresh they can be heated in the oven to refresh them if not eaten on the day of baking. 

I made a mistake with my cookie cutter, using 8cm rather than 7cm so my scones were larger than I intended, but they still turned out very well indeed.

Once cold I opened one up and spread it with butter to eat with a cup of tea.  Of course, clotted cream and jam is a very traditional way of serving scones, so that would be very good too.  

Mine tasted very good indeed and, eaten fresh, were very soft just as they should be.  After the first day the texture will become drier and harder, but that is easily remedied with a liitle heating in the oven as I mentioned earlier.

The recipe is very easy, if a little time consuming, the important thing is not to work the dough too much.  Having cut out the first tranche the remaining dough can be pulled together and more can be cut out. But after a second cutting the excess dough will still be ok to use, but the resultant scones are likely to be more cakey in texture.

Ingredients:

• 450g plain flour
• 20g baking powder
• 80g unsalted butter
• 80g caster sugar
• 70g sultanas(or other dried fruit)
• 250ml milk
• 2 medium eggs (large in USA)
• 1 egg, salted lightly for brushing over the top.
• Extra flour for the rolling out.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/430F
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl place the flour and baking powder and mix to fully combine.
4. Add the butter and rub it into the flour using your finger tips. (A pastry cutter/blender can be used too), until you have a breadcrumb-like texture.
5. Add the sugar and mix to combine.
6. Add the sultanas and mix in.
7. Add the eggs and most of the milk, holding back a couple of tablespoons.
8. Using a knife stir the mixture to combine everything, you don’t want to overwork the dough.
9. Add a little more milk if required to get the dough combined and to a sticky texture.#
10. Tip out onto a well floured work surface and turn to coat in flour.
11. Form the dough into a rough oblong and then fold it in half, turn 90 degrees and fold again, and do the same two more times.
12. Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2cm, about 1 inch, and cut out round shapes using a 7cm cookie cutter(just under 3 inches). Don’t twist the cookie cutter, press straight down.
13. Place the circles of dough on to the baking tray.
14. Re-roll the dough, not working a lot, and cut out more.
15. Re-roll again if you wish, but the resultant scones will be more cake-like.
16. Whisk the egg and salt and brush over the tops of the scones.
17. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
18. Remove from the oven and place the beautifully browned scones on a wire rack to cool down before serving.