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SUNDAY SCONES

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Serves: 8

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I think the secret to a light and crumbly scone is not so much the recipe but rubbing the butter and the dry ingredients together using your fingertips, NOT a food processor. This recipe if from the South African cookbook Bible, called Cook and Enjoy it. I've added personal notes at the end.

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 4 teaspoons coarsely grated butter (ice-cold)
  • 1 egg (mix with milk)
  • ¾ cup milk (leave a tiny bit behind to use for brushing on top)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius (475 to 500 Fahrenheit). Grease a baking sheet and dust with cake flour
  2. Sift together the dry ingredients.
  3. Rub in the coarsely grated butter using your fingertips, until the mixture is crumbly.
  4. Add the liquid, cutting it into the flour with a spatula until just blended. Avoid unnecessary handling or kneading as it will affect the texture of the scones.
  5. Place the dough on a floured board and flatten gently with your hands or roll out gently until 2cm thick.
  6. Cut out 5 cm rounds with a biscuit cutter or cut into squares or triangles with a knife and place on the prepared baking sheet.
  7. Brush each round with milk/egg mixture and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown on top. This recipe yields up to 12 small scones.
  8. Cook's notes: I use a silicone sheet to bake the scones on, instead of buttering/flouring a baking sheet. I use the butter straight from the fridge, but don't usually bother grating it.
  9. Add the liquid as needed, if you just chuck it all in you could end up with a wet dough (the result will still be good, you'll just not be able to roll it out).
  10. I often skip steps 5 and 6 and just scoop bits by hand/spatula, which gives a rustic homemade look, which I don't mind... this way it also doesn't matter if your dough is a bit too wet (and less clean-up!).
  11. I have found that this recipe makes quite a wet batter if you add all the liquid, even though this still makes an excellent scone, but I've heard that can depend on where you live/humidity/etc. I like large scones, so for me the recipe yields about 8 scones.

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