Covid19 Kernow Scones – #cookinginquarantine

Stuck indoors with the weather this good?!?

It’s just not on, but we are doing our bit for our future. It is hard, some dream of staying at home but not everyone can just stop. I’d quite like to get out and about, even just a casual evening drive is now a taboo!

This time of year is normally perfect for that walk in the warm, somewhere nice such as Budleigh Salterton is a favourite of ours and when on the way back indulge in a South-Western favourite, the great Cream Tea.

Who can resist a Cream Tea? A particular favourite spot of ours is known as Southern Cross Tea Rooms which is a fantastically quaint tea rooms located in Newton Poppleford, East Devon.

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A solid, go-to Scone recipe (Makes 12 decent sized Scones):

• Strong white flour (this will also work with plain white flour too): 500g.
• Baking Powder: 1.7 tbs.
• Optional bicarbonate of soda: 0.3 tbp if you want additional oven spring / rise.
• Pinch of salt, approx 3g.
• Thoroughly chilled unsalted butter: 90g.
• Milk: 280g.
• A single large Egg.

This recipe is very adaptable as you can use the above list to create plain, savoury or sweet scones. For example you could add around 150g of dried fruit and 90g of sugar for a sweetened fruit scone or add 150g of strong cheddar and some mustard powder instead. Another good option is a teaspoon of almond extract, 150g of halved glace cherries, 90g of sugar and a couple of drops of vanilla extract for that super sweet ‘bakewell style’ scone you didn’t realise you wanted…

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 190° Fan.
2. Get all of the dry ingredients in a suitable mixing vessel (excluding fruits / cheese additions – mustard powder however is fine to go in at this point) and combine thoroughly.
3. Weigh out the butter and dice into small cubes, smaller the better and colder the better.
4. Crumb the butter into the flour until fine and the dry ingredients clump together when crushed.
5. Combine milk, eggs and any other wet ingredients into a suitable mixing vessel and beat thoroughly. I would add 2/3rds of this mix into the dry ingredients and combine using a table knife, trying not to mix it too much. You can cut through it to combine.
6. When combined to a slightly tacky dough tip out onto a floured surface, roll or press to a thickness of approximately 35mm and cut out into your desired size.
7. Place your scones to be on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment, let rest for 10-15 minutes then bake in the oven.
8. They will take around 15 minutes, remove once browned to your liking.
9. Let cool for a little while so they set up nicely, serve with your favourite accoutrements.
10. Enjoy!