Sultana Scones

When I decided to make these I realised I have no go to recipe for scones. I looked online but none seemed to be right as they all used self-raising flour so I went back to basics. My mum bought me a massive recipe book when I went to university. One of those 1,000 recipes ones but there is nothing I’ve ever looked for in there that I haven’t found. It didn’t fail me this time either so with a few tweaks here is the recipe.

So the main thing with scones is that you want a ridge around the middle which means that they rip in half ready to be slathered with jam and cream. These went down well but then anything that I tend to give my work colleagues tends to disappear fairly quickly. I think that the combination of thick dough and a fairly small cutter gives the best scones as you get great height but not a huge scone that makes you feel full just by looking at it! Plus they look like something you’d get at a posh afternoon tea.

Ingredients
450g plain flour
2 tbsp baking powder (yes tablespoon – you want the suckers to rise)
100g butter cubed
100g sultanas
4 tbsp caster sugar
2 large eggs (keep a little to one side to brush on top of the dough)
150ml milk

1.    Preheat oven to 220°/GM7.

2.    Mix the flour and baking powder and rub in the butter. Use tip of fingers – you know you’re doing it right if the palms of your hands stay clean. (I’m sure you could bung it in a food processor). You want it to go breakcrumby.

3.    Add the sultanas and sugar missing in.

4.    Make a well in the centre and add the eggs beating together in the well. You could beat them in a bowl but that’s just more washing up. Add about half the milk and then mix together. Start with a palette knife and then get your hands in. Add more milk if the dough needs it. You’ll probably not need it all.

5.    When it’s all come together turn out on a floured surface and knead until smooth. This is an important part so make sure you do it for 2 or 3 minutes.

6.    Roll the dough out until it’s about 2.5cm thick. Cut out with a 5cm cutter, rerolling when you run out of space. You should get 20-28 scones from it.

7.    Place on a baking tray – non-stick is best – but if not grease the tray. Brush the tops with eggs and cook for about 10 minutes (give it another couple if you think they need it). Make sure you scoff one down while hot and then think about serving the rest to other people.

This has to be dedicated to Jess who bought clotted cream for the ones I brought to work.