So I was
looking at my blog and lamenting the fact that I hadn’t written up any recent
baking exploits. I then realised I hadn’t really experimented that much and had
been baking things I’ve baked before. This isn’t a bad thing – it’s very
comforting to know the outcome and not stress about things. I saw the Hot Cross
Bun bread and, with Easter coming up, thought it might be nice to make Hot
Cross Buns. Then I remembered that they take a while, what with the rising of
the dough etc etc. What to do?
Hot Cross
Scones of course! They don’t need rising, there is no yeast, and scones are
super quick to make. I had some peel left over from Christmas so away I went.
They have been a success which I can safely say after devouring the one I took a picture of. Well it was already spread with butter. I went with butter as
the ‘serve’ but I guess jam and cream would work. Try it.
I use a
small cutter when making scones as I find a large scone off putting. These are
very light so you can eat four and feel ok about it, in a way you couldn’t if
you attempted to eat two large ones. Not sure how that works but it does.
Ingredients
100g cold
butter, cubed
450g plain
flour
2 tbsp
baking powder
2 heaped tsp
mixed spice
4 tbsp
caster sugar
100g
sultanas
50g mixed
peel
2 large
eggs, beaten
100ml whole
milk
4tbsp plain
flour
- Preheat oven to 220°/GM7.
- Mix the flour, baking powder and mixed spice 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.
- Add the sultanas, peel and sugar mixing in.
- Make a well in the centre and add the eggs (keeping a little back to glaze the tops). 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.
- 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.
- 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 can use a larger one). You should get 20-28 scones from it.
- Place on a baking tray – non-stick is best – but if not grease the tray. Brush the tops with the remaining egg.
- Take the 4 tbsp of flour and mix with about 5-6 tbsp of cold water to make a batter. I had mine fairly runny but it can be a bit thick. You need it to make the cross on top so put in a piping bag or something with a nozzle (I found some great squeezy bottles in Tiger) and pipe crosses on top. I did them all at once when they were on the tray – see below picture for the mess I made.
- Cook for about 12-15 minutes (give it another couple if you think they need it). Make sure you eat one while hot just to live up to the name!