Scones

I love a good scone (or 3) and these are still a regular for Sunday morning tea. The recipe probably started out using the Edmonds cookbook one, but it's another one that's been tweaked a lot of the years until I got it just right. 

The secret to a good scone (I think) is limited handling, along with cold butter and a little bit of water to thin the milk. The dough should be pretty sticky as well. 

I make all the flavours of scone (cheese, date etc.) from the same basic recipe, just adding the required bits in about halfway along. I don't measure these bits either, just add things in until it looks about right

Quantity: 12 standard or 8 large

Prep time: about 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients 

Quantity	Ingredient
3c	Flour
5 tsp	Baking powder
pinch	Salt
75 gm	Butter (needs to be cold, straight from the fridge)
1 c	Milk
1/4 c	Cold water
2 Tbsp	Sugar - this is for plain scones only. See other ingredients below for other types

For non-plain scones

Cheese: a handful of grated cheese, ¼ tsp mustard powder, (optional) a pinch of chilli powder. Extra cheese for topping

Date/Sultana: 2 Tbsp Brown sugar, a handful or 2 of chopped dates or sultanas, ½ tsp ground cinnamon. Extra cinnamon and caster sugar for topping

Method

1. Turn the oven on to 190°C, and line a baking tray with baking paper
2. Put the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl and mix together
3. Grate the butter into the flour mix, then rub together with your fingers to break it up a bit more. It should look a bit like coarse breadcrumbs and the odd bigger bit of butter is fine. The butter needs to be cold to do this so keep in the fridge until ready to add in
4. Now's the time to set the flavour. Mix in:
1. for plain scones add 2 Tbsp sugar
2. for cheese, add ¼ tsp mustard powder and a handful or 2 of grated cheese. Just add cheese until it looks enough 
3. for date or sultana add 2 Tbsp brown sugar, ½ tsp ground cinnamon and a handful or 2 of roughly chopped dates or sultanas. Same as for the cheese ones, just add the dried fruit until it looks enough
5. Add the milk and cold water and mix with a table knife (i.e. a knife you use to eat dinner with). Work reasonably quickly but don't over mix. Cutting through the dough with the knife can help. The dough should be a bit wet and quite sticky so add a little more water if it looks dry
6. Sprinkle some flour onto the bench and tip out the dough. Fold it over itself 2 times then gently pat out into a rectangle. Don't knead the dough or play with it.
7. Brush the top of the dough with milk  and sprinkle with a topping if using. Grated cheese and maybe some paprika for cheese scones, a mix of cinnamon and caster sugar for date/sultana ones.
8. Cut into 12 (or 8 for large) pieces and place on the baking tray with about a fingers width gap between
9. Bake at 190°C for 6 minutes, then turn the tray 180° and bake for another 6 minutes. Turn the tray again and bake for 3 more minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer the scones to a rack to cool