Over Easter we visited the Cotswolds, which I am pleased to report, is pretty, and also peppered with tea rooms. I have never seen so many places offering simple good old tea, cake and scones! Of the probably too many that we visited, Badgers Hall tea room in the beautiful village of Chipping Campden (I don't know how they came up with that name!) stood out for the biggest and crumbliest scones, which were so big and crumbly that they were devoured (by my family) before I could even get a photo of them!
I was inspired to have a go myself when we returned and found a recipe online by the original baking Queen, Mary Berry. (If one could choose a 3rd grandmother, she would be mine I think!)
In the process of making them, I learnt a few things: fresh scones can never again substitute shop-bought ones, they only take 30mins to make (though they should be left to cool for a couple of hours to really be perfect), and also don't seem so bad for you; these ones only use about a tablespoon of butter and sugar to make 6 so potentially everyone's a winner if you don't spread on tooooo much cream and jam..!
RECIPE
(Makes 6 scones - of course you could double up the recipe but remember these are best eaten on the day they're made!)
Ingredients
How to make
- 225 Self-raising flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder (for extra oomph and featheriness)
- 30g butter or Benecol
- 25g sugar
- 1 egg
- 110ml milk
How to make
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees
- Add the baking powder to the flour
- Add the butter - use your fingers to rub it in until you can no longer see the butter
- Add the sugar - mix with a wooden spoon
- Separately, beat the egg in a measuring jug with a fork; add the milk directly to this and mix
- Pour egg-milk mix into dry ingredients
- Mix well so you have a wet and slightly stiff mixture
- Dollop equally into a muffin tin
- Bake for 15 mins
- Turn up the heat to 220 degrees and bake for another 5 mins
- Cool down (for at least 2 hours) with a tea towel on top to retain moisture - this step might test your patience but it really is crucial. The cooling allows the scones to stiffen a bit more, otherwise the texture can be a little cake-y, trust me!
- Before consumption (ideally on the day), warm gently in the oven again for 5 minutes at 220 degrees - this also gives the outside the finishing touch of a gently crunchy outer coat.
Et voila!
Enjoy with clotted cream and a jam/spread to suit your sweet tooth :)
Unless you're in the West Country, Rodda's clotted cream is probably the best around.
Instead of jam, I also love Clément Faugier Chestnut spread that is found all over France but can be bought in our supermarkets too. I would imagine Nutella probably works very well too... what doesn't work with Nutella..?!
Mary Berry's website features lots of other exciting looking recipes:
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