Buttermilk Scones

One of the clearest memories I have of my Grandma from being a child was of her making scones. Watching her mix the ingredients together then adding the raisins and then cutting them into squares, a quick egg wash and straight in the oven. Her scones always turned out perfect and I am always comparing back to hers whenever I make them myself or I am out and about at a cafe which boasts homemade scones. I have to say with my rose tinted glasses mine come close but the items delivered rarely measure up but it is pure joy when they do.

Today I have started preparing for the girls to go back to school and I am making buttermilk scones for their lunch boxes. I make mini scones, wrap them in clingfilm and freeze them. Then in the morning I pop a small tub of jam and butter and a scone from the freezer and by lunchtime it is fully defrosted and a perfect small treat.

I think the secret to my Grandma’s success was that she only ever rolled out the dough once. By cutting with a knife she never needed to gather the left edges that a round cutter always leaves. I have also added a resting period for the dough before rolling and cutting. I find the scones always rise better if given a little extra time to come together.

Ingredients

• 500g Plain flour
• 4 Tsp Baking powder
• 2 Tsp Caster sugar
• 75g Butter (or 50g Butter, 25g Vegetable Shortening), cut into cubes
• 300ml Buttermilk
• 1 Egg (for an egg wash)

Method

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and then add the baking powder and sugar and mix together.
2. Rub in the fats with your finger tips and then add the buttermilk. Mix together to form a dough.
3. Put the dough in a plastic bag and pop it in the fridge for an hour.
4. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
5. Take the dough out roll out on a lightly floured surface. Today I have made mini scones so used a 5cm fluted ring and made 24 scones but if you are wanting larger scones I advise using my Grandma’s method of using a knife to make 12 scones of roughly the same size.
6. Glaze the scones with egg and pop in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes, until the bottom is dry and the scones feel lovely and light.
7. These are best eaten on the day they are made. Serve with jam and clotted cream. As a Yorkshire girl I always add jam first before cream (never mastered spreading jam on top of cream) but will leave the Devon and Cornish debate for the correct method to the southerners.
8. As mine are for a lunchbox treat I am cooling them on a rack then will individually wrap them in clingfilm and then pop them in the freezer… well most of them.