Simple Scones

“The best kind of rain, of course, is a cozy rain. This is the kind the anonymous medieval poet makes me remember, the rain that falls on a day when you’d just as soon stay in bed a little longer, write letters or read a good book by the fire, take early tea with hot scones and jam and look out the streaked window with complacency.” ~ Susan Allen Toth, England For All Seasons

As I said at the weekend I’ve been baking a lot lately. Baking, and cooking, and writing.

I’ve made scones because they’re one of my favourite comfort foods, especially when they’re fresh from the oven and butter and cream just melt into them; and because they’re easy. With this recipe a batch of six to eight scones takes about half an hour.

Ingredients:

• 225/8oz self-raising flour
• pinch of salt
• 50g/2oz butter at room temperature
• 25g/1oz caster sugar
• 50g/2oz currants and/or sultanas
• 1 egg beaten with enough milk to make 150ml/1/4 pint of mixture

Method:

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl.

2. Add the butter and rub the ingredients together gently with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Don’t over do it, if you’re too heavy-handed about this the mixture will start to clump.

3. Carefully stir in the sugar and the fruit.

4. Stir in most of the egg and milk mixture, you’ll want to keep a bit left over to brush over the top of the scones before baking.

5. Cover your hands in flour to avoid the mixture sticking to them. Then separate the mixture into balls, once you’ve done that flatten them until they’re scone shaped. Place on a greased baking tray.

6. Remember to brush the tops of the scones with the remaining egg and milk.

7. Bake for about ten minutes in an oven pre-heated to 200C/425F/Gas Mark 7.

8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about five minutes before serving as preferred.