There is nothing more mouthwatering than scones straight from the oven, butter melting onto them, a good dollop of homemade raspberry or strawberry jam and topped with freshly whipped cream!
Makes 17 scones approximately
- 1 lb (450gr / 4 cups) plain flour
- 2 heaped teaspoons (2 ¾ US tsp) baking powder
- Large pinch salt
- 1 oz (25gr / 2 US level tablespoon) castor sugar
- 4oz (100gr / 1 US stick) chilled butter
- ½ pint (280ml / 10 fl oz / 1¼ US cups) milk approximately
- Beaten egg & sugar to glaze
Preheat the oven to Gas 8 / 450F / 230C
Sift all the dry ingredients together. Rub in the chilled butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add most of the milk. Mix to a soft dough adding all of the milk if required.
Turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out to about 1 inch (2 ½ cm) thickness. Dip the cutter into flour and cut the dough into rounds of 1 ½ inch (4cm).
Place scones on a floured baking tray, glaze with the beaten egg and put immediately into the hot oven. In 15 minutes approximately, the scones should have risen and have a golden top. Enjoy with Irish butter and homemade jam!
