Sunday 23 February 2014

The humble scone

is one of my favourite little treats but quite often I find scones leave my mouth dry after eating them.  Perhaps it's just me, but it puts me off treating myself to a cream tea when I'm out somewhere nice.

However, forget shop bought and cafe scones, making your own is really very simple and I've discovered an ingredient that turns the humble scone into a truly delicious little snack with no dry after taste.  Buttermilk.

Hubs, the bread maker, has been using buttermilk to make soda bread these last few weeks.  It's a quick and easy bread to make and I'll share the recipe with you soon in another post.  As is usual when using ingredients that you wouldn't normally have in your store cupboard or fridge, we are left with a little buttermilk in the carton once the bread making has been completed.  Noticing that the carton suggested using it to make scones made me dig out my battered scrapbook of recipes and make a batch using this newly discovered ingredient.

Scones - Ellie's Treasures
75g (3oz) butter or baking margarine
250g (8oz) self-raising flour
50g (2oz) sultanas
150ml (1/4 pint) buttermilk
Extra buttermilk, or milk, for glazing

Heat oven to gas 7, 220 deg. C, 425 deg. F.  Lightly dust a non-stick baking sheet with flour.  In a large bowl, rub butter into the flour to make breadcrumbs and stir in the sultanas.  Add the buttermilk and mix to a smooth, soft and spongy dough.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead slightly until smooth.  Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1 inch (2.5cm) and use a 3 inch (7cm) biscuit cutter to cut out the rounds (obviously you can use a smaller cutter if you desire more scones!).  Place on the floured baking sheet and brush tops with additional buttermilk or milk.  Cook in the oven for 12 minutes until lightly golden and risen.  Remove and cool slightly on a wire rack before eating warm with jam or, for a really special treat, whipped or clotted cream.

3 comments:

Jan said...

Ooo I've never used buttermilk, I think I must give it a try, I know what you mean about the dryness :)

Jan @ Handcrafted by Picto via the Folksy Forum

Elaine, Ellies Treasures said...

Give it a go Jan, it's such a quick and simple recipe.

Anonymous said...

We always use buttermilk for soda bread, but haven't tried it in scones yet.