Recently we met the lovely Catherine and Suzanne from Boutique Bake and they have been sharing their delicious baking recipes with us in their Sweet Saturday series (you can check out more of their recipes here).
And today they are going to spoil us with their quick 'n' easy scone recipe.
Where there’s a whisk, there’s a way.
Today we thought we’d share our ‘Ultimate Scone Recipe’ with you. Yes, these are the Conor McGregor of the scone world.
These simple scones are a wonderful blank canvas, awaiting your choice of sultanas, chocolate chips, nuts, fruit or whatever flavours tickle your fancy. Some of our favourite combinations are vanilla and the zest of an orange, lemon zest and poppy seeds or simply the classic fruit scone which we are going to share with you today.
These scones are moist and structured but still soft and light, with an ever-so-slightly crisped exterior…mmmm, my mouth’s watering even thinking of them! They have just the right level of sweet too - absolute perfection. If you want to keep your co-workers happy or are looking for an easy activity to do with the kids before they head back to school next week, these are perfect as they only take 20 mins from start to finish.
Chefs hats on!
Ingredients:
- 350 grams of self- raising flour (Plus a little extra for dusting)
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 85 grams of butter cut into cubes (Make sure at room temperature )
- Handful of sultanas (optional or you can leave them plain or add a bit of vanilla essence and orange zest etc)
- 3 tablespoons of caster sugar
- 175 ml of buttermilk ( If you don’t have buttermilk, follow our top tip below)
- 1 beaten egg (for the glaze)
- Icing sugar for dusting
- Jam and whipped cream to serve
Top Tip: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add a squeeze of lemon juice to ordinary milk which sours it slightly, which will be similar to buttermilk. The slightly acidic mix from the lemon juice gives a boost to the raising agents in the flour and baking powder.
So let’s get started.
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Method:
- Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7. Tip the flour into a large bowl with the salt and baking powder, sugar and sultanas (or whatever you flavour you would like to add), then mix. Add the butter, then rub in with your fingers until the mix looks like fine crumbs.
- Make a well in your dry mix, then add the buttermilk and combine it quickly with a cutlery knife – it will seem pretty wet at first. Scatter some flour onto the work surface and tip the dough out. Dredge the dough and your hands with a little more flour, then fold the dough over 2-3 times until it’s a little smoother. Pat into around about 4cm deep.
- Take approx. a 5cm cutter (smooth-edged cutters tend to cut more cleanly, giving a better rise) and dip it into some flour.
Tip: If you don’t have a cutter, you can simply use the top of a glass to cut them) Plunge into the dough, then repeat until you have four scones. By this point you’ll probably need to press what’s left of the dough back into a round to cut out another four. Brush the tops with beaten egg, then carefully place onto the a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 10 mins until risen and golden on the top. Dust with icing sugar and eat just warm or cold on the day of baking, generously topped with jam and clotted cream.
Top Tip: Scones really only last fresh for a day so if you’re not going to finish them, pop them in the freezer once cool. When defrosting them, allow to thaw completely, then reheat at about 160 C/140 fan for a couple of minutes.
Don’t forget to tweet us pictures of your Ultimate Scones @boutique_bake or post them on Instagram using the hashtag #bakemyday – then we can find your beautiful pictures easily and see what your favourite flavour combinations were with the scones!
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If you guys have any baking questions, we’ll be back on Monday to answer them so make sure to comment below!
If you’d like to read more from Boutique Bake, why not check out their website www.boutiquebake.ie? And if you are a social media fan, you can like them on Facebook, find them on the twitter machine (or Instagram) by searching @boutique_bake or even on Pinterest.
