Scones

It is so easy and quick to get scones into the oven and in 15 minutes you can be eating them - they are not Bake Off fancy but everyone seems to love scones anyway. In cafes they often look temptingly large but eat with a nasty under taste, too much raising agent I think. Recipes vary and you can make all sorts of different types by adding different fruits, cherries or dates for instance, or cheese, or put some whole meal flour in, or make them spicy.

But, by request, this is the basic fail safe version to go with a cup of tea.

Scones

8oz Self-raising flour.
I egg beaten with milk added to the quarter pint level in a measuring jug
2oz butter which for the best results has been out of the fridge for half an hour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder  (If you use half white and half wholemeal flour, increase the baking powder to 2 tsps)
Pinch salt
1 and 1/2 tablespoons sugar
 A good handful of dried fruit, mixed or just sultanas - if you want to eat them with cream and strawberries or jam, come the summer, just leave the dried fruit out.

Oven heated to No 7 or 220

1. Sieve the flour with the baking powder and salt. Rub in the butter until it is like pastry crumbs.
2. Add the sugar and fruit,
3. Mix with the egg and milk mixture into a soft dough. Work quickly and lightly, so that you handle the dough as little as possible. Pat it into a round two or three inches thick on a floured surface and cut out 6-8 scones. Place on a greased tray. The scraps from the edges can be gathered into a final rocky one.
4. Brush with milk if you want brown tops.
5. Put straight into the hot oven for 10 minutes, then check. The sides need to respond to a squeeze, just firm is what you are looking for as well as a cooked look. Give them another 5 minutes if necessary but no longer.
6. Put onto a cooling rack, get out the butter and optional jam and put the kettle on.