We Got So Sconed: Another Recipe!

!!!!SCONES!!!!!
10 mins to prepare
10 mins to cook!
Gets about a dozen...

Ingredients
450g (3 cups) self-raising flour
1 tbs caster sugar
80g butter, cubed, at room temperature
250mls (1 cup) milk, at room temperature
Self-raising flour, extra

Method
Preheat oven to 220°C. Measure all your ingredients. Combine the self-raising flour and caster sugar in a medium bowl. Use your fingertips to rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. To help incorporate some air into the mixture, keep the palms of your hands face-up as you lift the flour to rub in the butter. This will help make the scones lighter in texture. Note, room-temperature butter gives a better result than chilled butter in scones. It is also easier to incorporate into the flour when at room temperature. Butter helps give the scones a tender texture as well as adding flavour.
Add the milk all at once. Use a round- bladed knife to mix together using a cutting motion until evenly incorporated and the mixture begins to hold together. Do not over mix. Again, room-temperature milk is better to use in scones than milk straight from the fridge. The flour mixture needs less mixing to incorporate the room-temperature milk evenly, resulting in a lighter texture. The dough should be soft but not sticky. If it is a little dry, simply add a little more milk. Then bring dough together with your hands.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently about 4-5 times with your hands, by pressing and then turning, until the dough is just smooth. It is important that you knead gently and don't handle the dough too much. If it is overworked, gluten in the flour will develop which will cause the scones to be tough in texture and heavy.
Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough until about 2cm thick. (Alternatively, you can flatten the dough with the palm of your hand). Then use a round 5cm pastry cutter to cut out the scones. Dip the cutter into the extra flour before cutting out each scone. Use a straight-down motion to cut out the scones. Do not twist the cutter as this will cause the scones to rise unevenly during cooking. You can re-roll any scraps and cut more scones; however, these will be slightly less tender than the scones cut from the original dough and will rise less evenly.
As you cut out the scones, place them on a baking tray about 1cm apart. Placing them this close together will also help them rise evenly. I have found there is no need to grease or flour the tray. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with a little extra flour. Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

The best way to tell if the scones are cooked is to tap the top of one with your fingertips - if it sounds hollow when tapped, they are ready. Alternatively, insert a skewer into a scone - if it comes out clean, they are ready.

Take the scones out of the oven (Be sure to leave them on the tray AND use oven mits) and immediately wrap them in a clean tea towel. Wrapping the scones will keep them warm and will give them a soft crust.

They can be served warm with butter or jams and even whipped or thick cream.


When we were about 5 we made some scones with our madre, they smelt delicious but since we tend to fight alot, we got into a slap fest and mum forgot them in the oven and they burnt. So the two of us little shits took the scones out onto the farm and played dodgeball with each other. We got black eyes, but mostly from the charcoaled scones, we also swallow heaps of crappy, dry, dough but pretty much couldn't stop laughing. Then Elisha pift one over Williams head so high that it landed in the chookhouse, and killed 2 birds with the one scone.