"Grandma's scones
Scones used to be one of the basics of Australian life. You served them with jam at afternoon tea (which was a great excuse to show off your different varieties of jam - one jar of commercial not quite apricot jam is life at its most basic. Twenty pots of six different sorts of jam, to be dipped into in turn, is luxury.)
Scones were also served with stews, to sop up the gravy, they make great dumplings with some finely chopped parsley added to the dough and the tossed into a goulash or other wet casserole and Grandma always had toasted scones at breakfast, which were almost better than when they came fresh out of the oven.
Scones were one of the great standbys. If unexpected (or even expected) guests came, you could whip up a batch of scones before they'd taken their hats off - one minute mixing, fifteen in the oven, and by the time the cosy was on the teapot and Aunt Delilah had finished explaining about her hernia operation the scones were steaming on the table.
There is nothing quite as inviting as food that is still steaming. A scone must be fresh if it's to be good (unless of course it's toasted) and I mean steaming fresh. Those nuggetty doughy things in cake stores and supermarkets are probably the reason we no longer eat as many scones.
And scones are infinitely variable. Grandma usually added chopped dates to hers, or sometimes a few sultanas or currants, and you could add half a cup of dryish mashed pumpkin too. (Preferably not butternut - it's too fibrous for good pumpkin scones)
I've also come across scones with grated orange zest (a particularly good addition to pumpkin scones), cheese scones (add a little grated cheese to the basic mixture, then scatter just a bit on top), parsley scones (add chopped parsley), walnut scones (add walnuts).
If scones were fashionable today someone would probably have added chopped black olives and sun dried tomatoes - and, come to think of it, they'd go rather well with the basic scone taste and texture too. I'd serve them with soup though, not jam and cream.
This is Grandma's recipe, verbatim. I'll expand on it once you've read it.
1 and a half cups flour, small piece of butter, small pinch of salt, small pinch of sugar. Mix together well, with knife. Add 1 cup milk with a wee pinch of baking soda, dissolved. Roll lightly, bake at once, 15 minutes.
A little cream will improve scones. Use self raising flour.
Grandma, of course, assumed that anyone reading this - including herself - would have seen scones being made a hundred times, and just wanted reminding about the proportions.
To elaborate on Grandma's recipe: you can use half cream or even sour cream or even left over yoghurt instead of half the milk for richer scones; you can omit the baking soda if you don't have any, but it does make the scones lighter. I use icing sugar instead of granular sugar.
MAKE SURE THE OVEN IS HOT - otherwise you get leaden scones. And make sure too that the tray you put them on is well greased and floured or they'll stick - and very very solid, otherwise they burn or turn into steel on the bottom before the top is brown. Most baking trays nowadays are too-thin aluminium. I put one inside another when I make scones, to provide more insulation, otherwise the scones can get overcooked on the bottom and too chewy.
Use a high sided tin too, for higher moister scones. You CAN make them on a baking tray, but they spread and aren't as moist.
Make sure you knead scones well too - unlike Grandma I use my fingers. They should be smooth on top. I brush the top with beaten egg or milk before cooking to make them glossier.
When you stick your scones in the dish, make sure they almost touch. This helps them to rise and stay soft.
I use a glass to cut out my scones ... nice neat circles, or an asparagus tin - the only good reason to buy a tin of asparagus spears.
And MOST IMPORTANT (this was Grandma's secret) - as soon as you take the scones out of the oven, cover them, dish and all, with a tea towel for five minutes. This keeps the steam in and softens them slightly, so you get that true scone like, almost doughy texture.
Serve the scones just before they are going to be eaten. (They'll stay warm under the cloth for about 15 minutes). Break them open with your fingers - you should never cut a scone.
They're good just with butter, as long as they're hot enough for the butter to soak into the scone; or jam and of course, jam and cream, which is a true joy, the basic bread like scone, the sweet jam, the soft cream on top, so the whole is most definitely greater than the sum of its parts.
PS Whipped cream - or even better, light sour cream - has fewer calories and fat than butter, or even margarine. Not that cream is exactly GOOD for you - but it is better than the more solid spreads - and much more luxurious."
From:
www.jackiefrench.com/jan06.html
