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Sunday Gram #1: Bake some homemade scones
This week we’re not going to even bother suggesting a walking route or any other kind of outdoor activity, because the weather is so rotten. Instead, here’s really easy recipe for baking some scones.
You might not have thought you wanted to bake or even eat a scone at any point today, but scones are one of those foods that once you get them into your head, you can’t get them out of it. No scone in any shop or café can satisfying your scone craving as well as a homemade scone (except for maybe Brother Hubbard’s, but tbh, that’s their butter more than anything else).
Luckily for all of us, scones are very easy to make at home. That’s why they’re one of the first things that Home Ec teachers allow Junior Cert students to make. It’s hard to go wrong.
What you need:
- 350g of self-raising flour (and a lil bit extra for dusting)
- A tiny pinch of salt (like, really tiny – about 1/4 of a teaspoon)
- 85g of butter (cut into cubes)
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 3 tbsp of caster sugar
- 175ml of milk (or whatever dairy-free alternative you usually use)
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
- A squeeze of lemon juice (to add to the milk to make DIY buttermilk)
- 1 egg (beaten)
- Whatever jams you like, lemon curd and/or cream
What you’ve got to do:
Step one: Get the oven preheated to 220°C.
Step two: Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
Step three: Add the butter, and rub it with your fingers until the mixture looks like a bowl of fine crumbs. Then you can add in the caster sugar.
Step four: Heat the milk in the microwave. But don’t let it boil! You just want it to be warm, not hot.
Step five: Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice to the milk.
Step six: Make a well in the dry mix and using a knife, combine it with the mixture of milk, vanilla extract and lemon juice that you just prepared.
Step seven: Sprinkle some flour onto the counter-top, and tip the dough out of the bowl onto it. Mix the dough a bit more with your hands, adding a little bit more flour before folding the dough a couple of times until it’s smooth. It shouldn’t be too thin once it’s folded over – aim for about 4cm of dough.
Step eight: Use a 5cm dough cutter, or anything you have that is shaped similarly (ideally something with smooth edges), cut out four scones. Press the remaining dough together and repeat this process until you’re all out of dough.
Step nine: Brush all of your scones with the beaten egg and place them onto the baking tray.
Step ten: Stick the baking tray into the oven and bake the scones for 10 minutes, until they’re risen and golden.
Once they’re done you can eat them hot or cold. You can also freeze them to eat on another occasion, but whatever you do, make sure you take a photo first, or else it was all for nothing.
