Fruit Scones

As we're a bit limited on culinary options at the moment, my mind - in the shape of a large question mark - wanders into the storecupboard, to see if anything in there strikes me as a possibility.

Couple that with a Tweet from Dan Lepard regarding scones, and there you are.

After exhaustive research, a.k.a. around half an hour or so of looking at various recipes, I chose a recipe which intrigued me for it's use of yoghurt in the scone dough.

Everything went rather well, apart from a moment when I paused to yell at son for climbing all over my head whilst trying to get his lunch instead of just waiting *sigh*, but once I got going it all came together fairly easily.

FRUIT SCONES

Ingredients

350g self-raising flour
quarter of a teaspoon of salt
1 tsp baking powder
90g cold butter, cut into cubes
4 tbsp demerara sugar
100g sultanas
150g natural full-fat yoghurt
4 tbsp full-fat milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
milk to glaze

Method

1.  Cut a piece of baking paper to fit your baking sheet, then place just the sheet in the oven to heat up at 200deg C fan/220deg C/gas7.

2.  Put the flour, salt, butter and baking powder into a food processor and whizz until the butter disappears.  Add the sugar and give it a second's whizz to combine, then tip into a large bowl, stir in the fruit and make a well in the middle.

3.  In the microwave or a saucepan, warm the yoghurt, milk and vanilla together.  It should be hot and may well go slightly lumpy but tip into the bowl anyway and mix well (first with a knife, then with fingers) to combine with the flour/fruit mixture.

4.  Once the dough has all come together, give it a couple of folds to make sure it's smooth, then tip onto a sheet of cling film, flatten to around 1.5cm and begin cutting the scones out.  Repeat by pressing the dough together and cutting again, until you are left with a scrap which can be formed by hand.

5.  Quickly, remove the baking sheet from the oven, place the baking paper on board, then the scones on top of that.

5.  Glaze the tops of each scone with some milk and place in the oven to bake for 12 minutes or so, until risen and golden.

Then, it's just a matter of keeping the children at bay until you want to eat them!

Rich Biscuits

We're having a high tea for our evening meal tonight, for two reasons.  Firstly, because it's our son's favourite style of meal and secondly, so that we can celebrate the chutney I made earlier in the week.  Although we're pretty well catered for with things to eat, to pad out the provisions a little, I thought I'd make some biscuits.

Photograph c/o my inhouse photographer, Chillibob.
Rose is a Blue Moon, grown by Chillibob.

We don't have much in the way of biscuit making ammunition in the cupboard, but I had an idea in mind of some crisp, thin biscuits that would go well with a cup of tea.  Inevitably, my first port of call for recipes such as these is the Be-Ro website, where I found their recipe for "Rich Biscuits".

However, needless to say, I adapted it a bit.  Well, it wouldn't be "mine" unless I changed it here and there, now would it?  *chuckle*

RICH BISCUITS

Ingredients :

125g self raising flour
100g gram flour
100g sugar (caster or granulated)
Half a teaspoon of baking powder
100g butter or margarine
A clementine orange, zested and half of it juiced
1 small or medium egg, beaten.



Method :

1.  Heat oven to 180deg C (fan) and prepare two baking trays by either greasing them or laying baking parchment on them.

2.  Mix the flours, baking powder and sugar together, rub in the fat.  (I put them all together in a food processor and combined them that way).

3.  Add the zest, juice and sufficient egg to make a stiff dough.

4.  Lightly flour your worksurface and roll out the dough thinly, cutting into 3 inch rounds.

5.  Place on baking trays and bake for around 15 minutes.

Do the clearing up and then put the kettle on!  :)