Sunday morning breakfast scones are our family favourite. My husband introduced them to me years ago, during a visit to London, and immediately they have become a constant presence at our table.
I have tried variety of flavour combination, savoury scones with cheese, sweet scones with raisins, or dry cranberries and orange peel, but the preference at home almost always gravitates towards these low calorie vanilla plain scones. Perhaps because the vanilla taste with a slight kick of salt makes them such a perfect combination for all sorts of jellies and jams not the mention the irresistible addition of clotted cream… I don’t know.
A classic English scone is flaky, round and tall, but instead of using the scone cutter this morning, I am applying a quick and easy method of shaping the dough in a disk form and cutting six perfect triangle scones instead.
The kitchen is already filling with irresistible aromas and we can’t wait to give them a try, served with fresh berry fruits, clotted cream and home made strawberry jam – a perfect Sunday morning breakfast, indeed!
Ingredients
- 40g butter
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 + 1/2 level tablespoons golden caster sugar
- 8g Vanilla sugar essence Dr. Oetker
- pinch of salt
- 110ml milk
- a little extra flour
Method
1. Begin by rubbing the butter into the sieved flour quickly, using your fingertips, then stir in the sugar and vanilla, followed by a pinch of salt.
2. Now, using a knife, mix in the milk little by little, and when it’s all in, flour your hands and knead the mixture to a soft dough (you may find you need just a drop more milk if it feels at all dry). Place the dough on a floured pastry board and with a rolling pin (also floured) lightly roll it out to a thickness of about 3cm. (This thickness is vital. The reason scones don’t rise enough is because they are rolled too thin.).
3. Shape the pastry in a disk form and place it on a baking sheet. With a sharp knife cut the disk in three, making six equal scone triangles. Spread the scones from one another, allowing them some space to raise. Dust each one with flour and bake near the top of the oven for 12–15 minutes on 225c.
4. When they’re done they will have risen and turned a golden brown. Then transfer them to a wire rack and eat as soon as they are cool enough, spread with butter, jam and clotted cream.
