Scones are a unique part of any Aussie childhood. They're one of those things that every kid remembers someone in particular being pretty good at. Often it's grandmothers who do the scone thing well. I had ethnic grandmothers and neither were into scones. Well, one wasn't into cooking much at all, but the other one was and I guarantee she never cooked a scone in her life. Mum, on the other hand, has always made a killer scone. She says her secret is sour cream. Let me confess that I've tried the sour cream trick and it's not that simple.The problem is that the humble scone is so deceptively simple looking. Made from a few basic ingredients, it doesn't seem like anyone could ever possibly get it wrong. Well I've had the unfortunate experience of trying many a hard, or dry, or bicarb laced scone in my time. These versions of the humble scone are rarely pleasant and often barely edible.
It seems to take a special touch to have a scone come out with a light texture that lets it break open from the middle, properly risen without half a box of bicarb, and just sweet enough without being sickly. A good scone involves getting some air into the flour and not over-working the dough. In my experience, very few people manage this.
One young lady who can is Angelina, the daughter of a friend of mine. Angelina's mum kindly shared her recipe for lemonade scones with me, assuring me that they work every time. Now I can't eat them, but last weekend I had a houseful of Canadians keen for the Aussie experience. I gave them a go and true enough, they worked beautifully with minimal effort. But then maybe that's the thing with scones - keep it minimal? Whatever the case, I recommend this brilliant little recipe. Thanks Angelina!
Ingredients
4 cups self raising flour
300 ml cream
1 can lemonade
1/2 tsp salt
It's simple - mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Once properly combined, turn the mixture out onto a floured bench and gently knead until everything is sticking together well. This should not take long. Don't over-work the mixture or your scones will come out tough.
You can roll the dough out, although I just eased mine gently into a flat shape. Using a cookie cutter, cut rounds out and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cook at 200ºC for about 15-20 minutes until brown. Serve hot with butter and jam, or cold with jam and cream.
Note: I glazed mine with a little milk & egg but it's not strictly necessary.
4 comments:
that's more or less the recipe I've used in the past - the mere handful of times I've made scones and it's a good one!
Amazingly, a friend put me onto the CWA Scone Mix (I know! A mix!) that you can buy in the supermarket and the result was excellent.
I still see nothing wrong with making them from scratch though so the mix was a nice experiment but not vital!
I cannot believe I've gone through life not knowing about lemonade scones!!! I've now been told they work every single time! Proverbial head under a rock syndrome obviously.
I think mixes can be underrated - there's some good stuff out there. I tried a box of felafel mix the other week and they turned out edible. (well nobody complained!)
lemonade - genius!
i've been on a bit of a scone rampage recently - only cause they are sooo easy and are the only quick baked thing i can think to make at ten minutes notice with no eggs.
the commonsense cookery book recipe is my failsafe trick, so simple and you get to get all messy!
p.s love the pic, makes me want to whip up a batch right now :)
I've heard that you can also try making them with pick champagne. You'd need to add extra sugar though, I would think.
[Personally I'll be sticking to the lemonade variety]
BA
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