the art of scones

I was explaining to my flatmate the other day that when searching for blogspiration, I thought what the people wanted was more food and less self-indulged weepy ranting. I was abruptly met with something along the lines of "if I was reading a blog called heartbreak pie and it became just about food, I'd be bored". So, give the people what they want I thought! Heartbreak? Pie? All of the above! I had coffee with someone recently who I didn't know very well, and he politely asked me "how's your heart?" My heart is good. It's in tact. It's been an(other) emotional roller coaster with the fisherman being back on land, but I'll talk you through the reunion dinner shortly. I'm still scathing of soppy couples and I'm embracing my new found freedom with the planning of international trips. It's exciting and never fear, you'll be hearing all about it. In the meantime, I mastered scones! 

Scones (Edmond's, sassed up good and proper by yours truly)

3 cups plain flour

6 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

75g butter

1-2 cups milk, approximately, and a little extra milk

Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut butter in until it resembles fine bread crumbs (I used my fingers for this). Add milk and mix quickly with a knife, to form a soft dough. Knead a few times. 

Before kneading, I divided the mix into two bowls. To one bowl I added a cup of grated cheese- it was a mix of edam and parmesan. I also added a few chopped fresh herbs and some smoked paprika. To the other bowl I added a cup of chopped dates, a tablespoon of brown sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. My Aunt Robyn swears that the key to good scones is a wet dough. You would be wise to follow her advice! 

Lightly dust an oven tray with flour. Press the dough onto the tray. I made the dough into a rectangle, and then did cuts to nearly the tray. I then cut them again once they were nearly done and broke them when finished.

Brush tops with milk and bake at 220*C for 10 minutes of until golden brown. Makes 12. And for goodness sake, if making these before work make sure you turn the oven off when they're done. Distracted? Maybe just a little.