With all this baking wave going on during this lockdown, I’ve started trying out proper British sweets – classics that my darling husband loves, but I’d never tried doing before myself. Most of them actually aren’t that difficult to do, though! Now for a start, here’s one of the great British teatime favourites: fruit scones with cream and jam. You can have a genuine British tea-time with those, no matter where in the world you are!
Ingredients for 4:
350g flour, 80g butter, 175ml milk, 100g raisins, 50g caster sugar, 1 egg, 1tsp baking powder, 1 dash lemon juice, 1 pinch salt, 200ml clotted cream, 100ml strawberry or raspberry jam
Take the milk and the butter out of the fridge well before starting to bake! Then, in a big bowl mix the flour, the baking powder and the salt with the soft butter and the sugar with your hands until it starts to crumble.
Add the warm milk, the lemon juice and the raisins and mix again, this time with a spoon. Take the dough out of the bowl and turn it around on a floured surface a couple of times, then flatten it and cut it into 4 pieces. Form each piece into a nice round scone. Preheat the oven to 200°C; beat the egg in a small bowl.
Put the scones on a baking tray laid out with baking foil and brush them with the beaten egg; then bake for about 15 minutes until they’re golden brown. Whisk the cream with a hand mixer or whisk in a medium bowl.
Cut the scones open and spread the clotted cream and the jam on them. Serve with a big pot of tea with milk and sugar and a bowl with more cream!
You can enhance the British feeling by watching something nice and old-fashioned like “Downton Abbey” or “Upstairs, Downstairs” – we just ordered the complete box set…
Roberta Franklin 