My mum and my Aunty both loved to bake and I guess I inherited the ‘baking gene’. Every house wife from the 1950’s onwards at some point tried their hand at this simple but classic treat. Simply, nothing is more like home than freshly baked scones ,served hot with jam and cream.

INGREDIENTS
4 cups of self raising flour (plus extra for rolling)
1 pinch of salt….. (Our neighbour, Mrs Sutton, used to say that anything that rises in the oven should have a pinch of salt to stabilize it)
300 ml of thickened cream (some use milk but I think cream makes them fluffy)
300 mls of water (I like to use soda water or lemonade to give added lightness)
Note: if adding sultanas soak them in a little milk overnight.

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METHOD
1. Mix all the ingredients and knead them into dough. Make sure your hands and bench are clean. I always find it cleaner and easier to knead the ingredients inside a super large bowl. If you don’t have one, use the clean bench.
2. Flour coat your dough as well as your rolling pin and bench .Roll the dough to about 4 cm thick, depending on the size and shape you want. Keep in mind they will rise a little in baking.
3. Cut out round scones using a glass dipped in flour to avoid sticking. Place them very close together on a tray so that they support each other when rising.
4. Bake @ around 180 – 200 C. We don’t want them to brown too quickly. Gently prize apart two scones with a knife to check that they are not doughy in the middle. They will take about 15- 20 minutes to cook through, depending on your heat control.

Some variations:
• Pumpkin scones… add a cup of cooked mashed pumpkin and use only 150 ml of water and 150 ml cream.(cinnamon would go nice too)
• Zucchini scones… add a cup of freshly grated raw Zucchini.
• Chocolate Chip… is may be a little over indulgent.(go on then!)
• If adding sultanas… soak them in a little milk overnight.
• Savoury scones… add fresh chopped herbs as you like…perhaps chives, coriander, basil or lemon myrtle would be interesting flavours to experiment with.
• Pesto scones… add chopped basil, chopped pine nuts and parmesan cheese and make them a bit smaller in size for a lovely side to a nice bowl of minestrone soup.
• Semi dried tomato… chop them up and add a little oil (and/or even add fresh basil).