Scones

This recipe is courtesy of a family friend, Debbie Taylor. Scones are one of those things that evoke memories every time you wrap your lips around them. For me, I associate scones with a slightly salty taste in the mouth and splashes of water on my face as I munch on a squished up golden ball of goodness between races at sailing events. Mum used to bake them on a friday night before we packed up the campervan and headed down south for the weekend. She'd wrap several in foil and put them into our dry-bags just before we launched as an energy boosting on-water snack if racing was going well or a comforting pick-me-up when the day was going badly.

Scones

Ingredients: 

• 3oz butter
• 3 oz sugar
• 12 oz self raising flour 
• 1 egg
• Dash of milk
• optional: 1/2 cup raisins 

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray with baking paper- you may need to rub the bottom of the tray with butter to stick it down. 
• Weigh out the butter and place into a large mixing bowl. Weigh out the sugar and add in, then whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy. We use a large electric mixer as it is so much easier than by hand and gives a far creamier texture. 
• Weigh out and sieve the flour, then add in in small amounts to the mixture. Leave about 1/4 of the flour. 
• Whisk the egg and pour into the mixture with the rest of the flour. Beat in, then finally add a dash of milk to make everything stick together. If you want to add raisins in then pour these in and mix. 
• Sprinkle flour over a large wooden board and roll out the dough using a rolling pin. Flour the rolling pin to stop it from sticking. Use a circular cookie cutter to cut out the dough, and place each scone on the baking tray. It doesn't really matter what size the cookie cutter is as long as all the scones are the same size so bake evenly, just note that fairly small scones may take less time in the oven. Our scones are usually about 2 inches in diameter. 
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. The scones should be a golden brown colour. Cool on a baking rack then serve plain, with butter, or with clotted cream and jam.