The Perfect Scone

Scones come in all shapes and sizes, a wealth of recipes are available from savoury to sweet, fruit or cherry filled, milk, buttermilk or cream. Then there is the shape – drop scones, triangle, square or the more commonly used round scone. Topped with butter, jam, fresh cream or cream everyone has their favourite scone. At Alice’s Vintage Pantry we have tried lots of different recipes and make different scones for different occasions. Our most commonly used recipe is one used by 5* Mayfair Hotel Claridge’s. No matter what your favourite type is or what recipe you are using, if you are baking your own follow our scone tips to get your perfect scone.

• Don’t spend too long rubbing the butter in to the flour – the quicker you do it the lighter your scone will be;
• No matter what your recipe says, make sure your butter is at room temperature, if its too cold it will take too long to rub in to the flour and will result in a heavier scone;
• Roll out your dough to a depth of no less than 2 cm’s. This will seem deep but will give you a greater height to your scone;
• Make sure you apply even pressure to the rolling pin, to get an even rise to your scone the best way to start is an even dough;
• Dip your scone cutter in a little flour prior to cutting, it will prevent the dough sticking to the cutter and will help give a more even rise;
• Once you have cut your scones, place them upside down on the baking sheet, again this helps them to rise more evenly;
• If you want a softer top to your scone, cool them on a wire rack and place a slightly damp clean tea towel over the top;
• Whilst scones do freeze well, they are always best baked fresh and served the same day.
• And of course make sure you serve them on a tiered vintage cake stand with a cuppa served in a dainty vintage teacup!

Try these tips with Delia Smith’s basic scone recipe…

225g self-raising flour

40g butter, at room temperature

1½ tablespoons caster sugar

a pinch of salt

150ml milk

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7 (220c). Grease a baking sheet.

Sift the flour into a large bowl and rub the butter in rapidly using your fingertips. Stir in the sugar and salt, take a knife to mix in the milk little by little. Knead the mixture to a soft dough.

Turn the dough out on to a pastry board and roll it out using a floured rolling pin. Cut the scones out using a 4-5 cm cutter and place on the baking sheet. Dust each one with a little flour. Bake near the top of the oven for 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy with good quality jam and clotted cream.

Baking is basically chemistry, the recipe books you follow the result of a series of science experiments. You don’t however have to be a scientist to learn to bake. You just need to know some basic rules and tips. Chemistry was the very first subject I dropped at school, well was forced to drop by some wise teachers, thankfully it hasn’t affected the light texture of my Victoria Sandwich or the height of my Carrot Cake. There are many rules and tips I could share, here are a five to get you started, more to follow;

• Be organised, get out all the equipment you need and weigh your ingredients, cake mixture does not like sitting around waiting whilst you look for the vanilla extract
• Always get your ingredients to room temperature before you start baking, too cold and your experiment won’t be as good as it could
• Line your baking tin before you start, once your ingredients are mixed it needs to go straight in to the tin, leave it sitting around and it will begin to form air bubbles which will affect the look and texture of your cake
• On the subject of lining, whether the recipe tells you to or not line both the bottom and the sides of your tin for a more even colour
• Don’t be tempted to open the oven door, really really don’t, there is nearly nothing worse for a rising cake than the temperature to suddenly drop

If you have baking tips or photographs of your ‘experiments’ you would like to share with our readers please post them here.

My first experience of making flapjack was in Home Economics at school, using the recipe from the back of a pack of porridge oats. We came across this recipe a little while ago, and as far as flapjack is concerned, have never looked back. It has a lovely fruity flavour but still retains the stickiness of a plainer flapjack. Yum! It stores well and can easily be layered (just put a little greaseproof paper in-between layers) so is a great alternative in the biscuit tin, or for picnics. Two tips for making this work well: don’t overcook, when you check it at 25 mins it will still be bubbling and may not look ready, don’t worry, as it cools it will all come together; press the mixture in to the tin using a wide flat surface like a palette knife or a spatula, press it down again when you get it out of the oven.

You will need

• 175g butter
• 175g soft light brown sugar
• 125g golden syrup
• 350g rolled oats
• 150g sultanas
• 100g chopped dried apricots
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 orange, rind zested

Preheat the oven to 180c / gas mark 4. Line or grease a 16x16cm baking tin.

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a pan over a low heat, stir occasionally.

Whilst it is melting mix the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.

Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and combine. Press in to the prepared tin.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the mixture starts to brown a little at the edges.

Cool in the tin, then use a very sharp knife to cut in to as many pieces as you like.

Have a go and let us know how you get on….next recipe will be an Orange Sandwich Cake from the 1930s…watch this space.