Simple Scones

All Photos - The Grower's Daughter

This past Saturday, I hosted a bridal shower (there will be photos of that coming soon, courtesy of Jenny from Reed Photography). It was a tea.

When I think of tea, I think of plump scones smothered in melted butter and a generous spoonfull of sweet preserves. I've tried numerous scone recipes and, until now, have yet to be successful in finding the perfect scone recipe.

Unsuccessful that is, until I came across this recipe from Bill's Food by Bill Granger.

It took me 3 attempts to get the results I was looking for. I added my own personal notes to the recipe in hopes of maybe preventing you from having to try three times as well.

The recipe itself is super simple. I guess that's why he calls them Simple Scones.

Simple Scones

1 tbsp. Icing sugar

2 1/2 c. plain flour [spooned and leveled]

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder [good quality to help them rise beautifully]

pinch of salt

1 c. milk

1 oz. melted butter

White sugar and 1 tbsp. milk for tops

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, sift together dry ingredient. Add milk and butter. Stir with a knife to combine [don't over mix, and stop stirring once it's mostly incorporated].

Once it's roughly together and sticky, turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead quickly and gently together just until smooth. [This is key! The dough should be slightly sticky and moist so that the dough incorporates quickly. Just do quick little pats and turns until it's fairly smooth and not piecey. Over - kneading activates the glutens too much and makes the scones tougher.]

Pat disk out until it's about 1 1/2 inches thick. Using a 2" diameter circle cutter, cut scones from dough. Place circles on a lightly greased cooking sheet. Quickly and gently knead the scraps and cut again until all the dough is used.

Brush tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 10 minutes and remove when golden.

[I found that the baking time was actually more like 15 minutes, and that they browned nicer, without over baking, when I turned on the broiler for the last minute or two, watching carefully.]

Serve warm with butter, lightly whipped cream, or more preferably, clotted cream, and preserves.

I found a set of these butter knives in a huge lot of vintage silver plated cutlery I picked up a while ago.

This is a cute little milk and sugar set I picked up at a thrift store. It's small and has engraved violets. It's perfect for tea for one!

I really am happy with this recipe. The scones are perfectly shaped and delicious!

Of course, Willen joined me for tea. He even wanted to add his own milk as it was a "Teeny tiny milk," according to him "and he could do it on his own, mummy.".

These are little ironstone Demitasse cups I found at a bakery in town. They're so sweet, with pretty detailing, and are perfect for espresso, or as tea cups for Willen!