You know you’re on to something good when you have to hide things from your family. We hear lots of stories from people telling us about how the hide our preserves from their family, particularly their children! Our scones are no different. When we do demos we usually bake mini scones to sample our preserves on because the combo is so delicious. The secret ingredient is butter. We have tried it with all sorts of substitutes which work but it is hard to match the deliciousness of butter. By the way, we weigh the flour and butter so you’ll have to dig out the diet scale unless you have a professional scale. The diet scale will be accurate enough.
Ingredients
- 10 oz. all-purpose flour
- 4 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 1/2 t. cream of tartar
- 2 t. sugar (optional)
- 5 oz. butter
- 2/3 c. milk
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet or line it with silicone paper.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cream of tartar and sugar, if using, into a large bowl. Cut in butter or use a grater. When the mixture looks like course sand, make a well in the centre.
- Pour the milk into the well and and stir into flour mixture until moistened.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll dough out into a 1/2 inch thick round. At this point we brush the tops of the rounds with some milk to help them colour a bit while baking.
- Cut into 8 wedges, and place on the prepared baking sheet. If you want to make cocktail sized scones, divide your dough into four rounds and cut each into 8 wedges.
- Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.
Notes: Substitutions can also be made for the type of flour – you can substitute hard (bread) flour, soft (pastry) flour, gluten free flour, or whatever you need or want to use. The results will all be different – some may be flakier, some crumbier, more tender, …
The fat you use can also be changed but know that the results again will be different. If you substitute shortening the baked scone will be lighter and shorter. Butter adds colour and flavour, and the baked scones will be richer and moister. Do what works best for you! And have fun!