You finally have that one free day after a couple of long stress full weeks. It is one of those days where you have no strength for general housework. All you want to do is lie in lazily and you wish that the food finds its way to you when you get hungry. You can’t help to smile and as you stretch out lazily from underneath the sheets.
Then a phone call comes in, and you remember you forgot to switch it off. A few minutes later you regret why you picked up. You suddenly have visitors coming over. You’re day is basically not going the way you had anticipated it, but still you want to create a good impression.
You need a quick solution, your visitors need to eat something at your house as in it is basic hospitality. And then you remember that easy scones recipe that you have.
Scones can be the ultimate solution for you at this moment, easy to make and yet they will still be effective and efficient in creating a good impression to your visitors. Freshly baked and warm scones can be served with a cup of Juice, Coffee, Tea or Just a glass of water.
The method for making the scones is the rubbing-in method of baking.
What is the Rubbing-in Method for making scones?
Rubbing -in is the process of rubbing fat (butter, margarine) into Flour with your fingertips. Alternatively, the fat can also be cut into the flour with two knives, a pastry cutter or even a food processer and this can be called the cutting–in method.
3 Tips to note when making scones
- Using cold /freezing fat givesa better flavour to the scones than when you use room temperature butter. Once the cold butter and liquid (milk, water) in the dough hit the oven the water in the butter starts evaporating, this creates moisture and also helps the dough to rise. Creating a tender and light crump.
- Useonly your fingertips when rubbing the butter into the flour mixture. The palm of your hand is warmer than your fingertips and will soften the butter.
- Aerate the mixture by keeping your fingertips above the mixture when rubbing the butter in to let air in with this oxygen is introduced to the mixture. The tiny air particles trapped in the mixture expand when heated, creating millions of little air pockets, giving a well risen and fluffy texture to the scones.
List of Ingredients for an easy scone recipe
200g of wheat flour
2 ½ teaspoons of Baking powder
50g of Margarine/ Butter
25g of Sugar
1 egg
A little milk
2 pinches of Salt
For a variation of your basic scone recipeyou can add any of the following best fruit or vegetable ingredients to your dry flourmixture with butter and sugar;
50g mixed dried fruit
50 g of dried dates finely chopped
50 g of grated apple
50 g of grated carrot
How to make scones from scratch step by step
Step 1
Heat the oven to get the oven warm and ready for scone mixture
Step 2
Put the 200gs of wheatflour into a bowl, add 2 ½ spoons of baking powder to the wheat flour. Add 2 pinches of salt to the mixture for a salty flavor addition.
Sift the wheat flour with other ingredients in the bowel over a sieve; this will help the baking powder and salt to mix thoroughly with the ingredients. The importance of sieving is to remove particles that may be already in your flour.
Step 3
Cut the 50gs of butter/ margarine into smaller pieces or grate it. This makes the process of rubbing easier and faster.
I hope you didn’t forget to wash your hands as you got into Kitchen
With the tips of your fingers rub the fat into the wheat flour. Raise your hands above the bowl as you rub. This is the easiest way to aeratethe wheatflour and butter mixture at the same time. This is super easy to do and does not a lot of effort.
Step 4
Add sugar and mix well, then add in your dry fruits/ apple/ carrot. Your fruit choices enhance your creativity. This should be according to your taste or need to customize your basic scone recipe. The quality of your ingredients will automatically affect the quality of your scone.
Step 5
Make a small gap in the flour mixture and add milk,if you are out of milk you can still use a little bit of water. Milk will give a better flavor and taste to your scones, the water is a bit too basic. Mix well to form the soft and spongy dough.
Step 6
Get the soft spongy dough out of the bowel and place it on a clean floured surface.
Knead the dough lightly until smooth. Using a Knife divide the dough into two (2) and lightly knead each piece into a ball. Remember no to use a lot of pressure on the dough as this will increase its temperature.
Step 7
With a rolling pin roll out the dough slightly, cut in triangles on rounds using the knife. Sprinkle a little Wheat flour onto the baking tray and place your cut triangles onto the tray.
Beat the egg and carefully separate the white from the York. Brush the scones with the egg York for a glossy crust. If possible leave the scones to rest for 10- 5 minutes before baking.
Step 8
Bake the scones at the top of the oven until they are well risen and brown.
This will take between 15 and 30 minutes.
Let them rest a bit to cool down if you are serving immediately. Remember presentation is key watch how you display your scones to your guests. Make sure that the eyes appreciate them before the tongue does.
5 Healthy tips for your scone recipe
If you are watching your health or are on a weight loss lifestyle here is a list of what you can do to your scone recipe:
- Substituting whole wheat flour for part or all of the white. you can also try white whole wheat floor
- You can experiment with non-wheat flours like rye, buckwheat, oat flour.
- Non-hydrogenated trans-fat-free margarine and butter are a healthier alternative to the usual butter options
- Adding Berries and dried fruits is a healthy option for your scones. These are packed with fiber and antioxidants.
- Reduce the amount of sugar or replace it with fruits to make up for the sugar.
