The Great Scone Bake Off

Today at the kids had a mini fete at school and there was a scone bake off competition. So the kids had to help Mum , or Dad, bake some scones and send them to school. I must say I'm not a fan of scones because they are usually dry and chewy. So my mission was to find a recipe, or actually two, of good tasting non-chewy scone variety.

Quack chose sundried tomato and feta scones with herb and garlic butter

These were super tasty and super easy. I can't wait to have an excuse to make these again. I found the recipe here and they are worth the visit. If you are looking for something extra special and different too this is the answer. They rose nicely and have a wonderful soft texture and subtle flavour.

Jaybug chose the traditional jam and cream scone

For these scones I used a never fail recipe from my stash of women's weekly books. Again they were simple, moist, tasty and everything you could wish a good scone to be. They reminded me of a scone loaf which a friend had brought around for lunch one day. I couldn't believe I had managed to recreate that taste in my kitchen! Dangerous.... 

So here's the recipe (from memory which is always a sure sign they are a winner) so I know everyone can enjoy simple and tasty scones this weekend.

BUTTERMILK SCONES (worth the trip for buttermilk)

375g self raising flour

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

60g butter

300ml buttermilk

Preheat oven to 220oC and line a tray with baking paper.

Sift flour and sugar together.

Rub in butter.

Add butter milk and cut in with a knife.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

Roll dough out to 2cm thick and cut out rounds with a cookie cutter (use whatever shape you have or cut squares)

Re-rolling scraps to use all the dough.

Place scones on the tray just touching and bake for 15 minutes until golden

Serve with cream and jam

We also added fresh strawberries and sandwiched them with a sprinkle of icing sugar on top!

NB - we didn't win the bake off but we definitely have some winning recipes by my standards and I have no idea what was wrong with the judges!