Devonshire Tea!

I can remember as a child watching as my mother gathered up ingredients for scones from the pantry, all her baking ingredients were stored in large old Pablo coffee jars and were labeled appropriately with old fashioned labels and stuck onto the jars with tape. She would tell me that scones don't like to be handled, that the less you handle them the fluffier the scone would be. She would measure the flour and sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter using only her finger tips until the flour resembled fine bread crumbs. Next she would make a well in the flour and add both the milk and water at the same time. Using a knife she would then work the flour into a sticky dough, after turning the dough onto a lightly floured bench she would gently kneed the mixture for only a few moments, she would shape the dough into a square and cut the scones into shape from from it, she would place each scone as if pieces of a puzzle onto a greased tray, glaze them with a little milk and then bake them in the oven until golden in colour and heavenly in smell.

As I grew older and I became an independent youth I would attempt to bake my own scones, I would try different recipes from different cookbooks, some of them were successful, others were disastrous. I once made lemonade scones that, once baked could have been used as weapons of mass destruction, needless to say they ended up in the rubbish and I was left feeling deflated, yet as the saying goes, if you fall off your horse you've got to get straight back on again.

After many years of trials I have now mastered the art of baking scones, my competitive streak shining through as I bake my scones and share them at family events, waiting for my mother to comment on my efforts, needless to say her scones are always better in taste to mine in her books, although, I know that my scones are the "bomb!"

Yesterday morning I treated the girls in the office to Devon shire Tea, I placed 2 1/2 cups of Self Raising Flour into a bowl with 2 Table Spoons of Caster Sugar and using my finger tips I gently rubbed in 30 Grams of Butter. After my mixture has morphed into fine bread crumbs I made a well in the center and add 3/4 of a Cup of Milk and 1/2 a Cup of Water. Using a knife I formed the dough by working the mixture from the sides to the center of the bowl, I turn the dough onto a floured surface and as not to upset it and cause it to become tough, I kneed it sparingly and then cut my scones from it using a scone cutter, I place them onto a lined biscuit tray, I bake them in a moderate oven as my mother did until they are golden brown.

Once cooked I wrap my scones in a clean tea towel and journey them with me to work, stopping at the local shop along the way for a fresh tub of double dollop cream and a jar of strawberry jam, I also packed some of Lady Flo's lemon butter that I had made last week.

Needless to say my scones were a hit and a well earned distraction at work, they disappeared one scone at a time, and the lemon butter was a popular topic of conversation. Another successful morning in the kitchen, leaving me feeling self satisfied and truly happy.

You now have my recipe for delicious golden scones, don't just say "ONE day I will give that recipe a go." Do it now, there is of course no time like the present. Enjoy it, and remember, if at first you don't succeed try, try again!