British · Dessert
Scones
Tall, craggy-sided scones from a barely-touched dough — the afternoon-tea anchor; jam-first or cream-first is the guests' war, not yours
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 15 min
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- Self-raising flour — 350 g, plus dusting
- Baking powder — 8 g
- Caster sugar — 50 g
- Fine sea salt — 3 g
- Unsalted butter — 90 g, cold, diced
- Buttermilk — 200 ml, cold
- Free-range egg — 1, beaten (half in dough, half to glaze)
- Vanilla extract — 3 ml
- Strawberry jam — 180 g
- Clotted cream — 220 g
Method
- Heat oven to 210°C with a tray inside.
- Rub flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and butter to fine crumbs — cold hands, quick work.
- Stir in buttermilk, half the egg and vanilla with a knife until it barely holds — shaggy, not smooth.
- Turn out; pat (never roll) to 3.5 cm. Fold once for layers; pat again.
- Stamp 7 cm rounds straight down — no twisting, or they rise crooked. Re-press trimmings once only.
- Glaze tops only with remaining egg; bake on the hot tray 12–14 minutes until risen and golden.
- Cool 15 minutes in a cloth — warm, not hot, for serving.