In New Zealand, Australia and the UK scones are a common part of our food culture. I think the common word for them in America is biscuits. We call cookies biscuits so it all takes a bit of getting used to.

The good thing about them is they are light on butter or sugar, however they do have white flour so treat them as an occasional food for when you ‘really just need something else’.

There is a bit of an art to making them – you have to handle them lightly and have the mixture slightly wet rather than on the dry side.

We like to make ours with buttermilk as this makes the scones light, however you can use non fat milk instead. Don’t be afraid to add a splash more milk if you need to.

Many of recipes use self rising flour and that is fine as long as you remember to ditch the baking powder if you are using self raising flour.

We have never been fans of 2 teaspoons of baking powder to 1 cup of flour that many recipes call for when making scones, as the after taste is quite unpleasant and ours seem to rise well so we don’t see the need.

You will need

• 4 cups unbleached white flour.
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 3 oz (75 gm) very cold / frozen butter
• 1 ½ – 2 c buttermilk or non fat milk (approximately)
• 1 small egg (optional)
• Sultanas (optional)

Method:

Set your oven to hot – about 220° Celsius or 425° Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients. Grate the butter into the bowl – we like to have our butter frozen but just make sure it is very cold.

With your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it is like breadcrumbs. This can be done in the food processor if you prefer. You don’t have to be fussy about it. Make a well in the centre of the bowl and, in a jug, mix the egg into the milk, whisking lightly to combine.

Pour the milk mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and with a knife, start working the liquid into the flour from the middle of the bowl out. You have to use a bit of poetic licence with the liquid here. You will get the feel of it after a while if you are not used to making scones.

Work quickly finishing off with your hands until all flour is mix to form softish dough. Turn out onto a floured board and with floured hands, knead dough very lightly into a rectangle about 1 & 1/2 inches thick.

Cut into squares or rounds – makes about 12 – 14, and brush tops with a little milk.

Bake on a baking tray lined with non stick baking paper for about 12 – 15 minutes depending on your oven and how close you have them. Smaller ovens cook scones faster, so take this into account.

We usually bake ours on the fan function, in which case we drop the oven temperature a bit. It is important to know your oven as they can differ a lot.

Serve warm with jam. Scones freeze well. Keep them in the freezer and take them out one at a time when you need them.