Mum's Never Fail Scones Recipe

So mum used to be a housewife. Well, I suppose technically she still is, but she used to be one who did the baked foods for people coming over, and morning tea for the kiddliwinks (or so I'm told, this was before my time)

But she has this awesome scones recipe. Easy. Delicious. Fast. And actually done with quantities!

Base Recipe

Dry ingredients

• 2 cups self-raising flour*
• 2 tablespoons margarine/butter

Rub margarine through flour until consistency of breadcrumbs - what that means is it should clump together and be evenly distributed
*I'm going to assume you all know how to make SR flour from plain plus baking powder - if not, read the baking powder bottle!


Wet ingredients (In measuring jug)

• 1 egg
• Milk to make up to 3/4 cup

Making it up

Now the important part (more important the closer you get to the equator) - Dry ingredients go in the fridge to cool down (bonus points for using a metal bowl), wet ingredients come to room temperature (cover and leave on bench).
I like to make the mixes up teh night before and can mix and pop into oven in the morning while I'm doing other stuff, only takes a little bit longer to get myself ready and there's delicious fresh scones for morning tea.

Making up scones
Prepare your baking tin - preferably a scone tray (doesn't have sides) but can use any baking tray - round cake tins make for pullapart type scones. To prepare baking tin, rub marg/butter over the cooking surface (inside surface) using piece of paper towel until all metal is covered, then standing over the sink (trust me, easier to clean up), put 1-2 tablespoons flour into tray and tap tray so flour spreads evenly and all the metal is covered with a thin layer of flour. Doesn't have to be done in a non-stick tray. Can use baking paper instead.

Make well in middle of dry mix, using a cooled metal knife (just the usual ones from spreading vegemite on bread) mix the wet ingredients through. Something about the cold and warm is supposed to make them rise better and a metal knife stays colder than a wooden spoon.

Break off dessert spoon sized globs, make into cubes while coating in flour (pick up sphere of dough, sequentially tap into plate of flour to make cube like you would with play dough) then place onto tray, each one touching the last.
Bake at 190 degrees for about 10-14 min, or until appear cooked (darker, less dough like). When you think they're done, pull from oven, pull off one scone and test for doughiness left in the middle
I find this makes 13 scones, which is brilliant - one to try and see whether they're cooked, rest to take wherever I'm going.

Variations

1. Cheesy scones
• Add 1/2 cup grated cheese and 1/2-1 tablespoon mustard powder to dry mix
2. Coffee and date scones
• Add 1/2 cup roughly cut dates to dry mix
• Add strong coffee (I use 2 shots espresso, or 1/4 cup instant coffee disolved in as little water as possible) to the wet ingredients, again for a TOTAL of 3/4 cup ~ egg + coffee + enough milk to make 3/4 cup (thus the use of measuring jug!)
3. Apricot scones
• Add 1/4-1/2 cup of roughly cut dried apricots to dry ingredients
• Add sugar to taste to dry mix (yes, you literally taste the mix and see if you want to add more sugar)
4. Pumpkin scones
• Omit milk from wet ingredients and use pumpkin puree instead

B Rating - Undetermined
CE Rating - Undetermined