Traditional British Scones

There is much debate and disagreement when it comes to serving the ‘correct’ British scone, is it jam then clotted cream, or clotted cream and then jam?

The typical Devon cream tea consists of a scone sliced in half, spread with clotted cream and topped with strawberry jam, while the alternative, the Cornish cream tea consists of a scone sliced in half, spread first with strawberry jam and then topped with clotted cream.

Whichever way you make them, the basic recipe for the scone is the same. Below is the recipe my Mother has been using since she was a child, making them with her own Mother.

Ingredients

• 200 g Plain Flour
• 10 g Baking Powder
• 50 g Unsalted Butter, softened and cut into cubes
• Pinch of Salt
• 60 ml Milk
• 60 ml Water
• 25 g Caster Sugar

For fruit scones, add 50 g washed and dried sultanas.

Directions

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl.

Add the butter and rub the mixture together with your hands, it should take on a sand like texture.

Make a well in the middle of the mixture and add the milk, water and sugar.

Mix lightly to form a dough. If it is still sticky, add a bit more flour.

Flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough to roughly 1cm thickness and cut out circles of 6cm diameter (use a cookie cutter, or cut around a coffee cup).

Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake in a 170⁰C oven for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving with strawberry jam and clotted cream (in which ever order you like) and a nice cup of tea.

Tip!

Jumbo sell jars of English clotted cream, look in their fresh cheese section.