I tend to use the BBC Good Food recipe for Ultimate Scones. It has never failed me and I can make it in my sleep at this stage. It’s a lovely basic recipe and perfect with jam and cream. I’ve added pecans and chocolate here. I usually double it as when you are going to all the bother of getting your hands and worktop messy, you should make it worth your while! I throw some raw unbaked ones in the freezer and bake them from frozen at a later date (just adding a few minutes to the cooking time), which is handy. This makes about ten or so:-
450g self-raising flour (plus extra to dust)
100g butter, cold
50g sugar
250ml buttermilk plus about 8 tblsp milk to thin it out
50g of chopped dark chocolate
50g chopped toasted pecans
Preheat the oven to 220c/200c fan. Put the flour in a large bowl and add the butter. I like to grate my butter in. I have an ancient grater and am so unwilling to part with it as it does this job perfectly. Just grab the butter rub it in the flour and grate away – makes the butter very easy to mix in with the flour.
Mix it in every so often. Now mix in the sugar and make a well in the middle. Mix the buttermilk in using a butter knife to incorporate it all together. Now gently mix in the nuts and chocolate.
When mixed, tumble it out onto a floured board. Less is more in terms of handling now. Pat the dough out to a thickness of 2.5cm. Using a cutter of approx 4cm diameter, cut the scones out by pushing the cutter straight down. Twisting it makes them wonky! Work the scraps together and cut more out, placing them on a baking tray. Bake in a preheated oven for 12 minutes and cool on a wire tray.
