Old Fashioned Fruit Scones

NOTE - I have updated this post with new photos and a more detailed explanation of how to make these delicious fruit scones. The recipe remains unchanged, of course ♡

Which do you say ...... 'scone' - sounds like 'bone' or 'scone' - sounds like 'gone'? For me, it always sounds like 'bone' - the other pronunciation I think of as being terribly, terribly posh. But there are those who go for 'sounds like gone' and they seem to believe that the OTHER pronunciation is the one you would expect to hear if you were taking tea with the Queen. Oh, the mysteries of the English language ......

However you say it, good scones are delicious - so very English and always so welcome. These are scones like my Nan used to make and I wouldn't dream of tweaking the recipe - not even the tiniest bit! When I was a child she lived across the road from us, with just a quiet driveway separating us. She cooked a lot - homely, welcoming, tasty food - good for the soul and not often good for the waistline. She lived alone but would cook treats for the five of us almost daily. The ring of the doorbell would signal her arrival with warm sausage rolls, Eccles cakes or a wire cooling rack piled high with her signature scones.

Nobody else made them quite like her. They were soft, moist and light - the secret, she said, was not to roll the mixture too thin. As a member of the Townswomen's Guild, the WI (of course) and the local church, she would often make scones to take to social functions. Even as children we would be able to recognise which were hers - there was no point in bothering with the rest ♡

What is so special about these fruit scones?

For me, these are the gold standard in scones. They are light, soft and have just the right amount of sweetness. They are also easy to make, quick to prepare and use ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. With this recipe in your repertoire, you will always be able to rustle up a tea-time treat at the drop of a hat ♡

What ingredients do you need for these Fruit Scones?

It's a short and simple list -

• Self Raising Flour
• Caster Sugar
• Pinch of Salt - I use table salt.
• Butter - I use unsalted butter which I weigh out and then cut into little cubes. Depending on my schedule, I might then return it to the fridge so that It's chilled when I use it as it's then easier to rub into the dry ingredients.

• Sultanas - these are plumper and more golden in colour than raisins (in fact, they are sometimes referred to as 'golden raisins'). You can also substitute raisins in the recipe without any drama.
• Milk - this is the liquid that is used to bind the mixture. I use dairy milk.

How to make fruit scones

1. Preheat the oven.
2. Weigh out the butter and cut it into small cubes.
3. Weigh the flour, caster sugar and salt into a large bowl and stir to mix.
4. Add the cubed butter to the bowl and rub with your fingers until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

5. Stir in the sultanas.
6. Now add a little milk, say a tablespoon at a time, and stir it through the mixture with a knife after each addition. Start to squeeze the mixture together with one hand, gradually adding more milk after each 'squeeze' until the mixture comes together in a dough. There is no need to knead the dough here, you are trying to handle it as little as possible.
7. Sprinkle a little flour onto the worktop and roll the mixture out until it is about 2.5cm to 3.5cm (1 to 1 ½ inch) thick - you will need very little rolling to reach this thickness. Now use a cutter to cut out 12 scones, gathering the cuttings together and re-rolling as necessary.

8. Dip the bottom of each scone in the flour on the worktop before placing them on two ungreased baking trays.
9. Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden brown.
10. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

What have I learned about making scones?

• Cutting the butter into small cubes and rubbing it into the flour mixture from chilled makes everything much easier.
• Take your time adding the milk to the mixture and be sure to keep squeezing the crumbs together to test whether you have added enough. If you don't do the 'squeeze' test, it's really hard to judge whether the mixture is ready.
• Use a 6cm (2 ½ inch) diameter cutter to make 12 scones.
• Roll out the dough as little as possible - as a guide, it should be at least the depth of the cutter. If you make the scones too thin they will be dry.
• They come together really quickly and have a short baking time so they are easy to make without much notice.
• Scones are at their best on the day that they are baked. Keep any leftovers in an airtight tin and they will be good for a couple of days. Any that are left beyond that are also good toasted ♡

Butter? Jam? Cream? Or all three?

Scones make me smile. Fresh out of the oven they need nothing at all. Just butter also works ….. so does butter and jam. I always choose Bonne Maman jam - but let's be honest here ….. I buy it mostly because I like the jars. Hey, shallow is the new deep. My favourite, for a special treat, is jam and whipped cream. Clotted cream is traditional but whipped cream works perfectly well and will save you money for sure. How do you like yours? ♡

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