Easy English Scones

Buttery, surprisingly fluffy and light-- these scones are a wonderful breakfast or tea time treat. Slather some freshly whipped cream and strawberry jam over, and pair it with a cup of good ol fashioned English breakfast tea.

Say bye to rock-hard, dry and floury scones.

These scones take less than 45min to make I promise! I've been making these for Mothers' day, waking up an hour before mom usually does, so that the scones are on the table right before she walks out of her bedroom.

The best English scones we've eaten are actually in Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. They're tall, fluffy, and the crumbs melt in your mouth. These come close.

You can choose to make them tall, or flat. Round, or triangular in shape. Below's a shorter version of the same scones.

EASY ENGLISH SCONES RECIPE

Makes 8-10 scones. I use a 2.5" round fluted cookie cutter for each scone.

INGREDIENTS:

400g self raising flour

80g fine sugar

1/4 tsp fine salt

60g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

150g heavy cream

1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 egg, whisked

100g milk

STEPS:

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 215C using top and bottom setting.

2. In a small bowl, whisk egg and milk together. Set aside 2 tbsp of this egg-milk mix for the egg wash.

3. In a food processor, put in flour, sugar, salt and cold cubed butter. Pulse till the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

4. Tip the crumb mix into a large bowl and form a well in the centre. Pour in cream, vanilla and the remaining egg-milk mix into the centre well.

5. Using a spatula, mix wet and dry ingredients till it starts to form a scraggly dough. Do not overmix! Once just combined, tip the dough out onto your counter top.

6. Do not knead the dough. Instead, gently pat the dough into a flat circle, no less than 2cm thick (I like my scones tall, so I usually go for ~2.3cm).

7. Using a round fluted edge cookie cutter, cut out your scones. Do not twist the cutter as you bring it up, or your scones will not rise tall and even. Place scones evenly apart on your baking tray.

8. Brush the tops of your scones with the 2 tbsp of egg wash. Bake scones for 12-14min, till the tops turn a nice golden brown.

9. Transfer your beautiful scones to a wire rack to cool a little before devouring them.

These scones are best eaten warm, accompanied with some whipped cream and strawberry jam:) Scones can last at room temperature for 2 days. You can also cling-wrap your baked scones and freeze them for a month. Simply leave them out to thaw overnight in the fridge or for an hour or so on the counter top (it's ok if its not completely thawed tbh) and then reheat them in your oven.

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Notes:

• It is very important to use cold butter in the processor, or your crumb will not have a light and melt-in-your mouth texture. Work fast.

• Do not overwork your dough (don't knead it if possible!) or your scones will be dense and also not rise as much in the oven.

• Your dough will look scraggly as seen in the first pic below but that's how it should be. You're not looking to form a smooth dough ball.

• 2nd pic-- after pulsing the butter and flour together, it should resemble fine crumbs like this.

• 3rd pic-- form a well in the centre of your crumb mix to put your wet ingredients in.