The Perfect Scone

Some of my favorite memories of living in England are those of going to the Borough Market in London on Saturday mornings. This huge market has the most amazing selection of products, from wonderful organic fruits and vegetables, beautiful flowers, and fragrant cheeses, to homemade jams and spreads and delicious baked goods, of course! One of these baked goods - The Scone. An English classic that's easy and quick to make, doesn't require many ingredients, and tastes perfectly delicious with a pot of English Breakfast Tea!

Delicious Baked Goods at the Borough Market

The Olive Stand

The Mushroom Stand

RAISIN SCONES

(Adapted from Jaime Oliver's Jamie's Food Revolution)

INGREDIENTS (to make about 10 scones):

1 cup raisins (you can use less if you don't like as many raisins)

1 cup orange juice to soak your raisins in (this is optional)

4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

2 large eggs

1/3 cup milk

Pinch of salt

For serving - jam/jelly, either clotted cream/whipped heavy cream or creme fraiche

DIRECTIONS:

First, soak your raisins in orange juice (you can skip this step if you don't have any orange juice). In your mixer, combine flour, baking powder, salt and butter, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat together your milk and eggs, and then add them to your flour mixture until all is well combined.

Drain the raisins, and add them to your dough. If the dough is not soft enough, add a little more milk. Now take your dough and place it on a floured surface, and roll it out into a disk that's about 3/4 inch thick.

Next, begin cutting out your scone circles using a 2 1/2 inch round cutter (I didn't have one and just used the rim of a glass), and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush each scone with a little bit of milk so it bakes to a beautiful golden color.

Preheat your oven to 400 deg F (204 deg C), and bake your scones for 12-15 minutes, until they are golden brown, they will rise a little bit in the oven. Let them cool.

Now this is the fun part - serving them! Slice each scone in half across the middle, spread some jam on the bottom part, add a dollop of cream, and top with the other half of the scone! DELICIOUS!!! You will want to drink some English Breakfast Tea with those scones, of course! Happy baking!!!

The finished product!

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