Fruit scones

We have a local cafe that make the most fantastic scones ever, people come from miles around for them. They also experiment with new flavour combinations on a regular basis. My current favorite is stilton/walnut. My wife is a brilliant cook, but she cannot come anywhere near their ones, so we are forced to visit them at least twice a week. Because I knew I would not be able to drive for some weeks, we stocked up our freezer with a few weeks supply. If you live in North Essex, message me for the name of the cafe.

Nanapug, just seen this, hope you have tried the recipe I gave you this afternoon? And you had clotted cream and strawberry jam? Mmmmm

Arghhh - have never managed to make a decent scone, I'm afraid. Could we all have the recipe Lindylooby, please?

pompa- why not publish the name of the Café here- can do no harm, can it?

Tiptree Jam + Devon cream I hope

Here is the recipe for fruit scones I have made for the past 40 years, and my mum and nan before me.
makes 12 heat oven to 220c gas 7
rub 3ozs butter into 8ozs sr flour and 2 tbsps caster sugar, till it resembles breadcrumbs, stir in 2ozs dried fruit, 1 large beaten egg and about 3tbsps whole milk until you have a soft but not sticky dough (you may need an extra tbsp milk). Roll out to 1/2 inch thick cut and coat tops with milk. Cook for 12-15 minutes in top half of oven till well risen and golden brown.
Enjoy.
I also make crusted cheese scone, date and wholemeal scones and drop scones!
no wonder I am the size I am!

What size do you make your scones Lindy? I use a cutter that's about 1.5" diameter so quite small scones but whenever I see scones in a café they are huge.

The butter/scone ratio is all wrong.

When I make fruit scones I use: 8oz self raising flour, 2oz butter, 2oz caster sugar, 2oz currants or raisins and about 6 fluid ozs milk, or sufficient to make a stiff dough. Roll out on a floured surface to about 1cm-1.5cm thick and cut out with a cutter or else cut into triangles, brush with milk or beaten egg and bake at 220c for about 10 - 15 minutes.
I never put egg in scone mix as my mother once said I was making rock buns then.
I make a large variety of scones too. Treacle scones go down well in our house.

Plain 3 inch cutter straight down, don't wiggle it or it won't rise evenly. Always added an egg, I make rock cakes as well nothing like my scones! Hehe

The secret to a good scone is to have the mixture quite wet - dip the cutter in flour between cuttings so it doesn't stick - and make them deep.

No - no egg. Not in scones.

My rock cakes are 1/2 fat to flour.

Paul Hollywood
Mary Berry and
Delia Smith all use eggs in their scone mix!
but each to their own.
all 6 children and 12 grandchildren reckon my scones are fab, and they never get the chance to go stale so I will stick to the recipe my nan first learnt in service in 1910!

I have always put an egg in my scones too. I have googled egg free scone recipes and they are very few and far between and tend to be for people who want egg free recipes for allergies. Think I will stick with putting an egg in and will try your recipe on Sunday "Lindy"

Everything these days, in modern recipes, has to be made richer than the original.

My scone recipe comes from my Mrs Beeton's Cookbook, given to me in 1968.

#oldonesarethebest

You wouldn't want mine.

I prefer Waitrose!

2oz butter, 1oz sugar, 8 oz self raising flour, rub in etc, then just enough milk to make a slightly stick dough. (Add sultanas to taste, within reason, before the milk.)

I also cheat (a bit) by rolling the dough out more thickly than the recipe suggests. Result? Well risen scones that look generous when cut in half ready for cream, jam etc!

PS According to my book it should make 12 scones, but I usually end up with 8.

The secret is- Don't roll the mixture with a rolling pin,just shape with your hands.
I always use the Bero recipe

The new baker in our village had a whole row of beautiful scones of many different kinds in the display case in front of the counter. Tempting. My DS1, when he was head chef in a nearby department store, early in his career, had a good line in cherry scones which the 'ladies who lunch' and the footballers' wives enjoyed with their morning coffee.

Oh granjo39 now you've nearly made me cry! My grandmother had a Bero recipe book, narrow sort of book, brown & white print! I made my first ever fruit cake (aged about 8) from that book! I sort of inherited it when she died, had it for more years than I care to remember. I have now realised that I left it behind when I left exdh (well, let's be honest it wouldn't be the first thing to come to mind when moving out) so that's another link gone.

Got my BeRo book in 1973- still using it all the time. I also have a pre 73 one with Imperial only measures.

phoenix- this is what I find- I end up rolling too thinly because recipe says makes 12- so next time will try to just get 8 thicker ones. Might just work, thanks.

Self raising flour? Oh no! Mrs Beetlns stipulates plain flour with the correct teaspoonage of cream of tartar and bicarb.