The Cookbook Challenge Weeks 8 & 9 - Sweet & Berry - Raspberry Scones 2 - $ - V

I don't believe in New Year's resolutions. I think you are setting yourself up for a fall declaring you will or won't do something just because it is the start of a new year. Changing behaviour needs to come at the right time; and when you're ready in order to succeed. I'm from the school of that wise little green 'man':

'Do or do not. There is no try.'
Yoda (Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back)

And if you mess it up; or fall off the health-kick wagon; or skip the gym; or forget to stop and smell the flowers, it's OK. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, don't give yourself a hard time and DO it all again tomorrow. You'll get the hang of it.

What I have recently decided to do is eat more fruit, which is why I had bags of frozen berries just begging to be put into these scones. I've also had a very busy last two weeks so I've combined weeks 8 and 9 of The Cookbook Challenge in what I call 'good time management' as opposed to 'cheating'.
I'm also not very good at scones so this being a challenge after all, I thought I should have a go at getting better at them.


This recipe is from the gorgeous Afternoon Tea cookbook, published by the lovely folk from Frankie magazine. I've mentioned this book before because it is full of old-school recipes, it is cheap to buy and it is a fab gift for cooks of all skill levels.

Raspberry Scones (Kate Ella)

Ingredients

4 cups self-raising flour
3tbs icing sugar plus extra to dust
60gm butter
3/4 cup water
1 1/3 cups milk, plus extra for brushing
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries - I used mixed berries

Preheat oven to 200C degrees. Grease a lamington tray or line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour and icing sugar. With the tips of your fingers rub through the butter until the flour becomes a bread-crumb like consistency. (Mine were not too crumby-like, so I just pushed on.)

Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the milk and water. Use a knife to cut the liquids through the flour until it makes a sticky dough. (My dough was SUPER sticky, too much I think, so perhaps put the milk in first and then add the water if you think you need it.)
Add the frozen raspberries and cut these through also. (You need to move fast with the berries, they start to defrost adding more moisture to the dough and if you have blueberries in there, they burst and make the colour of the dough purple.)


On a well-floured surface (WELL-floured is key I found), knead the dough until nice and smooth, but don't overdo it. Press the dough out until it is about 2-3cm thick . Use a floured scone cutter or glass to press out the scones and place side by side and touching on the tray. Push the pastry scraps together and flatten out as many times as you can to get lots of scones.

Brush the tops with milk and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve hot or cold with jam and cream.

I think these were missing a little something and tasted a touch bland so I will keep up the scone making until I get them right.

Enjoy!