With Lemon Curd
Two of our favourites for tea-time are Scones and Bran Muffins. They are yummy, easy and quick to make and really fill a gap! With a house full of caterpillars, nothing lasts. The children have to wait for bread and although there's always yoghurt and fruit available, it never seems to fill them up! The biscuits never last long either, but then if you know what my peanut butter biscuits or crunchies (with all kinds of yummy flavour variations) tasted like, you know why.
I'm not going to beat around the bush here, I'm just going to dive right into the recipe because enough people have been asking me for it and another minutes read may just push them over the edge!
The last thing I want to add in here is that although I love butter, real butter, not margarine, baking with it, as often as I do, gets out of hand, budget-wise. So if you want to use butter for that extra decadence, go right ahead, you'll have to cut it up into cube (cold) and crumb it into th flour through. Because that's how it's done. Alternatively, you can follow my cheaper, easier version that tastes great anyway, and not have gone through all that fuss.
Here it is:
Put all your dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, I start with flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and give it a light stir.
Make a crater in the middle, add your egg and the oil.
Using a dough mixer, start mixing and gradually add your milk (or buttermilk)
DONT OVERMIX! That's the trick to a good light scone!
As soon as it's mixed, dust your surface with flour and taking care of not handling it too much, roll out into about 2cm or 1 inch thickness. *tip: dip your cutter in flour to prevent sticking. Try to space them as close together as possible do you don't have to roll out the dough too many times.
Space them at least an inch apart on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 200 °C for about 12 minutes. You want them to be a nice golden brown.
Oh, another little piece of advice; if you like the sharp edge in a scone, turn the scone upside when you place it onto the baking tray.
Okay, now here's the next part of this post; the lemon curd! I didn't record how I made mine, I'll see about doing a video in the future, but I promised you a recipe and so I'll be sharing the one from Bibby's Kitchen
Lemon Curd
Makes 300ml
1 cup sugar juice of 2 lemons (about 80ml) 2 whole eggs 60g cold butter, cut into cubes
Place the sugar in a heatproof bowl. Stir in the lemon juice. Add the eggs and whisk together. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Whisk thoroughly. Place back in the microwave for another minute and repeat once more. Whisk again and cook for another 30 seconds. This means you’ll have completed 3 1/2 minutes in total. Lastly, whisk in the cubed butter. Strain the curd, then pour into a sterilised jar and seal. Keeps best stored in the refrigerator. Once opened, use the lemon curd within 7 days.
This is all done in four-minute, can you believe? I don't do the miv=crowave thing, I use the stovetop. But this recipe is SO easy, I had to share this! If you like lemon curd, you'll know that shop-bought is so expensive! Why when you can make your own?
Easy Scones
Preheat your oven to 200 °C
2 cups all purpose flour
60ml castor sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbsp baking powder
65g butter or sunflower oil
1/2 cup milk (buttermilk is better, I often use kefir milk)
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. If you're using butter, now would be the time to crumble it into your flour mix. Add egg, oil and start mixing, adding the milk.
For cheese scones, add a cup of finely grated cheddar or gouda cheese to the mix, roll out and cut. Place on a baking tray and bake for approximately 12 minutes depending on size (10 - 15 minutes).
Enjoy with lemon curd, strawberry jam with a dollop of cream, plain with butter and cheese or the however way your scone-loving heart desires it!
Savoury scones can be served with a slice of salami, cream cheese and a pimento olive!
So there you have it, folks! Easy scones that take no more than 20 - 30minutes from start to finish (depending on how fast you work).
Hope you enjoy the recipe and add it to your favourites! More Kitchen Kreations still to come; watch this space!
Thanks for reading!
Talia
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