Tuesday 18 October 2011

Aggie's Granny’s scones


It's taken me a couple of days to get the recipe I promised you from Aggie MacKenzie's new book. I went for these scones because they look so delicious and involve so few ingredients. I suspect there's more to them than meets the eye - they look so fabulously light but have a go. This is what Aggie says about them:

"These are legendary. My mother’s mother made them almost daily (bread was a once-a-week delivery in the remote north-west of Scotland) and they were eaten with crowdie, which is a cream cheese that’s sharp and dense. My mother does these too, and they are the talk of the area. And of course it’s the recipe I always use. A few ingredients to get together, sure, but my goodness the results are unbeatable."

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: around 10 minutes
Makes 16 scones

40g/1½oz/3 tbsp butter
1 level tbsp golden (light corn) syrup
1 medium egg
300ml/10fl oz/1¼ cups buttermilk 
(if you can get it) or milk
450g/1lb/3¼ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 heaped tsp cream of tartar
1 heaped tsp salt

Preheat the oven to the hottest setting (Have checked this with Aggie who says 240°C/Gas 9) 
and place a large baking sheet inside. Melt the butter and syrup together in 
a pan. Mix the egg and buttermilk together. Put the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add both the wet mixtures to the dry 
ingredients and stir with a large metal spoon. (If you use milk instead of 
buttermilk, the mix might seem too wet 
but fear not.)

Have lots of flour on your work surface 
and empty the mix on to it. Sprinkle on a good layer of flour. Gently roll out into a rough circle about 2cm/¾in thick. Cut up into 16 pieces; some will be square, some will be corners, but they’ll all taste 
gorgeous.

Arrange on the hot baking sheet (no need 
to grease), spaced 
a little apart. Put in the oven for about 
7-8 minutes until nicely golden. Cool on 
a wire rack.

From Aggie's Family Cookbook, published by Pavilion Books, price £20.

12 comments:

Sarah said...

They sound yummy, I must get hold of some cream of tartar.

My oven goes up very high, when you say put it on max, what do you mean?

Fiona Beckett said...

good point, Sarah. Haven't got the book with me but would guess Gas 9/240°

Michelle said...

Those look good!

Fiona Beckett said...

Have checked with Aggie who says yes, 240°C.

Colleen said...

These sound wonderful and so very easy! For those of us here in the states, 240 c equals 475 F.

local lass said...

these would knock the socks off Kirstie Allsop's ones on TV last night. Love the fact you just cut them into randon pieces - less handling, lighter scones.

Fiona Beckett said...

Yes, I like that too, local lass. They actually look more home made that way.

And thanks for putting the Fahrenheit temperature in, Colleen. I should remember to convert it

Erin said...

I made these just now to go with a beef stew. I only had unbleached all-purpose flour on hand, which probably made them a bit more, er, heavy duty than they would be with unbleached. They didn't turn as lovely and brown as the photo, but my oven is on the cool side and I could only get it up to 450º. Very nice with the stew though.

Fiona Beckett said...

Thanks for the feedback, Erin. I'm going to try and make them myself this weekend. I was wondering if the buttermilk would make a difference as that's quite hard to find. (The gorgeous photo incidentally is not mine but the photographer Chris Terry's!)

Erin said...

Oh I did use buttermilk, I'm over in Canada now, and it's easy to find here.

Laura@howtocookgoodfood said...

These scones look amazingly good. I shall have to give them a go. I love the idea of them not all being uniform in shape, not a fluted edge in sight!

Tubbs said...

Attempts to find cream of tarter haven't gone very well - can you cheat and use baking powder instead?

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