As a Bedsit Batchelor of the 80s, I relied on Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course. It was, and still is, a classic; I learned many of the basics, kept myself alive and even entertained with some credit (or maybe they were being nice; who knows).
Although in time I progressed to many other cookery books, as a creature of habit I have continued until just a few days ago with her recipe for Scones. The results, I can now admit, were always a bit disappointing.
With marriage to Elisabeth came Good Housekeeping Cookery and another chance to explore variations with only limited success.
You see, what I wanted were scones with height, lightness, flakiness and cooked through without burning too much on the outside. Not much to ask.
A few days ago, Google found me two really useful sites. The first was a recipe variation I had not seen before: addition of eggs and use of plain flour (which is counter intuitive) and, the taste inspiration, vanilla extract. The second was a series of tips for making perfect scones and the key is to not think “cake” but think “pastry” (yes, I know it’s a bread really).
The results were fantastic, my only regret being that I failed to take a photograph (bit embarrassing really) – but next time I will post an image.
So, here they are: The recipe and The Tips.
If you do bake them please leave a comment and let me know how you get one. If you think you have a better receipe, do let me know.
Next up: Cup Cakes.
by Martin Gammon
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