Scones Glorious Scones

If you LOVE scones then you are guaranteed to fall madly and deeply in love with these scrumptious ones! The good thing about them is that they are SO easy to make. However the bad thing about them is that they are SO easy to eat...before you know it you’ve already consumed way over your daily food intake! So be warned dieters - they ARE dangerous.

What you will need:

600g Self Raising Flour

2 tablespoons Icing sugar

60g Butter

375ml Milk

180ml Water

Variations:

1. Blackberries & 1 Lemon 

2. Raspberries & Desiccated Coconut

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 200°c

2. Sift flour and icing sugar into a bowl then rub in the butter.

  3. You can now add in your flavours (e.g blackberries and lemon rind) or wait until the end if you’d prefer. I wanted to make two different flavoured scones so I felt it was easier to make the dough, divide it up, then add the flavours.

 4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture...

5. Pour in all of your milk and half of your water...

  6. Gradually add the remaining water and use a knife to ‘cut’ through the mixture.

 7. Add in your desired fruits and flavours (if you didn’t already at stage 3) and mix well. I used a whole packet of blackberries and the rind of one lemon.

8. Knead your dough on a floured surface until smooth and then to achieve neat looking scones divide the mixture up evenly and place in a 12-hole muffin tray.

9.  Bake for around 15 minutes (after 10 minutes of baking brush some beaten egg yolk over your scones if desired). 

10. Tuck in my girl...

A BURST of blackberries...

Scones glorious scones...

I certainly wasn't holding back and I got stuck right in...

Unfortunately there wasn't any clotted cream floating around in my fridge I therefore opted for butter topped with Strawberry Jam...

I don't mind that the blackberries sunk to the bottom however to prevent this from happening you can toss your blackberries in flour before adding!

Last time I made scones they were blueberry flavoured ones and I invited my best friend round for 'afternoon tea'. I highly recommend doing this as we had a delightful day. Present your scones on a cupcake stand, fill your favourite tea pot up, purchase a selection of jams/clotted cream and you are ready to GO! Whether it be for breakfast, lunch, or supper; I guarantee you and your best friend will NOT want the scones, the tea, or the day to come to an end. 

A very cosy and comforting scone feast... 

A blueberry scone, with a generous amount of clotted cream, finished with a layer of blackberry jam...my idea of heaven!

Along with the blackberry and lemon scones that I made today, I also baked some raspberry and coconut ones...

Which washed down very nicely with some raspberry jam...

Anyway I think I need a little post scone nap so I'm going to love you and leave you! Please bake some of these when you get a chance, even if you don't like scones (you strange person) then you MUST bake them for somebody you know that does! 

Lots of scone loving, 

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Coconut, currant and lemon cookies

I am feeling VERY delicate to say the least.

You know when you see people waste food and you just feel SO upset? Well, I am experiencing that exact upsetting pain but 10 times worse. Actually I should probably say 100 times worse(Sob, Sob). You see, I’ve been dreaming about making this Milkybar, cranberry and coconut loaf. Doesn’t it sound epic? I was even going to melt Milkybar on the top and then sprinkle coconut on before the Milkybar set. In my dreams it looked PERFECT.

Tonight was the evening I was turning my visions of this picture perfect loaf into a tasty reality.  Lets just say the loaf was certainly NOT picture perfect. It will now feature in my nightmares. Even Instagram couldn’t make it look appealing. I can only describe it as a raw, soggy mess and I simply could NOT come to terms with the fact I had to throw it away. Surely it deserved more than the bin? So instead of saying bye to the entire loaf I allowed my belly to say hello to some of it. Definitely not one of my best decisions I’ve made as I am now feeling upset AND sick. 

The raw disaster...

It was a very upsetting Milkybar moment as you can probably imagine.

All of this wastage and much much more...

I’m not too sure what went wrong with the loaf, possibly the fact I substituted vegetable oil for virgin oil? SSssshhhh!

So anyway... a loaf takes around an hour to bake and I was NOT prepared to stare at the oven for 60 minutes. Therefore I thought my best friend would appreciate it if I whipped her up some ‘oh so doughy’ cookies. I followed a recipe from my ‘I LOVE SUGAR’ book. It was for cranberry and coconut cookies. However I’m sure you all know what swallowed up my cranberries? Yep, that loaf which we no longer speak of! I therefore decided to add currants with the coconut along with some lemon zest. Good alternative?

What you will need:

225g butter, softened

140g caster sugar

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

280g plain flour

pinch of salt

40g desiccated coconut

60g dried currants

1 lemon

1. Mix your sugar and butter together, then add in your egg yolk and vanilla essence. Remember to lightly beat your egg yolk before adding - I clearly was in a rush to bake these bad boys and forgot! OOoops!

2. Sift together your flour and salt and mix in your lemon zest. Then add it into the above mixture. 

3. Now it's time for the two C's - Currants 'n' Coconut!

4. Yep, you guessed it...work those bingo wings and mix the two C's into the mixture. 

5. I then divided my mixture into a cupcake baking tray. I know this isn't the 'normal' way of making cookies. But come on, I'm not normal! I wanted thicker, soggier cookies rather than flat pancakes! Since my addiction to MINNIE'S COOKIES in Florida I simply can't settle for a flat, crunchy cookie. 

6. TADAH

7. If you're not a lover of hot drinks then serve with milk to compliment the doughiness... 

8. OR if you're feeling a little wild then get in that freezer and whack the ice cream out. A warm doughy cookie accompanied by cornish vanilla ice cream. You know that sounds the shizzzz! 

More importantly make sure you have those maternity pants on and enjoy every mouthful as if it were your last! Let your hair down, after all it is Friday in less than an hour! 

Despite the fact MY loaf is now suffocating in the dustbin and my Friday breakfast is now looking rather bland; I stuck to my word. These ARE for my best friend and I really hope she likes them. If not, I'm sure I can take them off her hands! Obviously I had to test one and I must admit I did go a little weak at the knees. Therefore Steph will be greeted with 11 cookies tomorrow rather than 12. Perhaps even less - It all depends on my cravings tomorrow! 

 

9. Present them in a box lined with tissue paper and perhaps even sprinkle some extra coconut over them. Then hand them over to your best friend OR snatch them back and do a runner - you decide! 

I'm off to sleep now, if only I had the excitement of waking up to a massive slice of Milkybar heaven for breakfast.

Night all.

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Blueberry and lemon loaf

I blame the snow for at least 50% of my chocolate consumption over the last few days. It has caused me to take my 'chocolate addict' title to a whole new level. Funny enough, I woke up today in a NON chocolate mood (something which rarely happens). I therefore dashed to the kitchen to whip up something sweet but with ZERO grams of chocolate!

Are you a lover of blueberries? 

Do you love indulging in zesty treats?

If so, I suggest you pop to the shop and purchase the following ingredients as this loaf is one for you!

195 grams plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest(outer yellow skin of the lemon)

240 ml fresh blueberries

113 grams unsalted butter - room temperature

150 grams granulated/caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

120 ml milk

Lemon Glaze:

2 tablespoons (25 grams)sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

I followed the recipe from Joy Of Baking and it even features a step by step video which makes this loaf SO SIMPLE to make! I will also run through the process to ensure you feel comfortable making this loaf which is bursting with blueberries! 

First, mix your butter and sugar until your mixture looks like mash potato! I had the urge to pour gravy all over it and throw some meat in the oven (so glad I didn't).

Now add your vanilla extract and your eggs (one at a time).

You will get a curdled looking mixture - do not threat, apparently it is supposed to look like this!

Now get your bowl of flour and remove one tablespoon and pour it over your blueberries (this will reduce the risk of them falling to the bottom of your loaf). Put the blueberries to one side...

For a second I thought it had started to snow indoors! 

Next, add your baking powder and salt to your flour and grate your lemon to get all of that juicy zest...

Mix the lemony zest into the flour to ensure your mixture is ZINGING...

It's now time to go back to the curdled mess...add a third of your zinging flour, then a third of your milk, then another third of your flour and so on...

When all of your milk and flour has been mixed in it's time for those delicious blueberries to get involved! 

Gently fold them in and then pour your mixture into your greased loaf tin and allow to bake for 55-60 minutes.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock...

At 57 minutes my loaf was finally ready to come out to play (by play I mean get eaten).

On goes the zesty lemon glaze...

To make the glaze simply mix 2 tablespoons of sugar with 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice, then pop it in the microwave for 20 seconds - it's that simple! 

Now brush it all over your beautiful loaf...

I did say this loaf was bursting with blueberries didn't I?

I can't express enough how happy I am with finding this recipe. It is SO unbelievably moist and SO SO tasty. The citrus lemon flavour compliments the exploding blueberries just perfectly. I recommend serving it warm, straight from the oven, with a cup of tea.

I'm not sure my fruity loaf is even going to see tomorrow. However what I do know is that I'm in desperate need of cutting myself off another slice! 

The blueberries are screaming my name...

Have a great Saturday night everyone and when you have the time you MUST make this fruitilicious loaf - you will NOT regret it!