Scones: the perfect friend-food

I love scones. It's the perfect food to make and eat with a good friend, accompanied with hot tea, of course. Or they are easy to take along while you are on a picknick - they are firm and you can take the cream or filling along in a seperate box. The best scone I ever ate was in the Willow Tea Rooms in Glasgow, where I was this summer. The scone was delicious and the cream was just perfect. The tea I ordered was honey almond - which also belongs to the best teas I've ever had.

I baked these scones tuesday, with my friend Sabrina. She is gone now for 6 months to Canada and for another 3 to Cambridge. We've been saying we were going to bake scones for months, so I'm happy we managed to bake them before she went abroad! I made a few pictures of them and I'n not sure which one I like best, so I'll just post them all! And there are a lot of recipes on how to make scones around. This is just my version!

Ingredients
- 375 g flour, I use whole wheat because it's healthy and I think it fits scones!
- 1.5 tablespoon sugar / honey
- Pinch of salt
- 4.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 150 g cold butter, diced in small cubes
- 190 ml heavy whipping cream
- 3 eggs
- extra egg and some milk
- optional ingredients: like lemon peel, cinnamon, dried fruits, nuts... I usually go for lemon peel, but I suggest that cinnamon, almonds and small pieces of apple and even raisins will be a great combination for the fall!

What to do with them?
- Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

- Using knives, "cut" the cold butter in the flour mixture.

- Add the wet ingredients (eggs, cream, and perhaps honey), mixing with the knives or your fingers. Be careful not to over-knead!

- If you have other ingredients, add them too.

- On a floured surface, shape the batter into a square or rectangle, of about 20-25 cm.

- Cut this batter into 16 pieces and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

- Mix together an egg and some cream (or milk) and brush this over the scones.

- Bake them in the oven at 200°C for 20 minutes.

I take it you want something on these scones, right? My personal preference is lemon curd and cream. I think the best cream is mascarpone mixed with whipped cream. You can buy lemon curd, or you can make your own!

Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 150 g sugar
- 80 ml of lemon juice (this is about 1 large lemon. You could also mix lemon juice with a little lime juice, what I did here)
- 50 g butter

What to do with them?
- Put the eggs, sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan. Most recipes say you need to do this au-bain-marie, but putting it directly on the stove works fine as well.

- While on the stove (medium heat), keep stirring constantly! This is the key, as otherwise you'll get lemon-flavoured scrambled eggs. How long you have to mix depends on quite a few factors like the humidity and temperature, but you'll notice when it's thickened and ready. For me, this usually is at 4-5 minutes.

- Take it from the heat and stir in the butter. As it cools down, you need to stir the lemon curd every once in a while, or it will form a skin on top.

- You can also add lemon peel to the curd to intensify the flavour. I choose to put the peel of the lemon in the scone batter, so I didn't have any peel left.

And the best way to eat them is invite some friends, have a pot of tea ready and perhaps a movie. Scones make me nostalgic for romantic costume movies, of times where "high tea" still was part of the day. But I think scones also fit an extravagant breakfast table, together with a boiled egg and yoghurt.

Oh, and do tell me which of these three pictures you prefer. I cannot decide myself! Anyway, a fine day to you and enjoy your next meal!