From the cook's room -- Scones :)

Fresh out of the oven for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Just felt like baking the other day and the result was above. Despite living in the middle of KL city area, I have never came across any good scones apart from the one in Boh Valley in Cameron Highland. With fresh cream and strawberry jam as their condiments, along with hot fresh brewed tea...it's definitely HEAVEN!

Felt like bringing something to the office therefore I baked more than enough for everybody to enjoy. For this one we enjoyed it with just butter and assorted jams. It still beats those hard-like-rock scones they sell in cafes. Haha.

Ingredients:

500g light Italian or plain flour

1tsp of baking soda

2tsp of cream of tartar

1tsp of salt (skip this if you are using salted butter)

125g chilled unsalted butter, cubed

25g castor sugar

1 egg, beaten

275ml buttermilk

50g castor sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 220°c.

2. Sift the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt into a large bowl. Use your fingertips, rub in the butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add in the castor sugar and mix well.

3. Set aside about a third of the beaten egg and combine the rest with buttermilk, then add to the flour mixture. Mix briefly to combine into a moist dough.

4. Place on a lightly floured surface, knead gently and lightly just to bring them together. (Do not knead like kneading your bread or your scones will be hard)

5. Press to a thickness of 2cm and using a round cutter, cut out approximately 18 scones (depending on the size) and place it on a floured baking tray.

6. Add about a teaspoon of buttermilk to the remainder of the beaten egg to make an egg wash. Brush the scones with egg wash and dip the scones into the sugar (This is to your liking, usually I did not!).

7. Bake in the oven for about 10-12minutes or until golden brown on top. Serve with some clotted cream and hot tea.

Go ahead and give this a try!

Love,

Iliyana I. Ramjaun