I am very partial to a scone. This is my third post about scones so far, and I won’t rule out more in the future!
I am a classicist at heart, so a plain English scone, with jam and as much clotted cream as I can get my hands on, is my idea of perfection.
But then my eyes were opened to the American interpretation of scones – sweeter, designed to be eaten unadulterated, even for breakfast – and it appealed to me.
I would still probably prefer a fresh-from-the-oven plain scone, served with jam and clotted cream and a pot of tea, along with the time to enjoy them. However, there is definitely a place in my life for a scone that can last more than one day, without being warmed. There’s also a place in my life for a breakfast or treat that can be enjoyed on the run, or with one hand. And if all that means I can enjoy scones more often than I can get my hands on clotted cream, then that’s got to be a good thing.
I have a blueberry scone recipe in my repertoire but as spring springs, I found myself dreaming of a strawberry version.
My initial experiments used freeze-dried strawberry pieces, but those on the outside of the scones went dark brown in the oven and didn’t add quite the flavour I hoped either. It turned out that jam was required, but how could I incorporate that into the scone dough?
I started with my blueberry scone triangle recipe but the dough was too soft to hold jam. The basic recipe I used for my ginger scones was a little too plain, when not designed to be slathered in naughty cream.
I searched for a richer dough, and consulted Felicity Cloake’s How to make the perfect scone, which in turn led me to Rachel Allen‘s indulgent and fluffy scone recipe. I had never tried a sugar crust before, but I was an immediate convert. And in place of the buttermilk, I used creme fraîche and milk. A few more tweaks, a little jiggery-pokery to engineer the jam into the scone, and I had created the scone I’d been dreaming of.
Jam-filled sugar-crusted sumptuous scones
Makes 8 scones, with a 6cm pastry cutter
Ingredients
- 250g plain flour
- 1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 75g fridge-cold salted butter (or use unsalted butter, if you’d prefer, with a pinch of salt in with the flour)
- 30g caster sugar
- 1 large egg, lightly whisked (use 2/3 of egg in dough, 1/3 reserved for brushing tops)
- 4 tbsp crème fraîche (60ml)
- 3 tbsp milk (45ml)
- sprinkling of granulated sugar for the sugar crust
Method
Heat your oven to 220°C.
Mix the flour, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
Add the butter, using your finger tips to lightly rub it in.
Stir in the sugar.
Whisk the egg lightly and take out about 1/3 (or a large spoonful) and put to one side. To the remaining whisked egg (2/3), add the creme fraîche and milk and combine.
Pour the egg, cream and milk onto the other ingredients and mix lightly.
Tip the mixture out onto a floured surface and bring the dough together until just smooth but don’t knead it too much.
Pat the dough to a thickness of about 3cm and cut out discs with a pastry cutter. Try to go straight down with the cutter, rather than swivelling the cutter.
These scones are beautiful, even without the jam inside, so if you can’t be bothered with this next step, then dip the tops into the remaining egg and then into granulated sugar, arrange them on a baking tray and pop into the oven.
If you want to make the jam-filled hybrid doughnut-scone, then use a sharp knife to make an incision about halfway down the side of each scone and wiggle it around to create a little pocket. Use a small spoon to put about a teaspoon of strawberry jam inside. Dip your finger in the reserved egg and run it around the inside edge of the incision to stick it down and press lightly to seal the jam inside.
Once you’ve finished filling the scones, brush the tops of the scones with egg and sprinkle over granulated sugar and pop them in the oven to bake for about 12 minutes.