Buttermilk Scones

There’s nothing like a fresh home baked scone – crumbly, soft and light, served with fresh cream and a good dollop of jam or still oven warm with a generous spread of butter.

I’ve tried a few scone recipes in my time but our favourite is from the lovely Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s Family Cookbook.  It’s really simple and produces lovely light scones.  This recipe can also be used for fruit scones by chucking in a couple of handfuls of sultanas or any other dried fruits that take your fancy.  A little tip that I read somewhere to ensure that your scones rise is not to twist the cutter when cutting out the dough and I really thinks this works.

Some time ago I was very lucky to receive a generous box of jams and relishes from the very nice people at Folláin Traditional Fine Foods based in West Cork – they have been making wholesome natural jams, marmalades and relishes for nearly 30 years and I can certainly vouch for their deliciousness.  The Fire Roasted Red Pepper Relish was superb smeared in a toasted pitta with sausages and I have a real soft spot for the Extra Fruit Raspberry, perfect for slathering on scones. Check out their great range over at www.follain.ie.

The recipe says this quantity of dough will make about 16 scones but I like to make larger scones so I usually get 8 to 10 out of this dough.

  • 450g self-raising flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 100g butter
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 300ml buttermilk

Preheat oven to 210°C fan assisted (gas mark 8).

Sift the flour in to a mixing bowl and add the salt and baking powder.

Cut the butter in to cubes and add them to the flour, then rub the butter in to the flour with your fingertips until it has disappeared and the flour looks sandy.

Tip in the caster sugar, stir and then using a knife gently stir in the buttermilk until you have a sticky dough.

Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface and using a rolling pin press the dough in to a round about 1½ inches thick.  Dip a pastry cutter in flour and cut as many scones as you can from the dough taking care not to twist when removing.  Place the scones on a lightly floured baking sheet and bake for around 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Aw Go On….

You may have noticed that The Glutton’s Kitchen has a new fancy header – a brilliant paper cut artwork made by the very lovely and super talented Jane Steger-Lewis of www.ilovemayo.com.  In addition to amazing paintings of her roosters, Jane produces a  Love Ireland range of gorgeous contemporary prints inspired by Irish blessings and culture which I am huge fan of.  I particularly love this big bright quirky print, which looks fab in a white frame and is guaranteed to bring out the Mrs Doyle in anyone. To celebrate my brilliant new blog header I am giving one of Jane’s Aw Go On prints to one of you lovely readers. To enter simply leave a comment below. Post to Irish or UK addresses only. Closing date Friday 27th January 2012. Winner will be selected by random number generator thingy.

UPDATE!!!!!  So sorry for the delay in finalising this comp.  Using random.org the winner is 3!!  

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 22
Result:
3
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

 

This is the best I could do with cutting and pasting number generator – by my reckoning the winner is Sharon Ni Chonchuir :) congrats – email me your address to gluttonyforbeginners@gmail.com and I’ll pop it in the post to you.

Barbecued Pork Fillet with Vietnamese Caramel Sauce

BBQ Pork Vietnamese Caramel Sauce whole

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SF chilli pork 3

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Make Bake Love by Lilly Higgins

Make Bake Love

Image courtesy of Gill & Macmillan Make Bake Love is a book I have been meaning to blog about for some time now and I can’t think of a better subject for my first proper post of the year. Many of us Irish food bloggers were waiting excitedly for Lilly Higgin’s first foray in to the [...]

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Well first of all I must apologise sincerely for the lack of posts around here for a while – my absence has made me realise that I really value this little blog quite dearly and I will endeavour to try harder this year. I really appreciate all of you who continue to check in and [...]

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Christmas Creme Brulee

I have mentioned on this blog before that one of our favourite desserts is Crème Brûlée and when I saw Avonmore’s competition over on the Irish Food Bloggers website seeking recipes for 12 Days of Christmas I immediately thought a Christmas Crème Brûlée would be perfect. It’s very easy to make and needs just a few [...]

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Potato Dauphinoise

DSC_0225

This is a really quick and easy way to make Dauphinoise.  I have tried the other method of using very thinly sliced raw potatoes but I find it just takes too long as you need to cook on a low temperature to avoid the starch curdling the cream.  By parboiling the potatoes first you avoid this [...]

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Almond Danish Pastries

DSC_0258

There is something about autumn and winter that makes me want to cook and bake.  I don’t know if it is some instinctive desire to squirrel away food for the cold months ahead or whether it is just the lovely comforting feeling of standing in a warm cosy kitchen whilst the rain hammers against the fogged up window but [...]

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Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps 2

My husband and son both love ginger flavoured treats - gingernuts, ginger snaps, Jamaican ginger cake, gingerbread – they eat the lot with gusto.  Usually when my mum comes to visit us here she brings my husband a supply of his favourite M&S Ginger Snaps but on her last visit he was out of luck as there were [...]

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