At The Angel Inn we bake scones daily, as there is nothing better than the smell, taste and texture of a scone fresh from the oven. We serve ours with Fen Farm Dairy cultured, cream and Stokes Extra Strawberry Jam – or some prefer them with just a little butter. Either way, we are often asked for the recipe, so have included it as one of our first recipe blogs.
To make Angel scones is relatively straightforward, although a little planning will improve things to no end, as the raisins (or substitute dried fruit of your choice – such as dried Norfolk blueberries) need to be soaked in apple juice for at least 30 minutes – we soak ours overnight. This helps to plump them up and avoids the fruit burning in the oven, as this would give them a bitter taste.
Plus you really need to make sure the oven is preheated, as we want to get the dough into the oven as soon after the ingredients have been combined as possible, to take advantage of the rise.
The equipment and ingredients can be found on the recipe card below. We use 50% Stoate’s plain, organic, stone-ground, white flour, but other plain white flour can be substituted.
The recipe makes seven or eight good sized scones.
Measure all the dry ingredients (except sugar) and mix in a large bowl. Cut in the butter – ideally as cold as possible.
Then, fold in the soaked fruit (first discard any juice that has not been soaked up by the fruit).
Lightly beat the wet ingredients (egg, milk vanilla essence), plus the sugar. Set two table spoons aside for the baste (this is why we put the sugar and vanilla in the wet mix, and not the dry mix – we find it adds colour and flavour to the outside), before incorporating into the dry bowl. Mix all so that it comes together without being over-worked. We do not want the scones to become tough.
Empty the bowl onto a lightly dusted countertop. Form into a rough ball and flatten with a little of the flour sprinkled on top. Cut in half and fold once. Form once more into an oblong/cuboid this time and simply use a pastry slice to cut into seven or eight triangular shaped pieces (they will not keep this shape in the oven).
Place onto parchment paper – they will stick to an oven tray and cause more washing up.
Baste the tops and all sides with the remaining mixture, before popping into the preheated oven.
Our oven cooks remarkably quickly, so eleven minutes at 190c is sufficient. You may need to increase the temperature, rather than the time, to get them to brown. You want the inside to be cooked without the outside burning, so some experimentation will be initially required, but this will pay off in the long run as they will smell and taste delicious.
Savoury cheese option:
If you prefer savoury, leave out sugar, vanilla and fruit and replace with freshly grated cheddar or other cheese of your choosing, plus a little freshly ground white pepper and any herbs or spices you may fancy. Retain some of the grated cheese to sprinkle on top after basting and before putting in the oven.
Although best eaten fresh, we find the scones are even better if allowed to rest for ten minutes before serving.
Download or print the recipe card below and click on the button to watch the video of the process (starts after ingredients have been measured/weighed).
[You may have to hit the double arrow >> at the top right of the pdf to see the print/download options.]