sweet raisin scones

This time last year I posted a recipe for scones, however, in recent times, and since this year is all about being British (Jubilee / Olympics - didn't you know?!), I thought I would create another recipe for a sweeter, raisin scone - absolutely ideal with some clotted cream and fruity jam!

Ingredients
8oz self raising flour
pinch of fine salt
2 oz unsalted butter (or omit the salt and use salted butter, as I did)
1oz golden caster sugar
100g raisins or sultanas (whichever you prefer - or you can omit)
1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk
1tbsp golden syrup
100ml milk
1/2 lemon (to sour the milk)

Method
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7 / 210 degrees.

Firstly, we need to make the soured milk.
Put the milk into a glass and squeeze the lemon juice into it.  Leave this mixture for around 30 minutes - by which time it should be thicker and lumpier.  You may wish to give it a good stir after 15 minutes to let the lemon juice get to all of the milk.  If you can't be bothered with all of the this hassle, you can instead replace both the milk and lemon with buttermilk, which is available from most good supermarkets and is usually found with the creams and yogurts.

Weigh the flour into a large ceramic mixing bowl.
Add the salt and mix.
Cube the butter into the flour and, with your fingertips, gently rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles fine breadcrumbs - as you would do when making a crumble or other fruit based cake like my banana and pecan cake.
Add the sugar and raisins and mix lightly with a metal spoon or knife.
Make a well in the centre of your mixture.
In a separate small bowl whisk the eggs and the golden syrup together, until combined and darker in colour.
Pour the eggs, golden syrup and soured milk (or buttermilk) into the well in the dry mixture and, using your hands, combine the mixture together for a couple of minutes.  Be careful not to overwork the mixture, just lightly combine.
The dough will be quite wet, but you should be able to bring it all together in the bowl without it completely sticking to the sides of the bowl! If it is very wet, add a little more flour until it is working well.
Tip the dough out of the bowl, onto a lightly floured surface and press it out until around 3cm thick.
Use a cutter of your preferred shape and size to cut out your scones from the dough.  Place the cut shapes onto a baking tray or sheet, leaving a small space between them.  Note that they do not spread that much so don't worry if you need to cram one more on the sheet - just go for it!
Place them in the centre of the oven for 10minutes - until the tops are lightly coloured / golden and they are hollow sounding to tap on the base.  Transfer immediately onto a cooling rack.
Serve, as always, with cream then jam - or should it be jam then cream - you decide! It is the age old argument.
This recipe should make a bakers dozen, but this will depend on the cutter you use!

Katie xx