I also felt however, that it would work well insead of the raisins asked for in these scones.  I decided it would add a really festive touch to them.  

I was totally right! 

It worked perfectly in them.  It is a tiny bit spicy and filled with dried vine fruits and candied peel and . . .  umm . . .  brandy.  A bit naughty, but it cooks out.

 

You only need one cup of dried fruit, so I would use 3/4 cup of raisins (Golden and regular) and then measure out 1/8 cup dried currants and 1/8 cup chopped candied peel.

I think those proportions would work well.  I would use 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp each ground cloves and  nutmeg. You could also add some grated orange zest.

 These are wholesome and hearty because of the oats. I love oats in baked goods.

Do use the old fashioned oats if possible. I think quick oats would not be very suitable and you would get somewhat mixed results.

Again, the biggest challenge I had with these was photographing them. I found myself running around the house like a blue arsed fly trying to find the right spot.

I finally dug out a TV Tray from downstairs and set them up on there. I then carried the tray all over trying to find the right space.

 Its not just space either. It is also finding the right time when the light is at its best. I could buy a light box, but then where would I set it up?  

I don't know.  Its all a matter of guess work at the moment.

 

 I love this plate of my sisters. It is one of her Yard Sale Finds.  She sells this stuff on her IG page. The pattern for this is "Check" by J & G Meaken of England.

I might ask her if I can buy them.  She has two of them. I really like them and they go well with things like this.

 They very much have a "country" feel to them, which I am quite fond of. I love anything rustic and countri-fied.

I used to buy Country Living magazine many years ago and really loved the primitive style of furniture and decor that they shared with their readers.

That's where I first got acquainted with Susan Branch and her artwork.  She used to do an illustrated recipe in the magazine each month. 

I fell in love with them.  The artist in me thought they were just precious. I had a huge collection of the magazine at one time, but they all got destroyed in a move.

 

Christmas Oat Scones

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Yield: 10

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 10 Mincook time: 15 Mintotal time: 25 Min

Hearty, delicious and very festive!

Ingredients

• 2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tp salt
• 1 cup (80g) old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup (120g) cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 cup (150g) raisins (I used David Leibowitz's quick mincemeat)
• 1 cup (240ml) butter milk
• buttermilk and granulated sugar to brush

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 225*C/425*F/ gas mark 6.  Line a baking tray with some baking paper.
2. Sift the flour, soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Stir in the oats.  Drop in the butter and cut it in with two round bladed knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Stir in the raisins or mincemeat.
4. Stir in the buttermilk to make a soft dough. Knead gently a few times to bring it all together.
5. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and pat out to a rectangle about 12 by 10 inches in side.
6. Using a sharp knife, cut into 10 squares.
7. Place onto the baking sheet, leaving space between each.  Brush each with a bit of buttermilk and sprinkle with some sugar.
8. Bake for 15 minutes, until risen and golden brown.  Remove to a wire rack to cool slightly.
9. Serve warm with butter and jam.

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  Before I talk about them however I wanted to tell you about something else. Perhaps you may have noticed the new background beneath my photos here on the blog today.

It is courtesy of the Paper Bag Co.  They were so impressed with my IG photos and the photos here on the blog they wanted to send me one of their Instagram Photo Bags. I don't know what was so impressive about my photos, but I am always open to discovering new ways of improving them.

   This is what they call their Instagram Bag, the Foodie Bag.  It has been created through a collaberation between phone photographer Matt Inwood and Stylist Sophie Purser. 

It is designed especially for those who enjoyand have a passion for taking photographs of food specifically for posting them online, ideally on Instagram.

It is acually quite a large bag.  The perfect size for holding your photograph taking equipment, making it easier to take along with you. 

Included in the bag is a 15-inch photographic reflector and diffuser.  This is the tool which all professional photographers have at the top of their kit bag. 

It is designed to help you to brighten and enhance both highlights and shadows, and either subtly or dramatically alter the lighting and colour in all of the images you create.

 Included are a set of four beautifully crafted papers from Black Velvet Styling, the photographic backdrop company set up by stylist Sophie a couple of years ago.  These have been designed to provide affordable backdrops for amateurs and professionals to create mouthwatering images of their food and still life creations. 

They are perfect for transforming a plate of food into a gorgeous image fit for sharing on Instagram and we’ve given you a variety of starter colours and textures to experiment with. I have used one of them here today as a backdrop for my scones.

Now back to Mary Berry's Cheese Scones.  These are THE perfect cheese scone.  I have made cheese scones before in the past and they were good, but these are excellent.

Then again, what would you expect from Mary Berry!  She is an expert in all things baked and otherwise when it comes to cooking.  I trust her judgement explicitly!

 

 I will tell you upfront that I ended up using a bit too much milk in my scones. I misinterpreted how much 1/4 pint actually was in ounces. In otherwords, I got mixed up. 

My dough was a bit wetter than it should have been. But I persevered and all credit to Mary, despite my dough being somewhat on the wet side, they still turned out beautifully.

 I have made sure that won't happen to you. My measurements in the recipe are exactly what they should be.  No worries on that score. 

These scones have a mix of beautiful flavours. Dry mustard powder and cayenne powder are both included in the mix.

 These are both ingredients that go very well with cheese. I always use them in the sauce for my favourite macaroni and cheese recipe. 

It does use self-raising flour. I understand that self-raising flour is no something some of you can get ahold of easily, but don't worry. I have included instructions in the notes on how you can make your own.

 Included as well is plenty of grated strong/sharp cheddar cheese. Do use the best cheese that your money can buy.

The better the cheese, the tastier the scone. I used a vintage cheddar from  Wyke Farms. One thing I will miss from over here is the cheese.

British cheeses are beautiful and there is such a lovely variety of them. I became a true cheese lover only since  moving here to the UK.  

Prior to this I only ate processed cheese for the most part. Nobody had ever truly been able to tempt me into trying anything stronger.

 Then of course when I worked at the manor I used to cook for a lot of dinner parties. Silver service, multiple courses.

The dinner parties always ended with a cheese course. I need to be able to put together a delicious cheese tray for my employers and their guests. The only way I could do that is if I learn about, to taste and to enjoy the cheese.

 

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Mary Berry's Cheese Scones

Yield: 8 regular scones

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 10 Mincook time: 15 Mintotal time: 25 Min

Delicious cold or warm. These are fabulous cut in half and spread wih lashings of butter and a bit of chili jam!

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 1 tsp (225g) self-rising flour (See note)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 TBS cold butter
• 1 1/4 cup (150g) grated mature cheddar cheese
• 1 large free-range egg
• milk to the equivalent of 5 fluid ounces (1/4 pint)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Sift the flour into a bowl along with the salt, mustard powder, cayenne pepper and baking powder. Drop in the butter and rub it into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Stir in 2/3 of the cheese.
3. Break the egg into a measuring jug and add milk to give you the equivalent of 5 fluid ounces (1/4 pint). Stir this into the dry mixture and mix to a soft but not sticky dough.  Turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly for a few turns. Pat out into a 6 inch round.
4. Stamp out into rounds using a sharp round (2 1/2 inch) cutter and place onto the baking sheet.  Brush the tops with a bit more milk and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
5. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until well risen and golden.  Slip onto a wire rack to cool.  Best eaten on the day.

notes:

To Make Self Raising Flour: Just add 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder for each 150g/6oz/1 cup plain flour, plus 1/4 tsp salt. Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together into a bowl before using, to make sure the baking powder is thoroughly distributed (or you can put both ingredients into a bowl and whisk them together).

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You really cannot fault any of Mary Berry's recipes. If you follow them scrupulously, they always turn out and are fail proof!  I have never had a failure with any of them!  

 

Lemon & Sugar Scones. These delicious scones comr from a recipe I adapted from one I found in an old issue of Delicious magazine.  From the moment I saw it, I knew it was something I wanted to bake. 

What you have here is a fairly ordinary buttermilk scone recipe. The difference is they have lemon soaked sugar cubes pushed into their middles, like a sweet belly button. This creates a delicious lemon flavoured gooey centre!

I have shared this recipe in the past.  My photos were so appalling I thought I would like to redo them and redo the photos. Especially now when I have such cute dishes to use.

I got these from Scandanavian Pantry. And no, I was not given them. I fell in love with them and have been collecting them one or two at a time! I only have one or two of each. It would be a dream come true to have a full collection, but Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will my collection be!

What you have here is a fairly simple scone recipe.  Scones are quite different than biscuits. We have had that discussion before. They use butter and North American Biscuits usually use shortening, lard or a combination of those and butter. 

In scones the fat is rubbed into the dough with your fingertips as opposed to being cut in with a pastry blender. You can also use a food processor to do this if you wish. The fat should be distributed through the flour in such a way as you have a fine sand texture as opposed to pebbles.

The number one mistake that people make when they are making scones (or biscuits for that matter) is by handling the dough too much.  A light touch is the key to perfect results! 

Also people have a tendancy to twist cutters when they are cutting out scones/biscuits. You must never do that.  A sharp tap, straight up and down is what you need to do.

When you twist a cutter, you seal the edges of the dough. This prevents them from rising as tall as they would have done had you not twisted.  Top tip here! 

So if you always measure precisely, always use a light hand, and cut without twisting you will always have beautiful results.  Also I try to get as many cuts as I can from the first patting/rolling out.

Every time you have to gather in the scraps and repat, you increase the possibility of a tough scone. Also their appearance will not be as attractive as the first cuts.

They will still taste good however, so no worries on that score.  Just pat them out and then cut your rounds as closely together as possible. If you do that you should not have many repat and cuts to do.  Today I only had two.

These scones have plenty of lemon flavour.  Part of that comes from the use of freshly grated lemon zest in the scone dough itself. 

I always use unwaxed lemons. I don't want to be eating wax and unwaxed lemons are readily available these days. If you don't have them you can use regular lemons. Just rinse them well under cold running water and dry them with a clean cloth.

The wax is only  very thin coating and will come off easily.  Citrus fruits produce their own wax naturally, but after picking and washing this usually disappears.  A thin coating of wax is usually applied to help keep them fresh and presentable.

I always wash my lemons anyways. You will often see tiny black specks all over them.  This is bug dirt.   I don't want to be eating that either!

When you go to soak and push the sugar cube into the centre of these do not soak the cubes for very long.  Only a few seconds will do. Just a quick in and then out.  They will dissolve completely if you leave them in the lemon juice too long! 

These scones are delicious all on their own. I am not going to kid you. I could eat them happily just as is, but if you split them and then fill them with some cream and some jam, you tip them over the top into the area of being totally gorgeously, addictively moreish!

There is much debate in this country about what you put on a scone first.  The cream or the jam. It can be a somewhat regional thing.  I would not be surprised to find out that there had been fueds about this very matter of discussion in the past.

I am from the jam first group.  My reasoning is simple. It is much easier to dollop some cream on top of jam than it is to spread jam on top of cream.

For me it is as simple a decision as that and it makes perfect sense. You can do it however you wish. 

I like strawberry jam. Some people think it must be raspberry. Just use whatever jam is your favourite to use. Lemon or orange curd would also be very nice here.

Ideally clotted cream would be my preference, but I did not have any of that today.  Clotted Cream is a vry British thing and it is said that the best clotted cream comes from Cornwall and Devon because of their cows and pastureland.  It is very hard to replicate at home.

It is created by heating full-fat unprocessed milk indirectly by using a steam or water-bath and then leaving it to cool in shallow pans slowly.  The cream rises to the top and forms "clots" or "clouts." Conditions, temperatures, milk etc. have to be just right.

Today I made do with softly whipped double cream, and Bonne Maman Strawberry preserves. It was deliciously perfect.

I think you might agree. Or at least I hope you will. I am sure if you bake these you will love them as much as we do!

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Lemon & Sugar Scones

Yield: Makes 15

Author: Marie Rayner

prep time: 10 Mincook time: 15 Mintotal time: 25 Min

These are delicious! For soft sided scones place them closer together on the baking sheet. For crisp sided ones place them on the baking sheet with some space in between each.

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups (400g) self raising flour
• 1/4 cup (50g) caster sugar (fine granulated sugar)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup (60g) cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 1/3 cups (310ml) buttermilk
• the finely grated zest of two unwaxed lemons
• the juice of one lemon
• 15 sugar cubes
• buttermilk to glaze

To serve:

• Whipped or clotted cream
• fruit jam

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 230*C/425*F/ gas mark 7. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Measure the flour into a bowl. Whisk in the sugar and salt. Drop in the butter. Rub the butter in with your fingertip until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest. Add most of the buttermilk, stirring it in with a round bladed knife. Only add the remaining buttermilk to give you a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently 2 or 3 times. Pat or roll out to 1 inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2 inch rounds using a sharp round cutter and using a sharp tapping up and down motion. Do not twist the cutter and flour the cutter in between cuts. Place the scones onto the baking sheet as desired. Gather the trimmings and re-pat and cut until you have used up all the dough, and placing them on the baking sheet.
3. Place the lemon juice into a bowl. Working with one sugar cube at a time dip them into the lemon juice, turning to coat, and then push them down into the centre of each scone. Once you have finished this, brush the scones with a bit more buttermilk.
4. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until they are risen and golden brown. Serve warm or cold, on the day, with some cream and jam. Delicious!

notes:

Make Your Own Self Raising Flour: You can make your own self raising flour by adding 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt to every cup of plain flour.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @marierayner5530 on instagram and hashtag it #EnglishKitchen

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These are incredibly moreish and so simple to make. Every time I make them I find myself wondering why I don't make them more often and then I remember . . . its because I can't eat just one! I am so, so, so naughty!