Gem Scones for Grandma

It is my Grandma’s 94th birthday. The family, all 32 of us, are having afternoon tea, and grandma asked for gem scones.

This is quite different to the previous traditional scone recipe I have posted. The batter is more the consistency of muffin batter than scone dough.

Cream 60 g butter with 1/4 cup sugar, and mix in 1 egg. Alternately stir in 1 cup milk and 2 cups SR flour. Add some lemon peel or 1/2 tsp vanilla essence. Drop 1/4 tsp butter in gem moulds, then fill with batter. Bake at 200 ‘C for 10 minutes.

A gem scone mould is similar to a cupcake tin, except the moulds are smaller and are completly round, ie without a flat bottom. They are hard to find, I used my mother’s. I’m sure you could use a mini-muffin/cupcake mould.

Afternoon Tea

Is the concept / name of ‘afternoon tea’ an English (thus Australian) thing? I never recall my American friends having afternoon tea. They would have a snack around 3pm certainly, but never afternoon tea, or morning tea for that matter.

I also made a Jam Crown, and used a recipe from Fig Jam & Lime Cordial. I used sugar plum jam I had made a fortnight ago (is that another English word? I never hear American saying that one either…). The recipe for that jam will go up soon. I found the outside burned, and I wasn’t using fan force, due to the sugar. Watch for that. I also glazed the whole thing with some watered down jam, but that was mostly to cover up the burnt tasting bits!

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With a knife, dear Liza

As I had successfully made marmalade, I was obliged to make scones to accompany it.

Scones

(biscuits to Americans I believe http://alldownunder.com/australian-convert/food-chart.htm)

1. Rub 30g butter into 2 1/2 cups SR flour, 1 tbs castor sugar, 1.4 tsp salt

I ran out of SR flour so mixed 2 tsp baking powder into plain flour, which did the trick.

2. pour in milk bit by bit (about 3/4 cup in total) until you have a dough consistency, not sticky, not crumbly.

To avoid scones becoming rocks, mix milk in with a knife. For years I never followed this tip, but trust me, it makes such a difference to the consistency post-oven.   

Mix with a knife

 3. When dough just combined, roll out 2cm thick and cut with round cutter. They can be put pretty close together on tray as they rise up not out. Bake for 15 minutes in moderate oven

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mmmelting