Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar
This sweet little book has wonderful desserts for you to bake. Start with these simple scones, and then try the Louise cake, filled with jam and topped with a thick cloud of coconut meringue. There is a sticky toffee pudding; something described as “bamboozlingly delicious” (banoffee pie); and snickerdoodles. The photographs are lovely and the treats yummy.
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Recipe excerpted with permission from Deliciously Vintage Baking & Desserts: 60 Nostalgic Recipes that Will Make You Feel Like a Kid Again by Victoria Glass, Ryland Peters & Small. Photographs by Isobel Wield © Ryland Peters & Small, 2014, 2023
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Scones
It is believed that these sweet, quick breads originated in Scotland in the early 1500s, made with oats and cooked on a griddle, much like Scottish bannocks are today. Scones have evolved into light, fluffy rounds served with thick clotted cream and strawberry jam. Whether you insist on cream before jam or vice versa, and indeed whether you pronounce scone to rhyme with ‘gone’ or ‘cone’, a cream tea just wouldn’t be the same without these delicious British bakes.
325 g / 2 1⁄2 cups plus 1 tablespoon self-raising/rising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
75 g / 5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
75 g / 1⁄3 cup caster/granulated sugar
60 ml / 2⁄3 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 egg, beaten
To serve
clotted (thick) cream
strawberry jam/jelly
a 5-cm / 2-in. cookie cutter
Makes 8-10
Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F) Gas 7 and place the baking sheet in the oven to heat. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl and add the salt. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the center. Stir the lemon juice into the milk and add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Combine it quickly with a butter knife – this will help prevent overhandling the dough, which will make the scones tough.
Dust a little flour onto the work surface and tip the dough out. Scatter a little extra flour over the dough and on your hands and lightly knead the dough. Roll or pat the dough down to make a 4-cm / 1½-in. deep round.
Dip the cutter into some flour. Plunge into the dough – do not twist the cutter as this can affect the rise. Repeat until you can make no more and squidge the dough back together before patting down and cutting out some more. Brush the tops with a little beaten egg. Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and carefully place the scones onto it. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until well risen and golden on top.
Scones are best eaten on the day they are made, still warm and generously smothered with clotted cream and strawberry jam/jelly.
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