Cream Tea with Nigella Lawson's Buttermilk Scones

Mmm... cream

Who doesn't love scones?  I love eating them, and love making them, although my previous efforts haven't always been the prettiest.  When I make them, although they taste good, they tend to be flat or slopey, nothing like the gorgeous fluffy towering scones that Chef Markus serves at The Langham's High Tea.  (The Langham's scones are the best I've ever had!)

But if at first you don't succeed, try try again... with a new recipe.  The recipe I used was Nigella's buttermilk scones (from Kitchen), which is pretty similar to previous scone recipes in How to be a Domestic Goddess, made with a combo of butter and vegetable fat.  The occasion in question (not that you really need an occasion for scones!) was when our friends Hayden and Katie came over for an arvo catch up.

Even though I have issues getting my scones to look nice, I still love making them for when friends come over.  There are a few reasons for this - scones are cheap, quick to make, and I don't know a single person alive who can resist one.

To avoid making sad little flat discs, I kneaded the dough as little as possible, rolled it out thickly, and used a sharp metal cutter to cut them out.

Hehe, the scones look like they're in prison.

And here they are baked!  They did topple around a bit, even though I pressed the scone cutter straight up and down when cutting out the scones.  I actually think I didn't knead the dough enough - I just needed a little extra kneading to make the dough smoothly combined.

Baked!

Oh well, they still looked decent, and are definitely the best scones I've ever baked!  I'll definitely be using this recipe for scones from now on.

High

I wanted to serve the traditional accompaniment of clotted cream - although I must say I had some trouble finding a good clotted cream here.  I only know of 2 brands here available in supermarkets - Yea and Wattle Valley.  I did see a delicious-looking Tasmanian brand, Meander Valley, at a gourmet supermarket, but it was quite a bit more expensive than the other 2 brands, (approx $8) and I couldn't justify the cost without knowing how good it would be, and if my scones would be a success or not.  (Has anyone tried the Meander Valley?  What do you guys think?)  In the end, I got the Wattle Valley because it was the cheaper of the 2 supermarket brands.  I later learned that Yea and Wattle Valley creams are actually both made by Yea, just packaged differently. Heh, so it seems I made the right choice.

The point of clotted cream, apart from being incredibly rich, is that it is topped with a buttery yellow crust.  When I peeled off the foil lid, I was disappointed to see just a layer of thick white cream... until I looked at the foil lid. Ah! That's where the buttery crust was.

Mmm... fattening

We had the scones with some ruby red raspberry jam, from the Christmas Hills raspberry farm in Tasmania. Perfect!

Check out the fluff-tastic centre!

Fab scones. I love this recipe, and it will be my default scone recipe from now on! With all the trouble I had in the past with scones, why didn't I just turn to a Nigella recipe? Oh well, now I know!

Mmm... cream

Who doesn't love scones?  I love eating them, and love making them, although my previous efforts haven't always been the prettiest.  When I make them, although they taste good, they tend to be flat or slopey, nothing like the gorgeous fluffy towering scones that Chef Markus serves at The Langham's High Tea.  (The Langham's scones are the best I've ever had!)

But if at first you don't succeed, try try again... with a new recipe.  The recipe I used was Nigella's buttermilk scones (from Kitchen), which is pretty similar to previous scone recipes in How to be a Domestic Goddess, made with a combo of butter and vegetable fat.  The occasion in question (not that you really need an occasion for scones!) was when our friends Hayden and Katie came over for an arvo catch up.

Even though I have issues getting my scones to look nice, I still love making them for when friends come over.  There are a few reasons for this - scones are cheap, quick to make, and I don't know a single person alive who can resist one.

To avoid making sad little flat discs, I kneaded the dough as little as possible, rolled it out thickly, and used a sharp metal cutter to cut them out.

Hehe, the scones look like they're in prison.

And here they are baked!  They did topple around a bit, even though I pressed the scone cutter straight up and down when cutting out the scones.  I actually think I didn't knead the dough enough - I just needed a little extra kneading to make the dough smoothly combined.

Baked!

Oh well, they still looked decent, and are definitely the best scones I've ever baked!  I'll definitely be using this recipe for scones from now on.

High

I wanted to serve the traditional accompaniment of clotted cream - although I must say I had some trouble finding a good clotted cream here.  I only know of 2 brands here available in supermarkets - Yea and Wattle Valley.  I did see a delicious-looking Tasmanian brand, Meander Valley, at a gourmet supermarket, but it was quite a bit more expensive than the other 2 brands, (approx $8) and I couldn't justify the cost without knowing how good it would be, and if my scones would be a success or not.  (Has anyone tried the Meander Valley?  What do you guys think?)  In the end, I got the Wattle Valley because it was the cheaper of the 2 supermarket brands.  I later learned that Yea and Wattle Valley creams are actually both made by Yea, just packaged differently. Heh, so it seems I made the right choice.

The point of clotted cream, apart from being incredibly rich, is that it is topped with a buttery yellow crust.  When I peeled off the foil lid, I was disappointed to see just a layer of thick white cream... until I looked at the foil lid. Ah! That's where the buttery crust was.

Mmm... fattening

We had the scones with some ruby red raspberry jam, from the Christmas Hills raspberry farm in Tasmania. Perfect!

Check out the fluff-tastic centre!

Fab scones. I love this recipe, and it will be my default scone recipe from now on! With all the trouble I had in the past with scones, why didn't I just turn to a Nigella recipe? Oh well, now I know!