Scone, scone, where for art thou scone??

So hands up who studied Home Economics when they were in school? Anyone spend 5 or 6 years supposedly being taught how to run a home, only to arrive at college more ill-equipped than a bee keeper without a veil? I kid..those of us who did survive the scary matriarchs who inevitably taught home ec had learned how to use an oven..so our options extended beyond the microwave and toaster. Anyone who did take home ec will attest to the fact that one of the first things that we were taught (After fruit salad..which in fairness, what the hell was the point of that? chop up fruit make syrup vóila! a dessert straight from the 70s!) was scones. 

*Note to the people who make home ec books...don't use stock photos from the 70s and 80s..they look dated and boring. Step up!

Scones are ubiquitous in Ireland. Each and every café and or hotel serve them morning and afternoon as the perfect mix of sweet and savoury treat. However there are some serious abominations out there.  A well known brand who purport to sell French pastry and bread products (thought I've never seen a French person order a batch of scones along with their morning baguette) sell the worst scones known to man. Unapologetically undercooked, they're doughy and cloying and more often than not leave a taste of flour in the mouth. Any self respecting French person would be ashamed that these were being sold in the name of their cuisine. 

But I think there is a reason for this chronically awful scone. Think about it. Those of you who took home ec. Did you actually ever LIKE the scones you made?I certainly didn't. They were, without fail, disappointing. Starting in First Year, all the way through to the stress of Sixth Year, scone after scone failed to impress. They didn't rise, they over-rose, they burnt, they were over-cooked, undercooked, stodgy, hard, too crumbly, small, too savoury  too sweet..there was no middle ground. No eureka moment. How many scones I baked at school, only to feed to the birds or the dog when I got home I'll never know Because NO-ONE would eat them. No one. Not even my father, with a stomach of steel and a never ending appetite. Is it any wonder then, that the shop bought ones are so awful if no one has a good recipe??

And so years passed. Recipes from Kylemore Abby, Darina and Myrtle Allen, Theodora Fitzgibbon..the list went on. Some were passable. Others not so much (here's looking at you Kylemore).

 And then the Holy Grail appeared. On a day when nothing was out of the ordinary and I was certainly not looking for a scone recipe I fell across it by chance. 

You will need:
450g self-raising flour
a pinch of baking powder
a generous pinch of salt
50g caster sugar (vanilla sugar preferrably)
110g unsalted butter, diced
1 egg, lightly beaten
50ml double cream
200ml buttermilk 
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water to glaze
100-150g dried fruit (I used currents and raisins)

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and stir in the sugar. Using your fingertips, lightly work in the butter until the mixture resembles dry breadcrumbs.(DO NOT STOP UNTIL IT ACTUALLY IS LIKE FINE BREADCRUMBS - THIS IS IMPORTANT). Add the dried fruit and mix.  Add the egg, cream and enough milk to moisten. Mix well until it has a soft, doughy texture — but it shouldn’t be too moist

Gather the dough into a ball and turn it out on to a floured surface, then roll lightly with a rolling-pin to 1 inch thick. Cut out with a round cutter, transfer to a greased baking sheet and brush the tops with the egg glaze. Bake in an oven preheated to 180 C/350 F for 15-20 minutes or until well browned.

Some things to note: when it says to roll it out to one inch..do. Less than that and the scones will be flat. Larger, and it'll take longer to cook through and you'll end up with burnt on the outside, doughy on the inside. Also, use a decent sized cutter..don't be stingy on the scone k?

Leave to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes and enjoy with some home-made strawberry jam. You'll never want a ''Cuisine de undercooked'' scone again. 

This recipe is adapted from the one in the Avoca Cookbook, published in 2000.
We'll leave the pronunciation of scone for another day. Ideally one day when I a shotgun to take out the jumped up so and so's  who rhyme it with gone *that's today's rant over..stayed tuned when you'll get my stringent opinions on ToEmato-v-TomAto.