Lemonade Scones

Enid Blyton introduced me to scones.

Every Famous Five adventure has at least one picnic where the four children and their dog goes off to the moor, the beach or the countryside to enjoy a cold lunch of hard-boiled eggs, potted meat sandwiches, puddings and lemonade. In fact, Enid Blyton made me wonder how many things looked and tasted like; treacle pudding, mince pies, jam tarts, sausage rolls, jacket potatoes, cold chicken, ham, tongue sandwiches with lettuce and cream cheese and ginger beer. And then, there is the Secret Seven and the Five Find-Outers, who always gather together for a tea of freshly baked goodies to discuss and solve their mystery at hand. Food is at its height in Malory Towers and St. Claire's with the scrumptious Match tea and the exciting midnight feasts. The list is endless.

The children in Enid Blyton books are always eating and discussing about food. And scones, freshly baked, warm from the oven served with 'running' butter, devon cream, home-made jam and cream tea tops the list.

When I came to Melbourne and saw these beautiful goodies in Cafes for the first time, I was excited. I sat down to enjoy my first Devonshire Cream Tea with my family. I sank my teeth into my first-ever warm plain scone, waiting to unravel the long awaited mystery.........And I was devastated...... Blytonesque English food suddenly seemed more evocative in description than in real life! The scones were dry and floury. But then I realized my mistake.
Scones are meant to be eaten warm topped with butter/ cream and jam. And then the mystery unfolds itself, just as Blyton has described in her books. And weren't they lovely!

The recipe I have here is for lemonade scones (not the traditional one; again another recipe from my colleague) which lets you bake soft and heavenly scones even faster than you say it. And this can also be your base for a fruit or choc-chip scone. They work perfectly everytime!

Makes: 6 scones
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes approx.

Ingredients 

• 220g self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 pinch salt
• 1/3 cup thickened cream
• 1/2 cup lemonade soda (like Solo, Sprite)
• 2 -3 tbsp milk

Method

1. Take self-raising flour in a kneading pan, make a well in the centre, pour lemonade and cream and mix well until combined. It should not be more than 10 strokes. The more you knead, the harder your scones will be. The dough will not have a smooth finish. But that is how it is meant to be. ( If you think the dough is too dry, add more cream).

2. Dust the working floor with generous amount of plain flour, to avoid the dough sticking to the floor. Pat scone dough on the floor till it is around 3 cm thick. Cut out scones with a cutter. Each scone will be around 1/3 size of a cup. Place scones side by side, just touching, in a rectangular cake pan. Gently knead scrapes of dough together and repeat patting, cutting and placing in pan.With a pastry brush, brush milk on each scone and smooth the surface. Bake in a pre-heated fan-forced oven at 160°C for 15 minutes or the scones turn golden brown in colour. 

Serve warm with devonshire cream (see note below) and home-made strawberry jam and milk tea.

Note: 

- I use Philadelphia Cream for Desserts (50% less fat) in this recipe. 

- To make Devonshire cream -Stand cream outside for 3 hrs, add vanilla extract, then place it over very low heat taking care not to boil until rings form on the surface of the cream. Now store in refrigerator until cream clots on the surface. This cream is now spreadable like butter.

- Cafes, here, serve scones with whipped cream, which is what my children love to have with scones.

- These scones can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week. To serve, bring it down to room temperature, then heat in microwave for 15 seconds.