Peach scones with peach & fig jam

Scones are a wonderful invention - who doesn't like a pot of hot tea (especially when it's pouring down with rain and you're sitting in front of the fireplace or enjoying a luxurious afternoon tea at one of London's famous hotels) with a fresh scone? Spread with jam (I don't do  clotted cream, but have been known to serve them with vanilla mascarpone instead), they can be very indulging indeed.
Sad though this is, good scones are hard to come by. Don't be tempted to pick them up at a supermarket, where they will invariably be stone-hard and drier than the Kalahari... and they're often laden with raisins, which I like, but lots of people can't stand the sight of.
They're so incredibly quick and easy to make at home, though, so whenever I have guests announcing themselves for tea or coffee at short notice, I quickly stop by the grocery store and pick up some buttermilk... the rest of the ingredients are really cupboard staples, so always available. I like to mix them with fresh (or frozen) fruit, whatever I have on hand. The beauty is that they don't need to shine, so even if your peach has gone a bit wrinkly, it won't show. The other advantage of scones is that they can happily look a bit messy and rough - no need for cookie cutters or precision-rolling, they're just as good dropped onto the baking sheet from a spoon.
Now, unlike their supermarket cousins, these scones are wonderfully fluffy and moist - definitely the best scones to try if you're a beginner. They only take 15 minutes to bake, so are quickly knocked up for Sunday breakfast... and all of a sudden you'll want to get out of bed, event though it's the weekend!

Peach scones with peach & fig jam
(makes 9 scones)

225 g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 heaped tbsp caster sugar
50 g butter (diced)
200 ml buttermilk
1 peach (stoned and cut into bite-sized chunks)

Preheat the oven to 220 C.
Combine the flour, baking powder and sugar in a pan and mix through with a fork. Add the butter and rub between your hands until it has blended in and the flour mix resembles breadcrumbs. Fold in the buttermilk, again using your fork until well combined. Do not work the dough too long, though, you want it to remain light and fluffy. Take the peach bits and fold them in with the dough, using your fingers to push them in lightly without converting them all to mash. Be gentle, so the dough doesn't get too wet.
Divide the mixture into 9 batches, only loosely shaping it to form round lumps. Do resist rolling them in your hands or pressing the dough together, the less you work it, the fluffier the scones will be. Place them on a non-stick mat and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Serve with your favourite jam and some clotted cream, or, for a bit of variety, try a vanilla mascarpone made from 250 g mascarpone cream, the seeds of one vanilla pot and a tbsp of caster sugar.

Comments

[Andrew]

you DONT DO CLOTTED CREAM! oh my...

[johanna]

well, andrew, i wish i could blame my lactose intolerance, but it was just bad experience with bad clotted cream. do try the mascarpone version, though, it's delectable!