Fruit scones

These are nice and quick and easy, and I often make a trayful when I have the stove up for several things at once to make best use of the heat - they literally take five minutes to make. The best scones are unsweetened, and made with milk and no egg, to my taste. I don't brush the tops with egg either. They do need a really quick oven, though, to get them to rise quickly - too long and slow a cooking will make them a bit tough. The best sconens I ever tasted were my granny's scones, fresh and floury from the range oven; she made them square, shaping the dough gently into one big square, then cutting down into smaller ones - this way, no dough was left over to re-roll or re-shape, for like pastry, the dough loses its lightness the more it's handled. Another option is to make a large round and cut it into segments. Today, though, I opted for big round ones, and the little squiggly bit left over was consumed warm from the oven whilst the others cooled on the rack - cook's perks LOL

this is my recipe:

1lb self raising flour

4 oz butter

good handful of dried fruit of your choice

milk to mix - fresh, sour, buttermilk, whatever is to hand

Sieve flour into bowl and rub in the butter. Add dried fruit and give a good stir to distribute evenly, then mix to a stiffish dough with the milk etc. Knead very lightly for a few seconds just to get the dough to come together, then shape and cut. Place sones on a heated tray, then into a quick oven until well-risen and brown on top - shouls take no longer than 10 minutes at the most. Cool on a wire rack.

Served buttered, with hot tea and a good book!