Tea Time Scones

The sun has been shining today and that really is a surprise, even though it is July. It's the time of year that you should expect a guarantee of sunshine but this year the weather has been dreadful So by way of a celebration we are having tea in the garden with the speciality of the British cream teas: scones.
This one is brimming with cream and home made jam which makes anyone, even those with iron wills, unable to resist taking a mouthful.

To make these scones you will need:

225g/8 oz self-raising flour

1/4 tsp salt

50g/2 oz butter

50g sugar

1 egg

100ml milk, plus extra to glaze

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425 F/Gas 7. If you are using a convection/fan oven drop the temperature 25 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Sift the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Rub in the butter and sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the flour and break in the egg gradually pour in most of the milk, mixing quickly with the tips of your fingers as you pour. DO NOT ADD ALL THE MILK AT ONCE. You should get a soft but not wet dough. It should look rough. If the dough is too wet it will expand sideways instead of rising straight up.
3. On a lightly floured board, gently bring together the dough and roll or press out until it’s 2.5cm/1 inch thick and stamp out into rounds. I used a 4cm/2 inch cutter and made 7 rounds. In between each stamp, dip the cutter in flour and with a firm shake downwards release the scone directly onto the baking sheet- try not to press with your fingers or you will misshape the dough. It is also important to cut directly down into the dough, if you twist then they will rise unevenly. Another important point is to roll the dough out evenly. If the dough is on a slope before you cut out the scones, then the finished scone will also be like a downhill ski slope.
4. Place on the baking sheet and brush with extra milk. Depending on size bake for 15-20 minutes, or until risen and golden.
   

If you've made them the right way then this is what they should look like. If you haven't then who cares if they are a bit lumpy as they will taste good even if they look like a landslide.

Crostata di Marmellata

In many parts of Emiglia Romagna you will see this little tart in most pastry shops. Translated it simply means ‘jam tart’. Don’t let that fool you because this is not a children’s tea time favourite but a tart that is suitable for all ages and it will disappear all too soon. It’s probably the brandy in the jam that makes all of the difference. You need to have the presence of mind to hide some in the cupboard so that you can savour some all for yourself when everyone has gone and you can sit down with a cuppa or a glass of sweet, sparkling, white wine. Bliss. To make this tart you will need to start by making ‘pasta frolla’ or sweet pastry as it's known in Italy. Now, if I am honest there are as many versions of this as there are homes in Italy. Everyone will have their little twist on the recipe. Most of the recipes in books will tend to have a far higher ratio of sugar than I use here. They also have less butter. What I do is make a fairly rich buttery pastry, to which I add a teaspoon of lievito ( Italian baking powder ). I tend to use the Paneangeli make and unlike the manufacturer’s instructions, I add it to the flour rather than at the end which is what they tell you to do. I can’t see how it will mix in properly if you do that. 

  Ingredients for Pasta Frolla 

 200g plain flour. If you can get ‘00’ flour this is the best. 

1 teaspoon of lievito

120g butter I used salted. If you use unsalted you will need to add a big pinch of salt.

90g sugar The finer the sugar, the crispier the pastry.

2 egg yolks

Grated rind of half a lemon or a teaspoon of vanilla essence.

 Start by creaming the butter, lemon rind and the sugar.

 When you have creamed the mixture for about 5 minutes, beat in the egg. 

Mix in the flour and lievito until the mixture comes together and forms a soft dough. You are not going to roll this dough out so it does not have to be too firm. If you need to roll it out then put in the fridge for 30 minutes. The butter will firm up.

Remove about 1/3rd of the dough and set aside. You will use this to make the top later. Press the remaining 2/3rds over the base of a 30cm buttered baking tin. 

  Now the Jam You can buy the jam for making this tart in Italy. It is called prunellata and it usually has a picture of a crostata on the jar so that you know that you are buying the right thing. The thing that marks this jam out from all others is that it's sharp. I love it and so do most of my friends. It needs to be sharp to prevent the tart from being too sweet. If you can’t get this jam, I suggest that you buy a morello cherry jam. If you do, however, substitute the brandy with kirsch. For a tart of this size you will need about 400g of jam. Add two tablespoons of brandy to the jam and mix well. Spread over the base of the tart, leaving about 1 cm of pastry uncovered. Now roll out the remaining pastry into long sausages and, starting with the edges of the tart, create a lattice over the top of the tart as shown in the photo. Cook in a medium oven until the tart is cooked and golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin and when cold, dust with icing sugar and cut into pieces and serve.