Day 160: love a scone

I do love a scone. That is to say: a light, fluffy scone - not the dense, doughy, damp, mouth-sticking kind you find in a lot of places these days; the kind that you can feel clinging to your osephegouis and stomach lining as you eat your way through it.

As for the divisive topic of the Ordering of Toppings, this isn’t something I’ll debate here. Growing up, for me, it was butter (always), cream and then jam, but I wouldn’t say I was necessarily set in my way and probably changed my ordering depending on mood. At the end of the day, I’ll have them in whichever order I please, as, I would hope, you do too. What I would never do, however, is claim my order is the right order. It is simply my preference. Also, it would cause huge conflict with Dawn French, who has explicitly told me that it is always jam first, no exceptions. (And that is a face-off I don’t fancy taking part in!) That being said, I did take to Twitter yesterday - for research purposes, you understand - to get the general consensus on a wider audience’s preference on order; it makes for amusing and passionate reading if you’ve got the time: The Ordering of Toppings. On a serious note, I am genuinely interested in the views and preferences of other people and am always on the prowl to make sure I’m not missing out on some delightful eating experience that I’ve yet to find out about.

Although I love a scone, I’ve never made my own, which is exactly why I added Nigella’s recipe for Lily’s Scones to my How To Be A Domestic Goddess line-up - and I finally managed to make a little progress on that list this weekend!

Nigella’s Lily’s Scones

I am in awe, still, at how ridiculously straightforward these were to make; I honestly thought scone-making was a drawn-out process of repetitive kneading and resting (for both the dough and arms). I am most surprised and most delighted, indeed! Though this could be dangerous for the waistline! At least I have no beach holidays planned in the foreseeable future.

Mix dry ingredients with wet, stir, knead briefly, roll out, cut, bake and then - most importantly - crown with masses of clotted cream and jam, or clotted cream and black treacle, and bite in euphorically. Go somewhere private, if you like; I went into the other room, alone, as I felt like this sacred occasion of maker biting into their first-ever homemade scone to be a deeply pleasurable one - one that I’m not even sure you’d want your intimate other half involved in.

Flavour musings

So light and so fluffy; it really was hard to stop at just one. In fact, I think I had four yesterday! Enjoyed pleasurably with a variety of toppings: a (kind of failed) homemade quick jam and clotted cream; blackcurrant conserve and clotted cream; and the - to quote Nigella - “fabulously fierce” combination of black treacle and clotted cream.

Thrilled to add these to baking cannon and am eager to experiment with the suggest variations, too.