Ameer Kotecha

The secret to making sumptuous scones

• 31 May 2022, 5:00am
• From Spectator Life

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The below recipe is taken from The Platinum Jubilee Cookbook (Ameer Kotecha; Jon Croft Editions in association with Bloomsbury). The book, which has a foreword from TRH The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, features recipes from 70 British diplomatic missions around the world alongside essays on culinary diplomacy and profiles of great British food and drink products. This recipe is contributed by Tony Franklin, the head chef at Wilton Park – a country house in the Sussex countryside used by the Foreign Office for international mediation and strategic dialogue. Helpful, then, in sweetening the mood during sometimes difficult negotiations and discussions.

Makes 10

350g self-raising flour, plus extra for rolling

a generous pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

85g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing

3 tablespoons caster sugar

175ml whole milk

85g sultanas (optional)

1 egg, beaten, to glaze

To serve

Devonshire or Cornish clotted cream

English strawberry jam

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan and put a lightly greased baking tray inside to heat up at the same time.
2. Tip the self-raising flour into a large bowl with the salt and baking powder, and mix to combine. Add the butter, and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs (you can do this in a food processor, but take care not to over-process the mixture). Stir in the caster sugar.
3. Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture, then add the milk and combine it quickly with a fork until you have a sticky dough.

Lightly flour your work surface and tip out the dough. Sprinkle some more flour over the dough and, using floured hands, knead the dough very lightly. Work in the sultanas, if you like – to make fruit scones.

Roll out the dough to a rough rectangle about 3cm thick. Dust a 5cm round pastry cutter with a little flour and cut out as many circles as you can, re-rolling the trimmings as necessary until you have used up all the dough and have 10 scones.

Brush the top of each scone with a little beaten egg, trying not to let it drip down the sides (which can stop the scones rising evenly). Then, place the scones on the hot baking tray in the oven. Bake them for 12–14 minutes, until they are risen and a pale, golden brown colour. Remove the scones from the oven and transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

Eat the scones either just warm or fully cool, but as soon as possible. Split in half and serve with lashings of clotted cream and strawberry jam.