In my husband's family, it is a tradition to have morning tea, that is a cup of hot tea with a scone or two with butter and jam. This is quite an English thing to do, but my husband's paternal grandmother was a brilliant farmhouse cook, and used an old wood stove, without thermostat or temperature gauge, to cook everything. And everything was cooked to perfection. Wouldn't we all love that skill.
She was of German heritage, so one wonders where she got her scone cooking skills from. Perhaps from necessity. They owned a dairy farm, so it is self-evident that there was plentiful quantities of cream available and making scones was a way to utilize the excess. Not only did the scones feed her ten hungry children, but also the tourists that made their way up to Clear Mountain for a picnic on sundays.
Do you have a tradition of food within your family heritage? Do you still make this food? Will you keep up this tradition for generations to come? Something to ponder about....
Granny McLaughlin's Scones
(served to the Governer and countless others at Clear Mountain, Queensland, Australia in the 1940-50s)
(the quantities of ingredients were never measured by the cook, just estimated and cooked on a wood burning stove)but for the rest of us, I have provided the following measurements:
2 1/4 cup Self Raising flour (flour with baking powder added 2 tsp baking powder per cup flour)
1/2 tsp salt1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup cream * (I sometimes add currants or sultanas - my kids love that.)
Combine mixture by cutting with a knife.
Knead mix with extra flour if needed to make a dough smooth enough to handle.
Roll out to 1 inch high ( no less)
Cut 6 cm rounds with scone cutter or empty washed small baked beans tin!
Bake 12 -15 minutes @ 210 degrees Serve with butter or jam and cream.
Best eaten while hot but they do freeze well or keep in container for two days.
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