fortnum's scones

If you are new to baking, scones are a good starting point - there's only a few ingredients and you can hardly go wrong - the only thing to remember is to never overmix. I've dappled with a fair few scone recipes and to this day still haven't come across any two which are exactly the same; and I'm talking about just a plain scone here. Of course, the 'fluffy' ones are by convention the most popular but lately I've really taken to the Fortnum & Mason recipe which produces a slightly flatter and crunchier- surfaced scone. Curious as to what you guys think if you try this recipe.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees. Line a baking tray with baking paper. In a large bowl, rub 85g softened unsalted butter into 250g sifted self-raising flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 1 tsp baking powder and 2 tbsp caster sugar. In a jug, whisk together 150mL buttermilk and 1 egg, then make a well in the centre of the flour mix and bring the ingredients together with a spatula. Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead together and roll out to 2.5cm thickness. Cut out 5cm rounds with a cutter. Transfer to the baking tray and brush the tops with milk. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until risen and golden.

Cool until warm on a wire rack.

And as the book will tell you, served with clotted cream and jam (otherwise I've mentioned this before - jam and butter works a treat too).

In case you're wondering, there's one more scone recipe in this book which I'll get around to trying - it's a savoury scone though (which doesn't seem to quite so appealing as simply a plain scone - again my weird brain working). At the rate I'm going, it shouldn't take me long to get through all the recipes which should be exciting!