CWA Scones Take 2!

There's been a lot of interest in my old CWA scone recipe post, thanks to a Masterchef episode that aired recently where the contestants had to bake a few CWA recipes, including lamingtons, neopolitan cake, fruit cake, and the famous scones with jam. These are the awesome, fluffy scones that they sell at the Easter show, the one recipe I always turn to for plain scones. And let's be honest, the Masterchef contestants made a complete mess of it. It was a total disaster. And then everyone complained about the unfair conditions, the unfamiliar ovens and gusty winds and yadda yadda yadda...Yeah, whatever. Anyway, the episode made me look back at my original post and cringe. Ack, the awful photos taken at night! The messy, uneven scone cutting :( I felt like I had to do the recipe justice.

I was also fortunate enough to get a very lovely, helpful comment on that post from Yvonne, who shared the recipe she uses for CWA functions. It just required a bit of tweaking to the original ratios, but it is essentially the same. I used scone cutters this time, which meant they were much prettier and more uniform in size, so they didn't take a ridiculous long time to bake like last time. The high ratio of cream to flour meant that the scones were even softer and richer. They were so, so good. They had a very thin crust on the outside, and were uber soft and light in the middle. Not the least bit dry, and they smelt amazing! Even better than the previous recipe. Karen helped me wolf down these freshly baked scones with loads of strawberry jam. Those CWA ladies really are the scone masters, I bow down to you!

For me, one of the most important things when making a scone is how you handle the dough. The more you work the dough, the tougher it will be. I was nearly weeping when I watched Aaron knead his scone dough on that train-wreck of a Masterchef challenge. And surprise, surprise they turned out chewy. Please, please, don't knead your dough, pat it together gently! You'll get your best scones from the first rounds you cut out, and they will get tougher each time you have to re-gather and re-pat the dough to cut more rounds, so try to get as many as you can out of that first disk of dough.

CWA Scones
(recipe from Yvonne Dighton, see comments from previous CWA Scones attempt, makes 8-9 scones)
2 cups self-raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
150 ml pouring cream (35% fat)
Approx 2/3 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients and preheat oven to 220-230 degrees C. Begin to cut cream into dry ingredients with a flat bladed knife, then gradually add milk until there is enough to form a soft dough. (I usually save a small amount of milk to brush the tops of the scones)

Working quickly and gently, gather dough together on a floured bench. Try to handle the dough as little as possible, using lightly floured hands to stop dough sticking to you, and pat the dough into a rectangle about 3-3.5cm thick. You can lightly knead the dough with your hands for a smoother appearance but overknead it and your scones will be tough and hard.

Cut out round using a 5-6cm scone cutter (push the cutter into the dough, don't twist) and place next to each other in a lined/greased heavy based baking dish that has sides (scones baked close together will rise higher and thus be lighter). I usually manage to cut about 5-6 scones, then I pat the scraps together and cut out another 2-3 and finally pat the scraps from that together into a ball to form the final scone. Lightly brush the tops of the scones with some extra milk using a pastry brush.

Bake for 10-15 mins, until scones are cooked through and tops are lightly browned. Serve immediately with jam and cream. (I like to cover my waiting scones with a clean tea towel to keep them from going hard) Scones can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.