Who doesn’t love a good scone? These are pretty good! I made half the recipe plain and half with dates. I especially liked the date ones. They are perfect for afternoon tea! Recipe below.

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You will need plain flour, baking powder, salt, butter, dates (optional) and buttermilk. I made my own buttermilk combining 2 cups of milk with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (you can also use white vinegar) and letting it sit for about 10 minutes.

Before you start, pre-heat the oven to 180°C (recipe says 220°C, but that seemed excessive to me), and grease a baking tray or use a non-stick baking sheet, or a baking sheet with baking paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

Add the cold, cubed butter (recipe calls for 4 tablespoons, this is approximately 55 g).

Rub the butter in with your fingertips or cut it in with two knives.

At this point I separated the mixture in half into two bowls, and added ½ cup of chopped dates to only one of the bowls (use 1 cup of dates if you are adding them to all of the scone mixture).

Mix in the buttermilk.

Turn the wet dough out onto the bench and knead lightly for a few seconds. Press or roll out to about 3 cm thick, then cut into squares about 5 cm x 5 cm.

Do the same with the date mixture.

Place the scones on the prepared baking tray.

Cook them for 20 minutes (recipe says 10 minutes but because I baked them at a lower temperature, mine needed more time). Serve warm with butter, jam or plain!

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Plain & Date Scones

From The Great New Zealand Baking Book, copyright © Peta Mathias

Makes: 12 | Prep time: 10 mins | Cook time: 10 mins | Skill level: 1 (easy)

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• 4 heaped tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter, cubed
• 1 cup chopped dates (optional)
• 2 cups buttermilk

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C, and grease a baking tray or use a non-stick baking sheet.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Rub the butter in with your fingertips or cut it in with two knives. If using dates, stir them in. Mix in the buttermilk with your hands or a knife.

Turn the wet dough out onto the bench and knead lightly for a few seconds. Press or roll out to 3 cm thick, then cut into squares about 5 cm x 5 cm.

Whip them into the oven for 10 minutes. Serve immediately with jam and cream.

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