Lily's Scones

A recipe from my most beloved and dearest cookbook: 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess'. Scones. Just plain scones. No raisins, currants or cranberries added. Simplicity is the key! Nigella Lawson calls these "the best scones I've ever eaten", and I'm not going to argue with her. These are for sure the best PLAIN scones I've ever tried. (Martha Stewart's Chocolate Scones and Ina Garten Maple Scones are the best non-plain ones) The secret ingredient is cream of tartar - lots of it! It makes them so wonderfully light and dreamy. Rating: 5 out of 5.

Lily's Scones recipe: Nigella Lawson - How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Ingredients:
- 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 4 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar
- ¼ cup cold unsalted butter, diced
- 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, in teaspooned lumps
- 1 ⅓ cups milk
- 1 large egg, beaten, for egg wash
- For a variation, you could add 3 ounces of raisins or golden raisins.

Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar into a large bowl. Rub in the fats (butter and vegetable shortening) till the mixture goes like damp sand. Add the milk all at once, mix briefly – briefly being the operative word – and then turn out onto a floured surface and knead lightly to form a dough.
- Roll out to about 1 to 1 ¼ inch thickness. Dip the cutter into some flour, then stamp out at least 10 scones. You get 12 in all from this, but may need to reroll for the last 2. Place on the baking sheet very close together – the idea is that they bulge and stick together on cooking – then brush the tops with the egg wash. Put in the oven and cook for 10 minutes or until risen and golden.
- Always eat freshly baked, preferably still warm from the oven, with clotted cream and jam or, my favorite, Thunder and Lightning, which is clotted cream and molasses.


Pre-oven ... Post-oven.



Nigella likes to eat these with Thunder and Lightning, which is clotted cream and molasses. Yuck! I really dislike molasses. I prefer butter, raspberry jam and some more butter.