Afternoon Tea with Scones and Clotted Cream

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Combine flour, sugar,baking powder and soda in a large bowl. Cut in the butter, working through the mixture with your fingers or a pastry cutter until it looks like large peas. Make a well in the centre and pour the eggs and buttermilk into it. Stir well to combine then gradually add the raisins.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured clean counter and gently squeeze into a ball. Flatten the ball with the heel of your hand until it is approximately 1 inch thick. Dip a biscuit cutter (I have used small glasses when I didn’t have a cutter) into a bit of flour and then cut scones and place them on an un-greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Brush with egg wash (the remaining egg mixed with a tablespoon of water) and bake for 30–35 minutes until golden.

Serve warm with butter and homemade strawberry jam and clotted cream. Doesn’t get better than this!

For the clotted cream, in a mixing bowl start beating the cream till it thickens and soft peaks form. Whisk in the sour cream and sugar. Beat until thick but still easy to spoon up and still soft. This closely resembles the clotted cream in England and it tastes a lot like the cream we had at the high tea. Warning: it is very fattening!

I also love lavender, so for a change you can leave out the raisins and add 1/2 tablespoon of culinary lavender to the buttermilk and let it sit till infused, about 15 minutes. Then proceed with the scones as described above. It is delicious, and we love lavender lemonade as well. Be sure the lavender you buy is a culinary lavender free of insecticides and not the decorative type.