Traditional English Tea Scones

From the kitchen of Fionn D. - Scottsdale, Arizona

Your tea party will be a great hit with these wonderful scones!

8 ounces self-rising flour
1 1/2 ounces butter (at room temperature)
1/4 pint milk
1 1/2 tablespoons refined sugar
A pinch of salt
A little extra flour
2 ounces raisins (or more if you like lots of raisins)

Heat oven to 400 degrees F.

Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter rapidly using your fingertips. Next stir in the sugar, raisins and salt, then take a knife and use it to mix in the milk little by little. Now flour your hands a little and knead the mixture to a soft dough - adding a little drop more milk if it feels too dry.

Then turn the dough onto a floured board and roll it out to a thickness of not less than 3/4 inch using a lightly floured rolling pin. Take a 1 1/2 or 2 inch pastry cutter and place it on the dough, then tap it sharply so that it goes straight through the dough. Don't twist it or the scones will turn out a peculiar shape. After you have cut out as many scones as you can like that, knead the dough trimmings together and repeat until you have used it all.

Then place the scones on a greased cookie sheet (I use a baking stone), dust each one with a little extra flour and bake near the top of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes. When baked, the scones will have turned a crisp golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and eat them slightly warm, still crisp on the outside and soft and light inside. In fact, always eat scones as fresh as possible as they go stale very quickly.

This amount of ingredients should make about 8 scones. Just double up for more scones.