Strawberry Biscuits.

I know, I know, I'm so very behind on the whole strawberries and cream thing. Mr Murray did that whole winning thing agggggessss ago. But for me that was kind of the point. You see what happened was...my tennis club (read: friends that live near by and collectively have nothing better to do that get together for chats and dress it up into clubs so we sound useful....book club, tennis club etcetc, there was no actual tennis achieved on our part) and I had planned a Pimms Party to accompany Sunday's Wimbledon finale (yes finalE).

Turned out one half of tennis club (yes there are pretty much only 2 members, myself included...let me finish my STORY would you) had double booked, and you can't reschedule the Wimbledon final.

Turns out you can though, or at least you can reschedule a Pimms Party and, would you credit it, my TV does this new fangled thing where you can record things and watch them another day. So Sunday was spent, surrounded by strawberries, in complete radio silence. I was NOT going to find out the result if it meant digging a hole and sleeping in it for 24 hours.

It was worth it for me, Pimms Party a day late was brill....but I'm sorry I didn't get this recipe to you in time for me to force you to have your own Pimms Party on Sunday. Ahhh well, I don't think a Wimby final is 100% necessary...you could probably have one next weekend without the police getting involved, the celebrations of the win will probably still be going. With Love and Cake.

Strawberry Biscuits.

adapted from a smittenkitchen.com recipe

A few notes:

• These are biscuits in the American sense....us Brits would more readily call them scones. So do split and butter or clotted cream them if you fancy...though I would highly recommend keeping a vat of Eton Mess nearby so you can combine the two.
• Treat these like you would scones in the making process too; as in, as little pressing and pushing and working as poss. I used my food processor, until the part where you add the strawberries, to help with this.

Makes 9

You will need

1 baking sheet, greased

280g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

50g granulated sugar

pinch salt

85g cold butter, cubed

about 130g ripe strawberries, large ones quartered, littler ones halved

milk

• Preheat your oven to 220°c.
• Combine the flour, baking powder and salt, either in a bowl or by pulsing in your food processor.
• Rub in the butter with your finger tips or by whizzing in the food processor, until it mostly looks like coarse breadcrumbs with a few pea sized bits of butter left floating around.
• Sir in the strawberries...you don't want to use your food processor for this bit.
• Then add milk, a tablespoon at a time, while gently bringing together to a soft dough. Stop at the point where everything has just come together, it's better that it's a bit straggly than you overwork it to a smooth shiny dough.
• Transfer to a clean floured surface and gently shape into a square, about 2.5 cm in thickness...I think it's easiest and most gently just to use your hands here.
• Cut into 9 squares, 2 cuts one way and two the other, and transfer each square to your baking sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes until golden and the strawberries have started to go leaky and sticky...mmmmm.

Pumpkin and Cheddar Cheese Scone Bread.

I am quite sad...you see being the organised fiend that I am, I in fact made that delicious cheesy bread you see before you some time ago. I made it and photographed it and uploaded the photies all in advance of what I knew would be a very busy week with little cooking time, so I would have something to talk to you about.

The organised thing isn't the sad part...no, that would be my grazed knee. I was running you see, and some fooool told us to turn all our clocks back an hour which meant that was was darkydarkdark because I live in the countryside and I didn't have a candle on me and I’m not sure whether I can justify buying a head-torch when there a trillion other things I need to buy to get me winter ready including shoes that don’t leak...and the long and short of it is that I took a tumble.

So here I am, missing a sizable chunk of my knee and I reeeeeeally would love some of this bread and the pumpkin and sweetcorn soup that goes with it so well (the recipe for which you can find here), to cheer me up and warm my cockles (winter running tights is also on my list).

My suggestion to you is make this now, and make lots, so that when you get home on those days that leave you needing steaming bowl food and a carbohydrate hug, this tasty, spongy bread will be on hand. Oh...and don’t run in the dark, it hurts. With Love and Cake.

Pumpkin and Cheddar Cheese Scone Bread.

Adapted from Delia Smith's Vegetarian Collection

A few notes:

• To all intents and purposes, this is really a giant scone; it's made with raising agent rather than yeast. That, in my book, is a very good thing.
• If you have pumpkin puree, or fancy making your own (find my recipe here) feel free to replace the weight of fresh pumpkin in the recipe with puree...you will need to adjust the amount of flour you use to 250g though, to stop the dough being too wet to handle.
• You could replace the pumpkin with butternut squash, or indeed any other type of edible squash.

Makes 1 loaf

You will need 

a greased baking sheet

225g self raising flour

large pinch salt

175g pumpkin

25g pumpkin seeds

50g cheddar cheese, cubed

2 eggs

1 tbsp milk

for the topping

extra pumpkin seeds

extra cheese, cubed

• Preheat the oven to 190°c.
• Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.
• Coarsely grate the pumpkin into the bowl and mix it all around so each strand it covered in flour.
• Add the pumpkin seeds and cheese and toss around again.
• Lightly beat the eggs with the milk and add to the flour mixture a little at a time while mixing with your fingertips.
• You will end up with a fairly sticky dough, but don't worry, all you need to do is form into a round, transfer to your baking sheet and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden and firm.
• Serve warm, with butter and a hug. 

Birsay Cheese Scones.

Oh cheeeeeese scones....one of my favs. Warm, next to a hot bowl of soup, you can do worse for a lovely lunch at any time of year. On a recent little trip to Orkney (islands, northynorthnorth, in case you were wondering) we had lunch at Birsay Tea Room that I, of course, had looked up prior. With a poorly boy in tow, tomato soup and a cheese scone sounded perfect, and my oh my did it deliver. 

Honestly best cheese scones EVER. Sometimes I think cheese scones are made especially for the veggies amongst us, which are of course, all hippies who only eat spelt and quinoa and brown things...whateves. In that case they are made big and heavy and full of brown.

These though, were light as a feather, all unhealthy whitewhite flour, and warm and sharp with cheese. Delish.

Helpfully, there was a little Birsay Tearoom recipe booklet for sale, perched on a shelf, and, rather cheekily, I took a peek inside to get their cheese scone secrets. After much puffin watching, hill walking and basking shark spotting, off I trotted home to cheese-scone-it-up Birsay style. And here we are....light as a feather and full of proper cheesey chunks. Butter or not, soup or not...but make, or else. With Love and Cake.

Cheese Scones.

A few notes:

• As always, scones do not respond well to your involvement. Leave as well alone as you can, mixing just until combined and barely pressing them into shape. Be dainty.
• Usually I say you can easily knock scones up in a food processor but because you want to keep the cheese in nice lumps I think it's not worth the effort of dragging it out of the cupboard just to rub the butter into the flour...though feel free, and just stir the cheese in afterwards.

Makes 6

You will need

a lined baking sheet

225g self raising flour

pinch salt

60g butter

100g strong cheddar cheese, cut into small cubes

6 tbsp milk, plus extra for glazing

• First job is to get your oven nice and hot; 220°c.
• Mix the salt into the flour and then run in the butter with your finger tips.
• Stir the cheese in so it gets evenly distributed.
• Pour in the milk and start to bring everything together with as light a touch as possible. You might need to add a teeny bit more or less milk depending on your situation so go steady.
• I find it easiest at this point to lightly diving the dough into 6 just with my hands, saving the rolling and cutting out. Just gently pull off even sized balls and pat lightly onto your baking sheet.
• Brush each scone with milk and bake for 10 minutes.
• Mmmmm eat warm with soup and butter. Delish.

Maple Syrup Scones: a Transitional Scone.

Oh Hiiiiiii. Scones. Yesssssss. It's sooooo almost scones season. Oh ok I know it's not really 'almost' but it's a thought I cling to as I shut the curtains at half 4 rather than half 3 and when I can run through the park without fearing for my death resulting from a trip over a root because I can NOT see where I'm going.

And these are THE perfect transitional scones; not an airy fairy cream and jam summer scone but also not an 'eat this and you're set for an ice marathon' winter scone. Crispy on the outside, spongy on the inside they are a wonderful February weekend breakfast.

They also act in contribution to the beating of that horrid feeling which my tummy always gets this time of year as it gets tired out of digesting hot heavy winter carbs, yet still really wants and needs them. The oats are a nice and friendly type of stodge and the maple syrup a rather worthy feeling sugar.

Another positive supplied by these little lumps of cheer is the fact that they enabled Mr Love and Cake and I to technically have the same breakfast. Well there was no bacon on mine, and no banana on his but still, the premise was the same and that's the sort of simple Saturday morning harmony that should be cherished (okokok quit your pretend vomiting, you know I'm a big fat sap). With Love and Cake.

Maple Syrup Scones

Adapted from Rose Bakery's Breakfast, Lunch, Tea.

A few notes:

• As with all scones, the less intervention; pressing and squashing and rolling, the better. See here for my 'perfect scone tips'. The only thing is, because of the inclusion of the oats in the dough, I didn't want to use a food processor, so just rubbed the butter in with a plain old fingers.
• If you don't have any wholemeal flour and don't fancy buying some just replace it with more plain.
• You can of course use round cutters if you fancy, I just find cutting squares with a knife means less dough squashing and hence increases your chances of super light scones.

Makes 8

You will need

A heavily greased or lined baking sheet

260g plain flour

80g wholemeal bread flour

35g oats, plus extra for topping

1 heaped tbsp baking powder

1 heaped tbsp caster sugar

160g cold butter, cubed

4 tbsp maple syrup

4 tbsp milk, plus extra for glazing

• First let your oven preheat to 200 °c.
• Next combine the flours, oats, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl and rub in the butter until it just about starts to look like fine breadcrumbs, though don't go at it for too long.
• Then make a well in the centre and add the milk and maple syrup to the mixture. First mix it in with a fork and then get your hands in there and softlysoftly bring the dough together, adding more milk if you need.
• Turn out onto a floured surface and cut the dough in half. Shape each half into a rough square, about 4 or 5 cm think. 
• Cut each square into 4 smaller squares and transfer each scone onto your baking sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. They will still be a bit squishy so leave to cool on the baking sheet for 5 or 10 minutes before transferring to a wire wrack ooooor splitting open and getting creative with your toppings. Bacon went down well and my bananas were brill. May I suggest giving toasted pecans a try too...whatever, a drizzle of more syrup is a must. 

Marvelous Scones for a Marvelous Breakfast.

Hellooooo there, what did you have for breakfast today, I hope it was something wonderful? This morning I wanted a treat. I had time and I had a fully stocked fridge and I wanted a little indulgence.

It didn't quite feel like a pancake day (there must have been something seriously wrong with me), I thought about muffins but the cakeyness wasn't appealing. So I ended up settling on scones. "Scones for breakfast??" I hear you gasp. But these are not ordinary, jam and cream wearing scones. Theeese are crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside scones. They are studded with both smug-making health (raspberries) and joy-giving sin (chocolate) scones. 

These scones are so heart-quickeningly marvelous that as soon as I had finished my breakfast one, I made up my mind to have exactly the same for lunch. I actually didn't in the end, but only because I knew that the gazpacho I made yesterday would be even more delish after a night mingling in the fridge-any other option though wouldn't have stood a chance. 

These extravagant little madams are super moist and filled with so much goodness that they don't need any splitting and spreading. Just eat them fresh and warm and they will make you so happy that you'll wiggle your toes and hop, skip and jump into the rest of your day...With Love and Cake.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Ricotta Scones

inspired by smitten kitchen

A few notes:

• The dough this recipe makes is rather a wet and sticky one, so just make sure that when you're patting it out, the surface and your hands are nicely floured.
• You can pick and choose the fruit and chocolate to suit your favs- maybe chopped strawberries and milk chocolate, or perhaps you'd like to take out the naughtyness (WHY??) and go for full on fruityness, using only blueberries say. Go craaaazy and try things out. Just keep the total amount of added things along the lines of the stated 220g, splitting and dividing it in to all the things you love.
• All my hints and tips regarding how to make the perfect scone apply to these ones as well. Find them here.

Makes 9

You will need

A greased baking sheet

250g plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder

50g granulated sugar

85g butter

220g in total of raspberries and chocolate- I used 116g raspberries and 104g white chocolate, roughly chopped

170g ricotta

100ml double or whipping cream

• Preheat the oven to 220°c.
• Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together either in a bowl or food processor.
• Now rub in the butter until you get a 'fine breadcrumb', texture using the processor or you fingertips. 
• If you're using the food processor tip the mixture into a bowl.
• Stir through the raspberries and chocolate and then mix in the ricotta and cream lightly with a metal spoon and bring everything together to form and squishy dough.
• Transfer to your well-floured surface and with floured hands, gently pat into a square with a depth of about 2.5cm
• Divide into 9 squares with a sharp knife.
• Transfer the squares to the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. They're done when they're golden on top but they will still quite squidgy looking.
• You'll probably have to leave them to cool and firm up on the tray for 5 minutes or so and then transfer to a wire rack/plate to cool/eat.

The Secret of Scones.

Oh Hi....I was just about to write a sentence along the line of "I really have been slacking on the scone eating front this summer, I must be a terrible English person", and then I had a quick think and actually, I've had plenty of scone encounters. Phewf, I won't be taken in by the English-ness Police. The Health Police maybe, but not those patrolling the English summer ensuring Pimm's o clock is recognised (done), rain is suffered through (done) and croquet is played (not so much).

I get the impression that people think scones are scary to make, our mother is most definitely one of them, but  these fluffy little chaps really are an easy-peasy, super-quick summer solution to times when you're required to 'bring-a-dish' but only have half an hour. What could be more lovely than turning up at a summer 'do' with a tin of scones, cream and jam (homemade if you want to reach new heights of smug-ness).

The key to achieving the perfect light and airy, tall and towering scone with no hassle is to learn the rules and to follow them. Simple. Even simpler, there's really only one rule...the dough is a party pooper. It doesn't like you to play with it, all it wants is to be warm and cosy in the oven as soon as possible with no pushing and shoving or pressing and squashing.

What that means is 1. Using a food processor is the easiest and most effective way to make the dough, 2. Don't use a rolling pin, just press down lightly with your hands and 3. You're cutter must be sharp so if you haven't got a suitable one use a knife, not a mug.

So there you go, the secret of the perfect scone. And it's simple. And oh so delish. AAAnd justifies the consumption of heart attack inducing amounts of clotted cream.YESSS. With Love and Cake

Scones

adapted from Delia's Complete Cookery Guide

A few notes:

• Delia says the MOST important thing for ensuring your scones rise is to not roll the dough out too thin. No less than 2cm she says, and who am I to argue, it's Delia.
• I used a knife to cut my scones. If you need to do this too, you can either press the dough out into a circle and cut triangles like you're slicing a cake (which seems to be quite an American thing to do but I'm not keen because it doesn't make for very even cooking) or make a big square and cut littler squares out of it (which is what I did for these chaps).
• I do pretty much the whole recipe in the food processor, just tipping the dough out for cutting when it's all come together, but I'll write it so you don't have to.
• On this occasion I'd had jam with breakfast so wanted to get creative and have something a bit different when it came to scones, hence the half jam half lemon curd situation. I decided it was a mistake, of course jam is best.
• Alwaysalwaysalways scone then cream then jam. Don't listen to anyone who says different. They. Are. Wrong.

Makes about 12

You will need

a greased or lined baking sheet

225g self raising flour

40g soft butter

1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar

150ml milk

• Preheat the oven to 220°c.
• Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter as quickly as possible.
• Stir through the sugar.
• Next mix in the milk, a bit at a time, with a metal spoon or knife.
• Now with floury hands, bring the dough together, without squishing or squashing it too much, and turn it onto a lightly floured surface.
• With as little pressure as possible, press the dough to a thickness of no less than 2cm and cut out in your chosen fashion. 
• Make sure the oven is up to temperature before popping the scones in for 10-15 minutes, until golden and risen.
• Pile high with cream. Leave guilt at the front door.