Quick and Simple-Pop Scones

I don’t make scones, ever. I don’t know why, really, they just felt a bit fiddly. Of course, many recipes might require buttermilk, and I’ve shied away from them-at least before I found the ‘make your own buttermilk’ trick. Anyway, when I came across this incredibly simple recipe, with only four ingredients (not including toppings), I thought I might have a go.

It is apparently Australian and all the sweetness, and I assume some of the lifting agent, comes from adding pop, i.e. soda for the Americans, so I called them ‘Pop’ Scones. I used 7-UP but Sprite or lemonade (the clear fizzy stuff in bottles that you get in the UK, not ‘real’ lemonade) would also work.

The Recipe:

5 cups self-raising flour

Pinch salt

300 ml double cream (heavy cream or use whipping cream)

300 ml lemonade, 7-UP or Sprite

A little milk to brush the tops

I chose to make half the quantity so halved the ingredients to 2½ cups flour, pinch salt, and 150 ml each of cream and pop. I didn’t try to convert the flour to a weight in this case. I did weigh my flour, once the cups were measured out, and it came to rather more than the standard conversion would suggest (ie 434 g when it might be expected to be closer to 315 g) so I’m not sure what would happen if I had used a weighed amount. 625 g of flour should equate to 5 standard cups. Of course, I rarely use cups when baking so it is possible that I got mine wrong!

Preheat the oven to 425˚F/220˚C fan/Gas 7. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, three times.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the cream. Fold it into the flour using a knife or a spatula.

Add the pop and fold into the mixture using a knife, or spatula, until just incorporated. Turn out onto a floured board and bring together with your hands (note that my mixture was too dry so I added just a dribble more pop).

Roll out into a rough rectangle, about 3 cm thick.

Cut into squares and transfer to the prepared cookie sheet. Note that I cut mine into 14 pieces, but I would use large pieces, in hindsight.

Brush the top of each piece with a little milk. Place in the oven for approximately 10 minutes, turning the tray once during that period. The scones are done when they are golden brown in colour. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The scones didn’t expand much but they had a fluffy, almost bread-y texture.

In taste they are quite bland, only very slightly sweet on their own, with a crunchy exterior. Of course, they are not intended to be eaten on their own. The classic accompaniment to scones is jam and cream, the ‘cream tea’. Ideally it would be clotted cream, but in the absence of that, I whipped up some of the remaining whipping cream and opened a jar of seedless strawberry jam. The little scones certainly made a good base for lots of jam and cream.

Butter and jam would also make a good topping. I suspect that a little spice could also be incorporated with the flour, and even a few raisins for making a fruit scone-I don’t see why that wouldn’t work out well. It certainly is a very easy recipe, and very quick to do.