The magic of scones…with more silverbeet, and feta of course.

What if I told you you could enjoy really fresh scones, without making a new batch, days and days after you’ve made your first batch? Whip one out in the morning, pop it into your bag, and when lunch rolls around… ding! I know I’ve already done scone posts, but they’ve almost always been yogurt scones, and these have milk and egg in instead (yes, I will open my mind to the scone possibilities), so if you have no yogurt, this is the way to go. Also…I finally discovered the fantasticness that is freezing scones. It opens up the possibility of bringing fresh home baked goodies to work or Uni and having them at PEAK freshness, without any hassle in the morning (or lining up for the cafe, grrr). Savoury scones tend to fulfil my lunch preferences too, but I will encourage linking to your favourite scones recipe – comment below with the link, with a description of what flavour it is! Go on…sharing is love.

Basic scone recipe (adapted from Bella Eats)

makes 6 large or 8 medium scones.

3/4c milk or buttermilk (guess which is better?! buttermilk, it’s always better)
1 large egg
3 c flour (use stoneground or add some wheatgerm if you want to go healthy) + more
4 tsp baking powder
115g unsalted cold butter, cubed
1/8c sugar for savoury scones, 1/2c sugar for sweet scones
1 tsp salt for savoury scones
+ Any of your favourite embellishments!
For silverbeet/spinach and feta, add 100g cubed feta and 2c packed finely chopped spinach or silverbeet (fresh) at stage specififed below.

In a medium bowl, whisk edd and milk together. In a separate large bowl, rub together (or use a pastry cutter) butter, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt if using, until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs (some lumps of butter are fine).

Dust a chopping board or work surface generously with flour. Sprinkle some flour on a relatively large baking tray. Preheat oven to 190C or 375F, with rack in the centre or the rack one shelf above centre. Definitely do all this now, as your hands will get covered in dough soon! Add embellishments to the breadcrumb mixure, then add the egg and milk mixture.

Mix together with wooden spoon or hands to form a soft, relatively moist dough. Once everything is incorporated, bring the dough onto the floured work surface/chopping board, and knead until everything is uniformly moist. Bunch the dough into a ball, and roll out (or just use the palms of your hands to flatten it out) to 3/4 of an inch thick (just under 3cm) circle.Transfer to baking tray. Cut into wedges (8 medium or 6 large, lunch-sized scones) or whatever shape your want, but don’t separate yet. Pop in the oven for 20 mins until lightly golden on the tops and bottoms. Remove from the oven, separate the scones, and put straight back into the oven for a further 5-10 minutes, until the edges previously unseparated are dry. Let cool on tray for 5 minutes before cooling on a rack. Eat warm if possible!

To freeze, wait until the scones are completely cool (but don’t wait too long, or when you unfreeze them they won’t be as fresh as they can be!), then just freeze them in a sealed container or plastic bag! They only take about an hour or 2 to defrost themselves, or you can microwave them for 30seconds to a minute in the microwave for breakfast straight from the freezer. Great for if you ran out of bread!

Favourite embellishments:

spinach and feta (makes a meal out of a scone for lunch!)
spinach and cheese *coughparmesancough*
citrus, cranberry and ginger
maple syrup
maple, nut and apple
lemon zest for lemon scones
lemon blueberry
orange zest for orangey scones
raspberry and white chocolate
date and cinnamon
vanilla bean and cardamom
cheeeeeese!
cheese and herbs (pretty much any herbs)
vege (cooked peas, carrots and corn if you’re a frozen food junkie)
chocolate chip
chocolate and cinnamon

….post your link to a favourite flavour combination!