a secret ingredient

Back after a while to my cooking sessions... in the last few months my kitchen was completely ripped off and redone with a bit of troubles but now it's working fine, and I'm back enjoying cooking for family and friends.

Sherry rich scones

I know my husband love to be woken up by the smell of baking cakes. He loves piping hot scones with home made raspberry jam, another specialty of the house :) (his in that case) so I really want to make him a surprise, if only...
I was kneading my scones when I realized there was no milk in the house, too late I was already hands-on and I had to quickly find a solutions because the dough would started to rise anyway. Add water? Boring. Add another liquid? yes, but which one... Sherry!! That is known among my English family as my "secret" ingredient, because I'm able to use it in almost anything: meat, mushrooms, cakes, fruit salad, never tried in a soup but you never know...

Here is the recipe, hope you give it a try ;)

the scones ready for the oven

225 g of self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
50 g of butter (I usually recommend to reduce to half the quantity of fat, but not in this case especially if you do without milk)
25 g of caster sugar
50 g of sultanas
1 medium egg. beaten with enough Sherry yo make 150 ml liquid


Pre-heat the oven to 220C and put some baking paper on a baking tray.
Mix flour, salt and rub in the butter till it is completely absorbed by the flour. Add egg and Sherry leaving a little aside from brushing the tops. I forgot that time as you can see from the photos, but they taste good anyway.
The dough will be of a lightly pink colour and should be soft and spongy but not sticking to your fingers.

pink dough

Knead lightly on a floured surface and roll out to 1 1/2 cm in thickness, cut out with a round biscuit cutter, if haven't any use a glass  or a coffee cup.
Re-roll the trimmings and cut more scones.
Brush the tops with the egg and cherry mix and bake in

warm oven for 10 mins or till they become golden brown on top.

the scones just out of the oven

Have them with home made jam, any red fruit will be good, but the raspberry one is my favorite.

Enjoy them with coffee or tea.
ML xx