There is nothing more delicious than a freshly made scone. Here is another variation of the date scone. Just for a little change, this one has cinnamon and orange zest and juice. I made these for afternoon tea to take 'down the paddock' to the tailing party.
Date, Orange and Cinnamon Scones
1 cup dates
juice and zest of an orange
1 egg, topped up with milk to 200ml of liquid
2 1/2 cups plain flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
100g butter
Preheat the oven to 200deg. C.
Place the dates, orange zest and juice into a small pot and using a medium heat stir until the dates start to break up and the mixture thickens. Set aside to cool.
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Rub the butter into the flour.
Measure out the egg and milk and add it to the dates and mix well.
Make a well in the centre of the rubbed in flour and butter, and pour in the egg, milk and date mixture.
Gently stir to combine, then turn out onto a floured board.
Coat with a thin layer of flour and gently press out into a rectangular shape.
Using a floured knife, cut into squares.
Place onto a floured baking tray and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden and risen.
The scones should sound hollow when tapped on their bottoms.
Serve warm with butter. For all the really hard core date scone fans, here is another version I have made previously.
I also made these open sandwiches by mashing hard boiled eggs with a little melted butter and seasoning, then spreading it onto a sliced walnut loaf. I topped it with a simple tomato, capsicum and onion salsa dressed with a simple vinaigrette style dressing.
A perfect, tasty afternoon tea for the hungry tailing party.
Oh the last day of the school term. The excitement, the exhaustion, the anticipation, the unfinished to-do list, the last minute jobs.
I have heard it said that there is no dilemma in life that can't be softened by a good custard square. Although flippant, this speaks to the feelings of togetherness and emotional and physical restoration that the sharing of food brings to people and their communities.
One of the lovely rituals of the last week of term 1 is a round of Secret Admirer: names are drawn, and admirers smuggle gifts and tokens of appreciation to their recipients. Having missed the deadline for putting our names forward, three of us decided to be everyones' not-so-secret admirer by providing a delicious homemade morning tea to our lovely colleagues.
We all made a few favourite recipes that altogether made for an impressive spread. Sarah made Lemon Cupcakes, Salted Caramel slice and Chocolate Brownie. Rebecca made Citrus slice, Angels on Horseback, Sesame Lavosh with blue cheese, and Hummus with french bread. I made Sausage Rolls, Sticky Lemon Slice, Date Scones, gluten-free Rice Bubble Cake, and Carrot Cake. Follow the high lighted links to go directly to the previously blogged recipes.
Some of you have requested the Sausage Roll recipe. This one is always popular with our friends and family. It has a couple of extra ingredients that make them extra special.
Prudence's Sausage Rolls
1 finely sliced onion
4 thick slices of white bread - made into fresh bread crumbs using the kitchen whizz
3 Tablespoons tomato sauce
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper
2 eggs
2 x 450g tubes of sausage meat
6 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
12 rashers rind less streaky bacon
250g tomato relish - I used Barkers Sun dried tomato and olive
1 beaten egg for glazing
Mix the onion, bread crumbs, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, seasoning, eggs and sausage meat until thoroughly blended together.
Put the sausage meat mixture into the fridge while you prepare the pastry.
Cut each pastry square in half and separate the bacon rashers. Leave the plastic sheet attached to the pastry as it will help you to shape the sausage rolls.
Lay the pastry sheets out over the bench; Spoon an even amount of sausage meat along each pastry sheet. It should be about 2cm in diameter.
Top each sausage meat row with a strip of bacon and spoon some relish along side the meat. Roll the pastry over the meat and leave with the seam facing down. Again, leave the plastic sheet on the pastry until your ready to bake the sausage rolls. They can be stored in the fridge for 24 hours or freezer for later use.
When your ready, cut each roll into evenly sized portions. Glaze with the lightly beaten egg and bake at 200deg. C for about 25 minutes. They should be golden brown and crispy once cooked.
The not-so-secret-admirers - thanks ladies for making this a morning tea to remember when we all needed an end of term pick me up.
Dog tired, tuckered out, exhausted, run ragged: there are lots of ways to describe that end of the school term feeling. That last week with so many things to do, dead lines to meet, lots of little loose ends to tie up, all the while just trying to avoid the inevitable and obligatory dose of pre-holiday germs. Days have gone by since I have done anything even remotely interesting or creative. Time to emerge out of the post-school term mire with a little baking.
A couple of weeks back we stopped for a coffee at the lovely Addington Coffee Company where I tried one of their fabulous Date Scones. They were scones with a difference, out of the ordinary scones, with a delicious date filling. Without wanting to steal their thunder or impact the bottom line, I resolved to reproduce these little morsels at home.
Date Scones
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
80g butter
1 egg
Milk - enough added to the egg to make up to 200ml of liquid
1 cup dates - cut in half
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup water
a little milk and caster sugar to sprinkle on top
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.
Start by making the date filling: put the dates, zest, juice and water into a saucepan and simmer gently until the dates break up and a paste is formed when the mixture is stirred. Put aside to cool.
Sift the dry ingredients. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles fine crumbs. Mix the egg and milk together. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and pour in the egg and milk. Gently mix until just combined. The mixture is quite soft and needs to be handled with care.
Do not over mix, knead or roll: it will make the scones hard and stodgy.
Turn the mixture out onto a floured piece of baking paper. Gently push out into a rectangular shape. Spread the cooled date mixture over half the scone dough. Flip the other half of the dough over (the baking paper makes that easier).
Cut into even shapes. Brush the scones with milk and sprinkle with caster sugar. Bake at 200 deg. C for 10 to 12 minutes.
These make a lovely change from the more traditional date scone. The lemon zest cuts through the intense sweetness of the dates and the paste makes the scones really moist.
The texture of the scone is quite cake-like and soft.
If you happen to be in Addington it is well worth dropping into the Coffee Company for its great coffee, good food and laid back atmosphere.
Otherwise you can always make these lovely scones for your family and friends at home.
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