Afternoon tea and Astrid’s music dvd

{ : May 8th, recipe added at bottom of the post : }

Made afternoon tea today. Tammy was coming around for coffee at three, and while I was scraping wallpaper Kevin kept on asking me when I was going to bake a cake or make the easter eggs. Hmm. It was 2:30 when I emerged from the front room covered in bits of paper and dust, so scones it was (sorry Kevin). I’d even bought gelatine especially to make marshmallow easter eggs. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow.

As it so happened Simon Raby texted asking when was a good time to drop around the music video that has Astrid in it so I called him and he said he’d come straight over. Now that we had two guests coming I thought it only right to really set the table up all proper-like.

Needless to say the scones went down a treat. I don’t seem to be able to make them like I used to, but then I am using Spelt flour. Grandma always said the trick is to touch the mixture as little as possible and only use a knife to cut in the butter, don’t rub it. Which is exactly what I did. I am suspecting it could be a very good job for the food processor although there’s something about making scones by hand.

Now, just for good measure I’m putting in my second choice scone photo because it would be such a shame not to use it! Anyway, Tammy is coming over again tomorrow because we were going to talk skincare products, but of course that isn’t appropriate for when one has boys in company.

Simon brought around a DVD of the music video Astrid is in – which is the whole reason he came over – to drop it off. Kevin and I are in it too actually! Once it’s on YouTube I’ll post the link. Astrid is so sweet in it – it’s fab!

– – – – ~ – * – – Late addition – The Recipe !! – – * – ~ – – – – –

Thanks Thimbleanna for your request for the recipe – can’t believe I didn’t put it here in the first place!!! Here it is:

Scones

3 cups flour
6 teaspoons of baking powder (exactly 6, not heaped)
Sugar (um I usually just throw in a handful – say 1/3 of a cup)
75g butter
1 – 1.5 cups of milk approx
extra milk

Pre-heat the oven to 220C / 425F / Gas mark 7

Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl. Cut in the butter with a knife until it looks like breadcrumbs. Sometimes I need to use my fingers a bit to rub in the butter. Or, you could use a food processor with the knife blade.

Add the sugar and 1 cup of the milk and mix quickly with a knife to make a soft dough. Add more milk if you need it. Do not over mix.

Knead it one or two times. The secret to this recipe is to handle the ingredients as little as possible.

Dust the benchtop with flour and press the scone dough onto it so it’s about 1 inch thick. Cut into 12 pieces or use any size cookie cutter. Place scones onto a floured baking tray, brush tops with milk and bake for 10 mins or until golden brown and risen.