Honey Oat Scones

Who doesn't like scones?!!!
Whether they're the plain, round English ones slathered with Cornish whipped cream and strawberry jam while on a summer picnic with "lashings of ginger beer" (sorry - I don't know what came over me - a flashback reference to Enid Blyton and the Famous Five there!! :o).  Or maybe they're the large, melt-in-the-mouth triangles of awesomeness that you might get from your local coffee shop, like a little gem in one of our local towns called Sundance Java Bar, where I had THE most scrumptious raspberry and white chocolate scone a while back with a friend - as you can probably tell, I still have dreams about it :o)

I haven't quite reached the 'nirvana' state yet with my own attempts in the kitchen, but this ones comes pretty close if I do say so myself - they have enough flavour to be able to eat on their own, but also they're not too sweet if you want to do some serious 'slathering' with your favourite preserve.

Honey Oat Scones
makes 8 scones

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1 very heaped Tbs baking powder
1 heaped Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces
1/4 cup runny honey
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten (to glaze)

• preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• in a large bowl whisk together both flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt.
• using your fingers or a pastry blender, work the cold butter into the dry ingredients until you have the consistency of large breadcrumbs.
• in a separate small bowl, mix the honey and milk until combined, then add to the flour/butter mixture.
• blend everything together with your hands to form a 'softish' ball of dough - add a little more milk if the dough seems dry, but not enough to make it sticky.
• pat or roll the dough to approximately a 3cm thickness disc.
• either cut into wedges with a knife or if you prefer, you can cut out circles with a cookie cutter.
• place a couple of inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet, glaze the tops with the beaten egg and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

 Honey Oat Scones ingredients.

whisk all the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

work the butter into the dry ingredients until you a large breadcrumb consistency.

blend together the honey and milk....

....and add it to the dry ingredients.

blend by hand to form a soft dough.

pat or roll into a 3cm thick disc.

using a large, floured knife, but into wedges.

place on the prepared cookie sheet and brush with the beaten egg.

bake until golden brown.

we were lucky enough to be given a jar of homemade peach jam that went tremendously with these scones.