I made these scones for a group of mums who bring their pre-school children to “Totzone”, which my church runs every Tuesday morning during term time. They are very appreciative of the facilities and the refreshments. And also very complimentary, especially for these scones, which I served with a Mascarpone Lemon Cream mixture – not sure whether to call it a sauce or a filling, so “mixture” will have to do.

Level: Easy

Makes: 9 – 10 scones (using a 6cm cutter)

Time: Around 30 minutes hands-on, plus 60 minutes chilling (optional) and 15 – 18 minutes baking. Plus 15 – 20 minutes if making the filling

Need: Nothing fancy, just a bowl, a wooden spoon and & a couple of trays (and an oven of course.)

Ingredients

375g/13oz self-raising flour plus extra for dusting
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger
50g/1¾oz caster sugar
60g/2oz stem ginger, diced
60g/2oz crystallised ginger, diced
Zest of half a lemon
75g/2½oz butter
200ml/7fl oz buttermilk (+30ml/1fl oz in reserve, to use if needed)
30ml/1fl oz lemon juice
½ tsp lemon extract (optional)
30ml/1fl oz stem ginger syrup

Method

1. Line two baking trays with parchment. Put the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and sugar in a large bowl and mix well.

2. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles bread crumbs

3. Stir in the diced stem ginger, the crystallised ginger and the lemon zest. Make a well in the centre of the mixture.

4. Gradually pour in the buttermilk, lemon juice, lemon extract and ginger syrup. Stir with a wooden spoon, then use your hands to gather the mixture into a dough. Add a little of the reserved buttermilk if necessary. Don’t let the mixture get wet and sticky.

5. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly just to bring it together – take care not to overwork it.

6. Roll or press the dough to a 2cm – 3cm thickness. Use a 6cm round cutter to stamp out 9 – 10 rounds. Dip the cutter in flour each time and avoid twisting when you cut. Place on the baking tray or trays

7. Chill in the fridge for about an hour. (*If you’re pushed for time you could leave out the chilling.) Meanwhile heat the oven to 220°C / fan 200°C / 425°F / gas 7.

8. If you intend cutting and serving the scones with the filling as shown then there’s no need to glaze them, otherwise, you brush on a pre-bake glaze of beaten egg or milk. Bake for about 15 minutes. (Halfway through the bake I usually swap the trays round on the shelves and also turn them round. This helps give an even colour to the scones. I have to move sharpishly to avoid losing too much oven temperature.)

9. Cool on a wire rack.

Ingredients for the optional “mixture”

250g/9oz mascarpone or full fat cream cheese
200g/7oz – 250g/9oz icing sugar
30ml/1fl oz Limoncello (optional or replace with juice from half a lemon)
½ tsp lemon extract (also optional)
30ml/1fl oz ginger syrup
Zest of half a lemon (or a whole one if you can spare it)

Method

10. Beat the mascarpone until workable then sift in the icing sugar. Mix together then stir in the Limoncello (or lemon juice), lemon extract, ginger syrup and the lemon zest.

11. Beat vigorously to obtain a firm but spreadable consistency. Add more icing sugar if necessary and beat again.

Serving suggestion

If the scones have not been glazed they can be cut in half horizontally and presented crumb side up with a “dollop” of the “mixture” on top of each half or in a nearby bowl.

For the group mentioned above I baked these scones on Monday then took them to our church building on Tuesday and gave them about 30 seconds in the micro wave to warm them prior to serving. If you do this, err on the side of “too little” rather than “too much” as over-microwaving ruins the texture of scones. In fact a few minutes in a hot oven is better, but we’re always in a rush aren’t we?

I hope you enjoy baking and eating these scones. For more scone recipes click here. If you’d like to make a comment or ask a question please do, via the contact page, or have a look at the rest of my site for lots of other great sweet and savoury recipes.

Here are some more of my scones that you might like to try:

Honey and Almond