Scones

Ah the simple scone!! It takes me back, to being in Manchester and going to the bakery to get fresh out of the oven, piping hot scones that we would later gobble down with jam and tea. It's such a simple pleasure, and yet such a fulfilling one, and so easy to achieve.

You can make them for brunch - though I'm an anti brunch person myself - you can make them for breakfast (why not, if there are people suggesting one should eat porridge every morning?), you can make it for, well... five o'clock tea, why not? let's be rebells! Set a pretty table, gather up some flowers on a pitcher, bring out that lovely china you have hidden away for those special occasions, call up your girlfriends and make it a tea party.

You'll be needing:

• 340 gr flour
• 60 gr sugar
• 30 gr margarine
• 20 gr butter
• 1 egg
• 1 dl milk
• 2 tspoons baking powder
• 1 tspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk

Start by sieving the flour and the baking powder into a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and combine, gently kneading it all together - do make sure you do not knead it like bread, just amass the whole together until it binds. Drop it on the workbench that has been lightly floured and make a roll out of the dough, as if it was a big sausage. Cut the roll into even pieces and set those on a baking tray covered with baking sheet. Beat the egg yolk and swab the scones with it (add a little water to make it easier) and then just bake them on a pre heated oven until they're blonde. Let cool over a wrack and enjoy them wih whatever you prefer: from clotted cream, to butter, to preserves and jams or marmalades, scones are good guys that go well with just about everything. They're like the most versatile thing ever!