Did you know there are two types of Scottish Scones? The ones you probably know from Starbucks – or various US bakeries, and the other ones that they eat in the Islands of the coast of Scotland – and in other parts of the country too.
Highland scones are airy and light, not sweet, and have a satisfying crust. They are best hot out of the oven. The inspiration came from scones I ate with a friend on the ferry boat between the Isle of Skye to the island of Harris in the Hebrides, but I think it might have been the fact that we were very hungry, out in the cold salt air, and they were hot out of the oven and slathered with butter and jam. It took me a while to recreate them – but when I did, I have never bothered to try any others.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F / 200 C
4 cups flour (you could substitute 1/2 – 1 cup of oatmeal for one cup of the flour)
2 Tablespoons sugar (no sugar needed if you add dates)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar (or else one tablespoon of baking powder instead of soda and tartar, but soda and tartar is better.)
Mix all this together. Make a crater/well/depression in the flour, and add to it:
1 egg
a squirt of oil
1 ½ to 2 cups milk. It varies depending on the flour. The dough should be very soft and very sticky.
Mix the egg up while it is still in the crater. Then add the milk and mix it further with the whole mountain of flour. It should be soft and sticky, but holding its shape. There is more on this below –
Add dates, cut into pieces, and raisins – as many as you like, but 1 cup is about right. Using a mix of dates and raisins instead of white sugar makes the scones less sweet, and much more fragrant.
The dough should be soft, and make sure you don’t mix it too much. Mixing kills the baking powder, and makes it rise poorly. Just barely enough. A tiny bit of un-mixed-in flour is okay.
Add the dates before it is fully mixed so that by the time it really is mixed up, the dates (8-15) are blended in too. It is the dates that make these scones so awesome.
Also, make sure the dough is soft enough. In fact, it should be soft enough so that it is a bit hard to handle. A dry, thick dough makes nasty scones.
Put half the dough into a blob on some flour, sprinkle some flour on top, and pat into a circle. Cut into 8 pieces. Makes 16. Cook at 400 F for 15 minutes.
They freeze really well, so if you don’t finish the whole lot, then you can cut them into halves and freeze them. Pop them in the toaster and they defrost quickly and taste as delicious as ever.