Baking sweets in Japan can be annoying. Ingredients are often expensive and the ovens are tiny, but I try my best to make delicious things with only a toaster oven! A classic in England is the traditional Scone. Japanese scones tend to be a little dry, but the English variety is soft and buttery, and not so difficult nor expensive to make, so I thought I would give you my recipe!
Ingredients
350g of regular flour
5.5 tsp of Baking Powder
¼ tsp salt
85g Butter
3 tbsp caster sugar (グラニュー糖)
175g milk
1tsp Vanilla extract
100g Raisins or sultanas, or any small dried fruits really. Or even no fruit at all!
1 egg
2 tsp lemon juice
Method
If using a traditional oven, pre-heat it to 220C. If using a toaster oven, no need.
1.Throw the flour, baking powder, and the salt in a large bowl and whisk it.
2.Cut the butter into smaller pieces and add to the flour mixture
3.Using your hands, rub the butter and flour together until it looks like breadcrumbs
4.Mix in the sugar
5.Put the milk in a jug and into the microwave and heat for about 30 seconds.
6.Add the vanilla and the lemon juice to the milk
7.In the flour mix, make space in the middle like a bowl and add the milk to it and combine with a wooden spoon.
8.Add the raisins and mix
9.At this point, the mixture will seem very wet, don’t worry! Sprinkle some flour on the work surface and tip your mixture onto it.
10.Throw a little flour on top of the mixture and rub your hands with a little flour and begin to knead (こねる) until it is a little dryer and smoother. 11.Roll it into a ball and press it down until it’s about 4cm deep.
12.Use a 5cm cutter to to cut out your scones (If you don’t have a cutter, you can draw a 5cm circle on some paper and cut out the shapes using the paper as a guide, but this is very troublesome)
When using a toaster oven, I usually turn it on now, at about 200C
13.Place baking paper (ベーキング紙) on a baking tray and place your scons on it. Make sure they are spaced out as they will get bigger. Usually I make 4 at a time.
14.Crack the egg into a cup or small bowl and whisk it, then use it to brush onto the top of your scones. If you don’t have a pastry brush, using your finger is fine!
I usually bake for about 10 minutes, but I advise that for the first batch, you check on them after 8 minutes just in case! Ovens are often different!
And that’s it! You can eat them hot or cold and you can even freeze them for later!
You can eat them in a variety of ways. Of course the traditional way is with Jam and clotted cream which you can find in international stores like Kaldi, but it is a little expensive. Many people in England just eat them with butter and Jam, or even without anything at all! But don’t forget to take a picture! I want to see!
