Stem Ginger scones

Having been asked if we needed anything, and saying a firm no while at the garage earlier on, I found myself at home on Sunday afternoon with no eggs and no treacle to make another Stem Ginger Cake for our Sunday afternoon treat. https://eatingforireland.com/recipe/preserved-ginger-cake-with-lemon-icing/

A disaster, nothing less..

So while my ‘organised store-cupboard’ title might have been deservedly rescinded, my ‘original thinker’ and ‘make-do-and-mend’ modes flickered on, and here we are, with a really excellent Stem Ginger scone recipe which I’m very happy to share with you..

*bows, and waves to the audience* (modest, as always 😉 )

EQUIPMENT:

• A large flat baking tray
• A piece of baking parchment the same size as the tray
• a large bowl
• a hand whisk
• A hand or box grater
• a measuring jug
• a flat-bladed knife
• a chopping board
• A sharp knife

INGREDIENTS:

• 350g self-raising flour
• half a teaspoon of Baking Powder
• pinch of salt
• 85g of very cold unsalted butter
• 2-3 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 3-4 pieces of stem ginger, fairly finely chopped
• 50mls of syrup from a jar of Stem Ginger (I get mine in Sainsbury’s)
• 150mls Buttermilk

METHOD:

• Heat the oven to 200º Fan – that’s a hot oven.
• Put the empty tray in to heat
• Measure the flour, Baking Powder, and salt into the bowl, and mix together using the whisk.

• Pour the ginger syrup into the measuring jug, then top it up to 200mls with the Buttermilk.
• Grate in the cold butter, dipping it into the flour to stop the heat from your hands melting it.
• Using your hands, rub the grated butter into the flour until it mostly looks like fine breadcrumbs
• Mix in the sugar now.
• Add the chopped Stem Ginger into the flour mix, make sure it’s well distributed, and each piece of ginger is separated from its neighbour. It’s worth spending a little time (like 2 minutes) on this.
• Whisk the ginger syrup and the buttermilk together, then add it to the dry ingredients.
• Using your flat bladed knife, mix it all well together, until it starts coming together. Then you need to get your hands in there and start bringing all of the mixture into one piece. This takes a couple of minutes, until the dough starts to get a little warmed up by your hands  and begins to start behaving itself. Try not to add any more liquid if you can help it, it will make the scones fall over, which isn’t the end of the world, they’ll still taste great
• Sprinkle a little extra flour onto your worksurface, then lift the lump of dough onto it.

• Pat and shape it into an oval shape about 1 inch/3cms deep.
• Bring the sheet of baking parchment over to the working area
• Cut the dough in half, and then cut it again.
• You’ll get two large scones from both end bits, and 3 or 4 from the two middle sections.
• Put each scone onto the baking parchment, separated from its neighbours, as you cut them.
• Using a dry tea towel, remove the tray from the oven – it will be hot
• Slide the parchment onto the tray, rearrange any scones that have moved, then pop it back into the oven, and set the timer for 10 minutes.
• After the 10 minutes, carefully turn the tray 180 degrees, to even the bake, and give it about 2-3 more minutes.
• Remove to a cooling rack.
• I like these best with just cold butter, but please, feel free to serve them as you wish!
• They’ll still be good the next day (said she, munching on one of yesterday’s scones!)

NOTES:

• I never used to pre-heat the baking tray for scones, but I think it makes a huge difference, particularly with this short baking time.
• You could of course use your favourite scone/cookie cutter to make these a different shape, but I’ve got used to just cutting my scones, so now that’s just what I do.