Scones and a Surfeit of Cream

I keep accumulating bits and bobs I don’t want to waste. One of these was a total fail at freezing cream. The instructions always tell you to whip the cream up before freezing it, but I thought I’d be lazy and didn’t. On defrosting, the split mixture didn’t seem all that promising.

So, onto the internets for the solution, and I found a recipe for scones. Only 3 ingredients were required: flour, cream, and lemonade!

Lemonade scones look like they originate from Australia. I’ve only ever made the traditional English recipe with butter, flour, an egg and a dash of milk, so I was intruiged.

First, out to go and buy some lemonade. We’re not big lemonade drinkers in this household. Then I had to figure out the British conversions for Australian cups. Hmm, confusing. As I was making them, I threw in some sultanas too. I love fruit-packed scones.

When I made up the scone mixture, it already felt very light whilst I was handling the dough, so I had high hopes. It was a bit wetter than my usual dough, but nothing floury hands couldn’t handle. I popped them into the oven, realised I’d forgotten to eggwash the tops, but nevermind. They were rising like mad in the heat!

Out of the oven, and onto a cooling rack, I was delighted by how puffy and tall my scones were. Texturally, they are the lightest scones I have ever baked. Feather-light absolutely describes these. Eaten plain, they didn’t taste of much, with a slight tang of fizzy lemonade…disappointing. Once the jam and cream was laden on top, you didn’t notice anymore. If your philosophy in life is that scones are mere vehicles for as much cream and jam as possible, this doesn’t matter! However, if I wasn’t eating them with extras I would say these scones definitely require additional flavouring.

I don’t think lemonade scones will quite replace my usual recipe. The use of fizzy lemonade makes me a little uneasy as it’s full of artificial additives like aspartame. I’m not sure if more natural alternatives end up doing the same job. All the same, it’s a quick and easy recipe to keep by, and worth trying out!

On another note. I was browsing on Pinterest, and came across these horrific red velvet variants. With frosting! Sacrilege on scones, urgh, enough to make my insides curdle.