Have any of you been watching the brilliant series ‘Victoria‘ on ITV? Well, if you haven’t you really should. To be perfectly honest, period dramas aren’t really my cup of tea but there is something different about this one. It is the story of Queen Victoria, from her accession to the throne in 1837 when she was 18 through to the birth of her first child. The acting is next to none (especially Jenna Coleman who plays Queen Victoria) and some of the hairstyles just have to be seen to be believed.
So what has this got to do with Afternoon Tea Scones? Well, Anna Maria Russell, the Duchess of Bedford, is credited as being the creator of Afternoon Tea in Britain. The Duchess was a lifelong friend of Queen Victoria and served as one of her ‘Ladies of the Bedchamber’ from 1837 to 1841. She, along with Victoria, came under much public criticism for spreading rumors about Lady Flora Hastings. This whole scandal is covered in one of the episodes of Victoria.
When I was reading up on googling Queen Victoria, trying to improve my shockingly bad knowledge of the British Monarchy, Duchess Russell’s name popped up as the creator of Afternoon Tea. She may have been a gossip, but she did create the best of British traditions! Supposedly, the Duchess got really hungry in the long period between lunch and dinner so she started having a snack of cakes and tea at around 4 in the afternoon. She began inviting friends to join her and soon ‘Afternoon Tea’ became a tradition in middle and upper-class Britain.
If you visit anywhere in the UK for Afternoon Tea, you are almost guaranteed, along with little cakes, to be served a scones with jam and cream. The scone is a circular quick bread which is often lightly sweetened and sometimes includes dried fruit. It can be eaten warm or cold with butter but really is best served with strawberry jam and Devonshire or Cornish clotted cream.
So, do you split the scone, add jam then the cream or do you split the scone, add the cream and then the jam? It really depends where you are. In Devon, you would split the scone in two, spread each half with clotted cream and then add jam on the top. In Cornwall, you would do the opposite. Whichever way you like to eat your scones, they really are delicious, a real British tradition and I would urge you to try them, perhaps whilst you are sitting watching Victoria!
Afternoon Tea Scones
Ingredients
- 450 grams (3 1/2 cups) strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 teaspoons level baking powder
- 80 grams (1/3 cup) butter - cubed
- 225 millilitres milk
- 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
- 60 grams (1/3 cup) superfine (caster) sugar
- 1 egg yolk for brushing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220°C / 430°F /200° C Fan. Line a couple of baking trays with grease proof paper (parchment paper)
- Place all but 3 tablespoons of the flour and butter into a bowl. Using your hands rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the baking powder, sugar and salt to the mixture and combine with a spoon. Add the beaten egg and fold in gently.
- Add half of the milk to the mixture and mix gently to combine. You are looking for a fairly soft, wet dough, so add the rest of the milk, bit by bit until that is formed. You may not need to use all of it.
- Empty the dough onto a well floured work surface and sprinkle over the remaining 3 tablespoons of flour on top of the dough. Coat your hands with flour to stop the mixture sticking to them too much. Fold the dough in half, do a quarter turn and fold again. Repeat this three or four times.
- Using a floured rolling pin (or your hands if you prefer), roll the dough out till it is about 2.5 cm thick. Using a 7inch pastry cutter, cut the scones out. Try not to twist the cutter as this will prevent the scones rising uniformly. You can reuse the scraps of dough to cut out the remaining scones but just handle it gently as too much rolling and molding will cause the scones to become dense when baked.
- Place the scones on the prepared baking trays and brush the tops with egg yolk. Place in the middle of your oven and bake for 15 minutes until well risen and golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.
- Serve with jam and cream.
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