Cranberry, Clementine & White Chocolate Scones

Makes 8

Ingredients

Large baking sheet, lined

500g self-raising flour (plus more for dusting) 120g caster sugar

1 rounded tbsp baking powder 100g unsalted butter, softened a little and cubed 300ml milk

2 medium eggs

100g fresh or dried cranberries 100g white chocolate, chips or chopped Zest of 2 clementines

To finish:

60g white chocolate, melted A handful of dried cranberries

Method

Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan).

Weigh the flour, sugar and baking powder into a big bowl, then add the cubed butter. Measure the milk into a jug, then add the eggs and mix with a fork. Flour your work surface now, before your hands get all sticky with dough.

Now, rub the butter into the flour, picking up small amounts in your fingertips and rubbing your thumb and fingers together as you let the mixture fall back into the bowl. Once it looks like breadcrumbs, give the bowl a shake and any rogue lumps of butter will come to the top – rub them in too. Add the cranberries, white chocolate and clementine zest and around two thirds of the eggy milk. Mix with a butter knife (this way you won’t overwork the dough) until most of the flour has been incorporated. If there’s still a lot of flour in the bottom of the bowl, add a little more milk. You just want a rough, craggy looking bowl of dough that feels a little sticky, but not wet. Use more of the milk if it’s too dry or add a tiny bit more flour if it’s too wet. Once you’re happy, tip the whole lot out onto the floured surface and use your hands to bring it together into a ball. Your dough should have lumps and bumps – don’t be tempted to work it until it’s smooth.

With your hands, gently flatten your ball of dough into a flat disc roughly 20cm across and 3–4cm high (we hold a 20cm cake tin over the top to check). Dust a knife with flour to stop it sticking, and cut the dough into eight evenly-sized triangles as if you were cutting a cake.

Space the triangles out on your baking tray and brush the tops with a thin coat of the remaining eggy milk mixture (you might not need it all). Bake for around 20 minutes or until they are baked through. The timing will really depend on the thickness of your scones so use a skewer to check, and if they’re not done pop them back in the oven for another three minutes before checking again. They are ready when the skewer comes out clean.

Let the scones cool a little on the tray before taking them off and transferring to a wire rack – they are a wee bit fragile straight out of the oven. When cool, drizzle the tops with the melted white chocolate and scatter over a few dried cranberries before the chocolate sets.

Tips

The best tip we can give is don’t overwork the dough. Overworked dough makes your scones heavy – it should have lumps and bumps in it.