These delicious little scones come together and bake up quickly. Pre-filled with strawberry jam and topped with a few fresh strawberry slices, they’re a celebration of the start of spring and strawberry season. Polenta adds a lovely, crunchy texture, which is a wonderful contrast to the delicate scone.
Enjoy with clotted or double cream for afternoon tea or as a freshly baked breakfast treat. Ingredients 300g self-raising flour 2 tbsp polenta, plus extra to dust 1 tbsp caster sugar 1⁄2 tsp fine salt 120g cold, diced butter 200g cold buttermilk 8 tsp strawberry jam about 4-6 strawberries 2 tbsp cream or milk for brushing 1⁄2 tbsp demerara sugar clotted or double cream, to serve Method Preheat oven to 220C conventional (200C fan-forced). In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, the 2 tablespoons of polenta, the sugar and the salt.
Toss the cold butter into the dry ingredients and use a pastry cutter or your fingertips to make a dough (the butter should be reduced to almond-sized pieces and smaller). Do this quickly so the butter stays cold. Add the buttermilk and use a spoon or spatula to mix it all together.
Dump the dough, which will look crumbly, onto a floured bench and press until it all sticks together without over-kneading, which can toughen the dough. A bench-scraper will help you move it around so everything stays together. Roll to about 1cm-1.
5cm thick and then cut into rounds using a 5.5cm-round cutter. Press any scraps together, re-roll and cut a few more.
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