Scones recipe

Summer wouldn't be summer without a crumbly scone served with lashings of jam and cream. Hugh's baker's appentice made these specially for River Cottage 2009

Watch the video of Sarah making scones

• 300g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 75g unsalted butter (at cool room temperature), cubed
• 50g caster sugar (Hugh used 100g to create a sweeter scone)
• 1 egg
• 120ml double cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
• Milk, for glazing

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and lightly grease a baking sheet.

2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively, do this in a food processor before transferring the mixture to a bowl. Either way, then stir in the sugar.

3. Beat the egg and cream together, with the vanilla extract too, if you're using it. Pour into the flour mixture and bring together lightly with your hands into a dough. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead very briefly to form a fairly smooth ball.

4. Pat or gently roll the dough out to a thickness of about 4cm. Use a 6-7cm diameter cutter to stamp out scones from the dough. Put them on the prepared baking sheet, brush the tops with a little milk, and bake for about 15 minutes until risen and golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes, then serve slightly warm. Scones do not keep well so eat them up quickly!

Tips: The standard River Cottage recipe uses 50g of sugar but if you'd prefer a sweeter scone use between 75g - 100g. Either way, they'll taste delicious.

© River Cottage