Just where oh where does the time go?! It has been a few weeks since I have done anything remotely interesting in the kitchen (let alone anywhere actually) since my life has recently been eaten up by my end of semester exams. These are the first exams I have undertaken since graduating from my undergraduate degree in 2006 and it definitely doesn’t get any easier with ‘experience’, let me tell you.

I have spent the last three weeks with my nose buried deep within a mountain of textbooks, journal articles and scribbly notes and spent countless and rather lonely late-night hours in the library studying hard. I am mentally buggered and I still have one more exam to go! :(

A pleasant distraction came my way today when my mum came home with a big box of delicious currants and other dried fruits, so I’ve decided to use the currants in a batch of buttermilk scones. These scones are slightly buttery (not cardboard tasting), fluffy and moist in the middle with a slight tang from the buttermilk, and begging to be eaten warm, liberally spread with butter or served with jam and cream.

One last thing too, I do apologise to you all for not posting enough, but hopefully I will be able to do more during my mid-semester break :)

Enjoy the scones!

Buttermilk Scones

Makes around 12-16, depending on how big you make them.

200g wholemeal flour

400g self raising flour

½ cup (55g) caster sugar

big pinch of salt

150g unsalted butter, very cold and cut into chunks

200g currants, sultanas, other dried fruits or none at all

500ml buttermilk

lots of flour, for dusting

milk, for glazing (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
2. In a food processor, whiz the flours, sugar and salt until just mixed together. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. You can do this with the tips of your fingers, rubbing the butter into the flour if you don’t have a food processor.
3. Tip the mixture into a large bowl and mix through the dried fruit if using. Using a butter knife, lightly mix through the buttermilk until it all come together.
4. Lightly knead the dough on a floured surface until it feels ever so slightly elastic (only a few minutes). Pat the dough down until 4cm high and using a round cutter or upside down tumbler, cut out rounds. Repeat with any scraps.
5. Place the scones quite close together on the prepared baking tray and either brush with milk (for shiny scones) or lightly dust the tops with flour and bake for 20 minutes or so or until golden brown. Remove them from the oven and immediately cover with a clean teatowel for 5 minutes.