AHOY! SCONES!

Ahoy! Scones, inspired by the Hutt Valley!

While I should be all like, “tarte au citron” or “beef bourguignon”, I have one vice – namely, scones from the Hutt. Why, might you ask? Well, while I was transferring from the Nelson Mail to Wellington I had a brief purgatory period where I reported for the Hutt News. It was stupendous! I had complete creative freedom and I have must admit – I’ve never really been privy to mall-rat culture. And so it was. I became a mallrat. Every lunchtime I would frolic over to the bright lights that is the Queensgate mall and buy the cheapest of attires! Pink blazer – check. Pleather top – check. I’ve always erred on the side of chi chi, apparently.

 

Anyway, while the Hutt’s chicken and brie paninis were satisfactory, their scones, my God, were sublime! Every morning for three weeks I would stuff my face (long black – in tow) with a date scone the size of a small rugby field. And while I had to stop for fear of actually becoming a scone, I have no regrets. My plight was legitimate as I attempted to endeavored to devour every scone in the region! At one point I was having a scone for breakfast AND for lunch.

With that said, here is my own take on the Hutt Scone (I tried to incorporate every delightful feature of each variety that I encountered). Pour moi, I like to eat scones that taste more like shortbread than your traditional bready scone. So, to emulate this “biscuit-esque” effect, I simply add a little more butter.

Ingredients:

2 C self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons sugar

50 g butter

1/2 cup (70g) chopped dates

1 small egg, beaten

100ml milk

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius. With a large bowl, add all the dry ingredients. Like what you would do if you were to make your own made-from-scratch pastry, rub in the butter with the tips of your fingers to make a bread-crumb-esque consistency. Chop up the dates and add to the mixture. Add the egg and milk. Knead dat mixture on a floured tabletop for about 30 seconds. You’ve got this. Get those muscles working. Cut into about eight scone-resembling pieces and biff onto a tray and into the oven. There you have it.