Mini Scones with Cherry Compote

After a Saturday walking around in the "vague countryside" (the kind that borders a large city so promptly includes a stop at a 5 star hotel for a quick drink) I was feeling virtuous so decided to whip up something sweet but not too sickly. I remembered making scones with my grandmother and figured what better way to feel nostalgic and truly indulgent after a long day's walking!

To balance out the savoury side to the scones I decided to add a sugary-sweet cherry compote. That way you can add as much or as little sweetness as desired.

Ingredients:

225g self-raising flour
40g caster sugar
a pinch of salt
75g butter (at room temperature)
30g dried sultanas
30g dried cranberries
1 egg, beaten
3-4 tbsp milk (+ a few drops of lemon juice)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 220ºC and lightly grease or line a baking tray. Start by sieving the flour and salt into a large bowl, then sprinkle in the sugar. Next add the butter and mix to a crumb using your hands. At this point you will be left with a mix of fine crumbs and a floury mix, i.e not all the flour will crumb with the butter. Next add the dried fruit, beaten egg and 3tbsp of milk, mix with a knife until it starts to come together in big lumps and then get your hands in and mix into a dough. Be careful not to overmix it as it will become sticky, but if you find the mix is still too dry add a little more of the milk. Roll the dough into a ball.

Lightly flour a work surface and place the ball of dough in the centre, using a rolling pin, roll the dough to about 1 inch thick. Now take the smallest cutter you have and cut circles from the dough, being careful not to twist the cutter as you cut the dough (mine yielded about 25 circles). Next place the circles on the baking sheet and dust with a sprinkle of ground cinnamon and ground mixed spice. Bake in the oven for around 8-12 mins (depending on the size of your scones, mine took about 10 minutes).


Serve warm with plenty of butter and a drizzle of cherry compote!

To make the compote you just need some tinned or jarred cherries and sugar. Mix equal parts of cherry juice and caster sugar (I used 1 cup of each) and place in a heavy bottomed pan and place over a medium high heat. Next chop a few spoonfuls of cherries and add to the simmering liquid, keep over a high heat until reduced by half and then remove from the heat, sieve in 1 tbsp icing sugar and whisk until disolved, let cool slightly and serve warm, or cool completely and store in the fridge until needed.