Ah, the elusive scone. Good ones are so hard to find that these days I don’t even bother to order them, such are the disappointments of the past. But these happen to be Ngonu’s recipe and they are truly fabulous. They are best eaten hot, just out of the oven with excessive amounts of jam and cream. And cheese if you’re that way inclined. I’ve also been known to eat them with butter and Marmite.They’re good at breakfast, tea, lunch, tea and supper.

Ngonu’s Scones
Makes about 12

2 cups plain flour
2 rounded teaspoons of baking powder
a pinch of salt (apparently Ngonu put a pinch of salt in everything, including her coffee)
3 tablespoons sugar
60-80g butter, unsalted, cold (roughly 3 tablespoons)
1/2 c double cream/buttermilk
1 egg cracked into a 250ml cup and then filled up with milk

Preheat the oven to 220C. Place the dry ingredients in a bowl. Rub in the butter with your hands. Add in almost all the egg/milk mixture, reserving a small amount to paint the tops. (About a tablespoons worth). Mix until it starts to come together. At this point, if it looks a little dry, add in the double cream. Once you have a dough turn out onto a floured surface and pat down. Don’t roll it out. The mixture should be worked only minimally otherwise you’ll end up with stodgy, chewy scones not light, flaky ones. Use a scone cutter to cut out the scones and place them on a lined baking tray. Cut efficiently so that there’s only a small piece left which you can roll into a sort-of-scone-like-ball.

Now, using the left over milk mix, brush the top of the scones.

Turn the oven down to 200C and place the scones in the middle rack. Bake for 8 minutes, then turn them and bake for another 7 minutes. Allow them to cool slightly before eating.