Savoury scones

We are very fond of a scone and grateful to Val Stones, the cake whisperer and Great British Bake Off star for her tip about heating the baking sheet first, so that they start to look and rise as soon as they hit the hot metal.
And we have baking sheets to fit both conventional and range ovens, designed in collaboration with Val, who wanted one substantial enough not to warp and with a decent lip to help you pull it out of the oven.
For every one of these baking sheets sold on the website, we make a donation to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, a charity chosen by Val.

These are tasty, savoury scones, which are delicious with extra goat's cheese and a few black olives.

250g self raising flour
70g butter, cubed
6 sundried tomatoes, chopped and soaked in hot water for 20 minutes
Few sprigs of thyme, stripped from the stems (or 1tsp dried thyme)
1 tblsp chopped chives
60g soft goats cheese
Milk

Note: I have not used salt because the sundried tomatoes are often very salty, but if your tomatoes are not salty, them add a teaspoon of salt to the flour.
Place the baking sheet in the oven and pre-heat to 200ºC. Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the butter.  Rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (you can also do this in a food processor)
Drain the tomatoes (save the soaking liquid to add to tomato sauces or gravy) and add to the mix with the thyme, chives and crumbled goat's cheese.
Stir in just enough milk to bring the mixture together into a firm dough.

Roll out on a floured board to a thickness of around 2cm and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter.  Be careful not to twist the cutter as you lift it or your scones will rise unevenly.
Remove the tray from the oven and carefully place the scones on the tray. 
Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack for as long as you can withstand the temptation, but do eat them warm, when they are at their very best.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2019 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Launching our new baking sheet

At the Ludlow Food Festival in September (2017), we met up again with Val Stones, a star of the 2016 Great British Bake off series and well on her way to becoming a national treasure.

Val has more energy than most hyperactive 5 year olds and as well as all her fantastic baking, she devotes a great deal of time to charity fund raising.  As I write this, she has just come back from walking an arduous section of the Great Wall of China in aid of NSPCC and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust

She posted some wonderful clips on her Instagram feed, please take the time to go and have a look.

But back to Ludlow.... we had a chat about a product that Val wanted and couldn't find; a decent, heavy duty baking sheet with a sensible lip at the front to help lift it our of the oven.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, our creative genius knocked up a sketch, confirmed that it was what she had in mind and hey presto, a new product is added to the range.
The prototype went to Val, after a brief sojourn in the Netherton kitchen to put it to the test.

                                    

I made a batch of shortbread biscuits, which lasted as long as snowfall in summer and Val did a more rigorous like for like test, baking scones on her old baking sheet and her new Netherton one.  you can see her results on Instagram.

Delighted to report that the Netherton baking sheet passed with flying colours - send the creative genius to the top of the class and give him a gold star.

The heavy duty baking sheet is now in production.
What's more, for every one sold £2.00 will be donated to the MS Society, £1.00 by us and £1.00 by Val.

So what better excuse to spend a wet and windy Saturday in a warm kitchen, creating lovely new baking recipes for our lovely new product.

Here's the first one.

Beetroot scones
8 oz self raising flour
2 oz butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp caraway seeds
½ tsp celery salt
1 medium size cooked beetroot, peeled and grated
1 tblsp natural yogurt
Milk - approx 2 tblsp.

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC 
Place the baking tray in the oven to warm - this is a trick I learned from Val.  If the tray is warm when you put the scones on to it, they start to rise straight away and you get a great bake.

Put the flour, butter, salt, celery salt, caraway seeds and beetroot in a food processor and mix until it all resemble pink breadcrumbs.  Alternatively, put all those ingredients, except the beetroot into a large bowl and rub the fat into the flour until you reach the same stage, then stir in the beetroot.

Add the yogurt and just enough milk to bring it together into a stiff dough.

Roll out on a floured surface to around ½" thick and cut into 9 or 12 scones, dependent on the size of your cutter.
Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place the scones directly on to it - no need to grease or line it.
Pop them back in the oven for approximately 20 minutes.

Take them out of the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
Serve warm.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2017  ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Apricot scones

Once upon a time there were two types of scone and two pronunciations. You had a choice between fruit or cheese and sconn or scown, to rhyme with own, not frown.

These days, there are still debates over how they should be pronounced - I favour sconn - but there is a plethora of varieties both sweet and savoury.

I am quite partial to a goat's cheese and sun dried tomato scone flavoured with thyme, but I am going to share one of my sweet versions with you here.

8oz self raising flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 oz butter
1½ oz sugar
4 oz dried apricots, chopped
3 dessertspoons sour cream

Pre heat the oven to 185ºC 

Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the bicarbonate of soda. Mix well.
Add the butter and using your fingertips rub it in until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar and the apricots. If you want something a little more adventurous, add 1 teaspoon of finely chopped rosemary.
Add the sour cream and gently mix to a dough.  If necessary add a little more cream or a splash of milk.
The dough should be firm to the touch.

Tip out on to a floured board and roll out to a thickness of 2cm.
Cut into rounds and place on a warmed griddle plate or baking sheet

Pop into the oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes until lightly browned.

Serve warm, with lots of butter and a cup of tea.
A slice of white Stilton tastes just dandy with these.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk