During the winter months we need a little extra warmth with our afternoon tea, the ginger in these scone gives that added warmth and comfort. I have found the best way to mix the black treacle in to the scone mix is to dissolve it in a little warm milk, it gets a little sticky otherwise!

I have doubled my usual quantities for this recipe, this recipe will make about 10-12 x 7.5cm scones.

You will need:

• 10 tbsp Warm Milk
• 1 tbsp Black Treacle
• 460g Plain Flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 2tsp Cream of Tartar
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 60g Caster Sugar
• 120g Butter
• 100g Crystallized Ginger (chop up any large pieces)
• 1 egg beaten (optional)

Method:

• Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees grease baking sheet.
• Warm the milk gently and dissolve the black treacle in it. Don’t heat the milk above lukewarm.
• Sift the flour, cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda together.
• Rub in the caster sugar and butter into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the crystallized ginger and stir gently until well distributed throughout the mixture.
• Gradually add the milk until you have a soft ball of dough. You do not need to use all the milk mixture if you don’t require it and you can add more as necessary.
• You do not want to over handle the dough or the will be hard and tough.
• Turn out onto a floured surface and gently press out (I use my finger tips and hands to press out the dough rather than squash it with a rolling pin) until about 2.5cm or 1inch thick. Cut out to your desired size with your cookie cutter.
• Place your scones on the baking sheet, reform the dough scraps and repeat until all the dough has been used.
• Glaze with the beaten egg.
• Bake for about 10mins or golden brown.
• These are perfect on their own or with a bit of butter.
• These are best on the day of cooking but will keep for 2-3 days in an air tight container.