As you might have read earlier I love scones. They are the perfect company for the Sunday afternoon tea. Scones need only few ingredients and are very fast to make.

I looked for Irish baking books on our round trip two years ago and I found the Avoca Tea Time book in the shop at Powerscourt Gardens and fell for it. Lots of those recipes made it to my personal favourites list. I’ve done the same recipe over and over again but this time it ruled, they turned out sooo good. Even the next day they were super light and delicious, so I’d like to share this with you.

• 450 g flour
• 1 pack baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp cream of tartar
• 50 g caster sugar
• 110 g butter diced (I use half and half salted and unsalted butter)
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 250 ml milk
• evtl. 2 hands full of raisins
• 1 egg beaten with 1tbsp water to glaze

Preheat the oven to 200° C (without fan). Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar. Then sift into a bowl (I sift twice and believe it makes a difference) and stir in the sugar. Add the butter dice and with your fingertips work in the butter until it gets crumbly. Then add the egg and milk and quickly blend to a dough. Don’t overdue and don’t work on it with your hands too long. You want small butter pockets to remain inside, that’s what makes the scones light and fluffy. Work in the raisins if you like. Roll out the dough to approximately 2 cm and cut out rounds using a cutter or a glass. Make sure the raisins don’t come out as they will turn black while baking. Transfer the rounds to a baking tray with parchment paper and glaze with beaten egg’n’water. Bake for 25 minutes (depending on the size of your scones) and enjoy with butter, orange jam and a lovely cup of tea!