Scones

It is snowy here in Skipton and today we have bought the boys a sledge. Lachie rode it home from town with Robert pulling and Hamish went proper sledging after school in the park across from our house.
I have been thinking about scones ever since I saw Kirstie and Phil talking to some prospective house purchasers on Channel 4 last week. There on a little table in the foreground was a plate heaped with scones. Hmm, I wanted those scones! So scones have been on my mind and seemed like a good post-sledging tea. I made some gluten-free scones and some 'normal' scones and Robert thought the gluten-free ones looked much tastier, sort of golden. And they were indeed very tasty.

Scones (free from gluten, dairy and egg)

12oz gluten-free self-raising flour
4oz caster sugar
3oz dairy-free margarine
8floz soya milk

Mix together the flour and caster sugar. Rub in the margarine as though you were going to make pastry and then stir in the soya milk - add about 6floz at first and then add a bit more if you need it. I used about 8floz, but you might need more or less depending on your flour. Pat out the dough onto a floured surface to an inch thick and cut out 2 inch diameter circles. I managed 12 scones. Put the scones on a greased baking sheet and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 15 minutes. Cool the scones on a wire rack.

Lachie is very particular about crusts and insists that all the crusts are cut off his toast at breakfast and lunch. If you miss a bit he will shout 'Bit!' or 'Crust!' and leave the entire offending piece of toast next to his plate. If he's feeling more cooperative he might just pick off the 'bit' after alerting you to its presence. He gets this from me, but I don't feel the need to tell anybody about crusts, I just leave them on my plate. Anyway, I would never really have thought of a scone having a crust, but according to Lachie it does and, whilst enjoying his scone with raspberry jam very much, he did leave the 'crusts' on his plate. To further prove just how little he understands scones he went on to have a second with, wait for it, Marmite! I don't think he's ready for a trip to Betty's just yet.

Lemon Dream Cookies

Poor wee Lachie has been down with another ear infection so he had to stay at home this afternoon rather than heading off to the pool with Hamish and Robert. Never mind, we did some baking instead! Last week I saw some Dove Farm gluten-free lemon biscuits in Morrisons and felt inspired to attempt something similar. Lachie and I got inventive and adapted a recipe for Dream Cookies that Granny has had for as long as I can remember.

Lemon Dream Cookies (free from gluten, dairy and eggs)

4oz dairy-free margarine
3oz caster sugar
4 1/2oz gluten-free self-raising flour
juice and zest of half a lemon

Cream together the sugar and margarine. Stir in the flour and lemon. For normal dream cookies this would make a mixture you can roll into balls. I thought the gluten-free flour would soak up the lemon juice but this didn't seem to be the case and this actually makes a cakie sort of mix. Spoon the mix into 16 pieces onto a greased baking sheet (Lachie got a bit anxious at this stage, obviously thinking I'd forgotten a key ingredient and started shouting 'Chocolate chips! Chocolate chips!' but I perservered - not all biscuits have to contain chocolate chips Lachie!). Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 160 degrees celsius and cool on a wire rack.

As you can see from the picture, Lachie couldn't wait to get his hands on one and Hamish also thought they were pretty good when he came home from the pool. They have a crunch on the outside but are chewy within and really very nice. I'll go and try another one now just to make sure...
Mmm yes, subtly lemony too.