THE ORIGINAL ‘RECEIPT’

Two cups flour, four teaspoons baking powder, [½ cup sweet cream]* two teaspoons sugar, half teaspoon salt, four tablespoons butter, two eggs.  Mix and sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Rub in butter with tips of fingers, toss on a floured board pat and roll to three-fourths inch in thickness, cut in squares, brush with white of egg, sprinkle with sugar and bake in a hot oven fifteen minutes.

*”½ cup sweet cream” has been written in by hand.

~Good Things to Eat and How to Prepare Them. Welland: Office of the Tribune, 1908.

THE UPDATED RECIPE

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. granulated sugar
• ½ tsp. Salt
• ¼ c. butter
• ½ c. table cream
• 2 eggs
• white of egg, to brush tops
• granulated sugar, to sprinkle over.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Lightly flour a baking sheet.

Sift the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

With the fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients, until the texture is even, and the butter completely absorbed.

Combine the cream and the two eggs, and beat together lightly with a fork.

Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, and mix with a fork to blend.

Then, with the hands, work the dough until completely mixed.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, and roll it with a floured rolling pin, until it is ¾-inch thick.

Cut the dough into two-inch squares with a sharp knife, and place the scones onto the floured baking sheet with space between them, to allow for expansion.

Brush the tops of the scones with egg white, and sprinkle each one with sugar.

Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for approximately 15 minutes until golden.

Yield:  12 scones.

Serve hot from the oven.

These Cream Scones are wonderful for afternoon tea, served with butter and jam.

Note: Feel free to substitue 1:1 gluten free baking flour here if you are gluten-intolerant. It’s just as delicious.