Scons For Tea

Last month I went back to my homecountry to do some paperwork. As I was leaving New York for a month my Argentinean friends decided to go out for a picnic. One of the things I baked for this picnic was sweet scons. I made them with the recipe I learned from my younger sister, Inés, to whom I dedicate this post. 

I like scons to be rustic, "homemade looking", so follow the next steps and invite your friends for tea!

INGREDIENTS:

    A-    PATIENCE

       B- 500 grs all purpose flour

   C-   4 teaspoons of baking powder

   D-   200 grs of sliced butter at room temperature

   E-   2 eggs

   F-    8 full spoons of sugar

   G-   Grated lemon peel from one entire lemon

   H-   1/2 cup of milk 

    I-    Salt, just a little bit.

   J-    1 egg to brighten the scons´ surface

INSTRUCTIONS:

FIRST STEP: Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter and flour a baking metal tray. 

SECOND STEP: Sift the flour, salt and the baking powder into a bowl.

THIRD STEP: Make a crown or hole in the center of the flour and add the soft butter, the eggs, sugar, grated lemon peel and the milk. 

FOURTH STEP: Knead the ingredients with your hands, but be careful as the temperature of our hands must not melt the butter any further.

FIFTH STEP: Stretch the dough so that it has a height of about 3 centimeters. We can hel ourselves with a rolling pin, but I did it with my hands, so that the texture at the surface was irregular, more homemade-like.

SIXTH STEP: With a cookie cutter mold, cut the scons and place them on the floured metal tray. With a cooking brush or your fingers, brush the scons with egg yolk before baking. For extra sweetess, you can spray them with sugar too. 

SEVENTH STEP: Bake for about 20 minutes. If after the first 10 minutes you notice that the scons are brown at the bottom, put aluminum paper underneath.

You can serve them cold or warm, plain or with jam. If you know milk jam, in Spanish dulce de leche, you will drool! Enjoy with a cup of Lady Grey.