The best date scones… ever!

Back in the early 1970’s, my parents owned the cafe at Sublime Point. It still stands today at the top of Bulli Pass on route to Wollongong. For years mum made hundreds of scones each day for Devonshire tea. When they purchased the cafe, the previous owner gave mum her secret recipe. Mum claims to have forgotten it due to the trauma of making so many scones. While my mum’s recipe will forever remain a secret, I’m grateful to have found this one. Matt Moran shared his grandmother’s date scone recipe online. I’m grateful he did – it’s really amazing.

Very rarely do I take a recipe and make it without adapting it somehow. This is one recipe I left intact. It was truly perfect as it was. I didn’t need to make any changes – they were not needed. Matt Moran’s grandmother was truly a genius when it came to date scones.

Scones originated from the United Kingdom. There is much debate as to where in the UK exactly – Scotland, Ireland or England. Regardless of this, scones became popular for an English afternoon tea. Serving scones with clotted cream and jam is a throwback to its traditional times and almost an essential way to eat them.

I’ve had many date scones in the past bought from various cafes, bakeries and supermarkets around Australia and New Zealand. I can truly say that these pale by comparison to the ones made from this recipe. They are bland and lack an aromatic flavour profile. This recipe is so easy to make that you’ll never buy date scones elsewhere again! Well, I know that I never will.

What drew me to this recipe was a number of things. Firstly, it was a hand-me-down recipe. Tried and true traditional recipes are precious. If I couldn’t get my mum’s recipe, I was going to find one elsewhere. And I did! Secondly, this recipe had an additional ingredient that I knew would make delicious date scones – orange zest.

Tips when making scones:

• Use a strong bread flour such as self-raising flour as it gives a great structure to the scone with a fluffy, light crumb.
• Self-raising flour has salt added already so there is no need to use salted butter in this recipe.
• Icy cold full cream milk is considered the secret ingredient when making scones. To mix this in, use a flat-bladed knife as it adds lightness to the dough.
• Use your fingertips rather than your whole hands to mix the dough. The palms are the warmest part of our hands. Another trick is to keep the palms of your hands facing upwards and lift the flour high out of the bowl when rubbing in the butter. This will aerate the mixture and help give your scones a lighter texture.
• Instead of using your fingers, you can use a food processor to prepare the scone mixture. Just don’t overmix or your dough will become tough and dense.
• Whether you use your fingers or a food processor, handle your dough gently, and as little as possible.
• Dip your cookie cutter in plain flour before cutting each scone to avoid it sticking to your mix.
• When cutting your scones, don’t twist the cutter. If you do, you’ll have an unevenly risen batch. Just press down then lift up and press out the dough.

Date Scones

These will be the best date scones you've ever eaten. Easy to make and best eaten when warm with a little jam and whipped cream.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 27 minutes mins

Servings 6 scones

Ingredients

 

• 2⅓ cup self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• ½ teaspoon mixed spice
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled & cut into small dice
• 175 ml full-cream milk
• 1 egg
• 1 orange, finely grated for zest
• 1 cup dried dates, pitted & cut into quarters (160g)
• 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten to brush
• Jam, to serve
• whipped cream, to serve

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 180°C, or 160°C if using fan-forced, and line a baking tray with baking paper.
• Sieve flour, sugar, mixed spice and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre of the flour.
• In a separate bowl, combine milk, egg and orange zest. Pour into the well of the flour mix. Add the dates and mix lightly to form a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and roll to 5cm-thick.
• Using a 7cm-diameter pastry cutter or knife, cut out rounds. Carefully re-roll scraps once (avoid over kneading dough) and repeat. Place scones onto the tray, brush tops with the egg yolk and dust with sugar.
• Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm with jam and whipped cream.

Notes

• Substitute the orange zest for lemon zest if you like.
• Clotted cream is often used in England when serving scones instead of whipped cream.