RECIPES

SCONES 

Fill your home with the smell of freshly baked scones. Taste members love them and we think the Country Women's Association would approve!

Ingredients

• plain flour, for dusting
• 3 cups self-raising flour
• 80g butter, cubed
• 1 to 1 1/4 cups milk
• jam and whipped cream, to serve

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly dust a flat baking tray with plain flour. Sift self-raising flour into a large bowl.
2. Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Make a well in the centre. Add 1 cup of milk. Mix with a flat-bladed knife until mixture forms a soft dough, adding more milk if required. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently until smooth (don't knead dough too much or scones will be tough).
4. Pat dough into a 2cm-thick round. Using a 5cm (diameter) round cutter, cut out 12 rounds. Press dough together and cut out remaining 4 rounds. Place scones onto prepared baking tray, 1cm apart. Sprinkle tops with a little plain flour. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and well risen. Transfer to a wire rack. Serve warm with jam and cream.

CARROT GINGER TEA SANDWICHES

This recipe comes from the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. A fabled Victoria landmark, The Fairmont Empress has played host to royalty, celebrities, and guests from around the world since 1908. 

Ingredients

2 grated carrots
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons good-quality mayonnaise
1 teaspoon sweet ginger paste (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 slices multi-grain bread*
4 teaspoons unsalted butter
Alfalfa sprouts

*Choose the best-quality bread as possible. Never serve end slices. Freezing the bread before cutting and then spreading makes for easier handling.

Method

In a medium bowl, combine carrots, cream cheese, mayonnaise, and ginger paste; add salt and pepper.
Spread one side of each piece of bread lightly with butter. Top the buttered side of 2 slices of bread with carrot/ginger mixture (about 1/4-inch thick). Top with alfalfa sprouts and top with the remaining bread slices, buttered side down.
Carefully cut the crusts from each sandwich with a long, sharp knife. Cut the sandwiches in half diagonally and then cut in half again. If desired, decorative shapes can be made with cookie cutters.
Yields 2 whole sandwiches or 4 halves or 8 fourths.