The Fluffiest Scones You'll Ever Make

I love scones. As a young child I used to bake them with my grandma almost every weekend so my grandad could have fresh scones with a cup of tea in the afternoons. As I've grown up, I bake them less and less, but I still enjoy making them now and then. I've been experimenting with a couple of different recipes over the last couple of years, changing quantities and adding different ingredients, and I've finally found one that gives me perfect scones every time. The secret is to add extra baking powder into the flour, as it makes them extra fluffy and delicious. 

Start off by preheating your oven to 200C. Tip the self-raising flour into a large mixing bowl (no need to sieve), and mix in the salt and the baking powder. Make sure your teaspoon is level when measuring out the baking powder as you can taste it if you use too much, but you want enough of it because this makes the scones nice and fluffy.

Cut the butter into small chunks and rub in until the mix looks like fine bread crumbs. Top tip - shake the bowl to see if all the butter has been rubbed in as the larger crumbs rise to the top of the bowl. Stir in the sugar.

Measure the milk into a jug, and add bit by bit into the dry mixture. Part way through, add in the vanilla extract and stir into the mixture. Carry on adding in the milk until the mixture is quite wet (but not sloppy). Use your hands to 'knead' the dough until all the liquid is absorbed and it is no longer wet - the dough should be smooth. If you have added too much milk, mix in a little more flour - but not too much. 

Tip onto a clean work surface and use your hands to pat the dough until it's just over an inch thick. Take a smooth cutter (they give a better rise), roughly 5cm in diameter, and cut out your scone. Repeat until you have 12 scones. Place the scones onto a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, and use a pastry brush (or your finger) to brush milk over the tops of the scones. Be careful not to let it run down the side of the scones as it can burn when in the oven. 

Place on the middle shelf of your preheated oven, and after 15-17 minutes they will be nice and golden! I usually find that most of them are done after 15, but one or two need an extra couple of minutes to finish off! If you can wait long enough, allow them to cool and enjoy with clotted cream and jam. If you don't manage to eat them all within 10 minutes of them coming out of the oven, you can freeze any leftover scones. When defrosting, allow to thaw thoroughly and pop in a low oven (approx 150C) for a couple of minutes to warm through.  

As always, I love it when you send me photos of your baking on Twitter - so if you make these please send me a snap!

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My Favourite Cookbooks

For last seven months or so, I have been completely in charge of everything that gets cooked in the family kitchen. And beside the surprising amount of stress that goes into planning meals that everyone will eat, I have enjoyed every minute of it! We recently started doing our weekly shop online, so every Saturday I flick through all my cookbooks and pick out the meals for the following week, and order the ingredients. Over the last couple of months I have found myself reaching for the same cookbooks over and over again, so I'd thought I share my favourites with you today. 

The Healthy Life by Jessica Sepel // I bought this book not realising it had recipes in it. Which was a bit stupid of me really. This book is a bit different to the usual cookbooks, as it focuses on living a healthy life (no pun intended). Jessica shows you how to address certain health ailments, to make sure your body is performing at it's best. The book focuses around Jessica's 10 principles for a healthier life. It teaches step by step methods to help you with a multitude of problems. From balancing your blood sugar, detoxing, and hormones, to stress, sleep, and mindfulness. It even includes various meal plans for each of her 10 principles. My favourite bit is right at the end of the book where there is a huuuuuuge list of blogs, websites, books, and online fitness classes to look at.  

The Skinnytaste Cookbook by Gina Homolka // I've been a fan of Gina's blog for years. I have made many of her recipes and they are all delicious. I don't think I've ever made a recipe of hers that I didn't enjoy. There is a halibut and broccoli bake (which I have made using cod) which is sooooo delicious it's unreal! Some of my favourites include the jerk chicken tacos (yum), the persian turkey burgers (mmmm), and the loaded potato skins (yaaas).

A Modern Way To Eat by Anna Jones // I bought this after a friend recommended it to me. I've recently been leading more of a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle. Although I'm not completely committed (bacon tho), 75% of my meals are either vegetarian or vegan. I've only really made some of the salads from this book so far, but I did attempt to make the bay and mushroom biryani. I'm not sure if it was me or the recipe, but I found it pretty bland. But I would buy it again simply for the salad recipes. They are completely delicious, and I hope to be more adventurous and make some of the other recipes soon! 

Good and Simple by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley // I've been watching the Hemsley sisters on the television for a while, and from what I can tell the book accompanies their show. Again I haven't really made anything other than salads, but the photography in this book is incredible. If I was allergic to food (and somehow still alive) I would flick through this book for the photos alone. They are so bright and vibrant, and a huge amount of inspiration for me. 

Lean In 15 by Joe Wicks // Although I don't agree with Joe's methods for losing weight, he has some pretty tasty recipes in this book.  The recipes are all fairly quick and easy (hence the 'in 15'), and are perfect for students or those with a busy lifestyle. There are a lot of asian style recipes, and a packed full of nutrients. What I would say is if you make the 'Cheeky Chicken Fried Rice' measure out your Sesame Oil properly - don't guess, it will taste disgusting! I especially love how there a couple of workouts in the back too - it covers all bases!

Where do you find your recipes?

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Recipe: Iranian Shirazi Salad

For me it is finally starting to feel like summer - I've just about finished university and I'm ready to collapse and do nothing for the summer holidays. I'm rather partial to a salad, especially when it comes to summertime, but sometimes you just fancy something a bit nicer than iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a few slices of cucumber. And last summer, whilst looking for a new salad recipe to try out, I stumbled across the Iranian Shirazi salad. With just a couple of simple ingredients, you'd think it would be pretty bland and boring. But you'd be wrong. This is up there in my top 5 salads that I've ever eaten (alongside a gorgeous apple and rocket one that I'll probably end up sharing at some point!) - and I've eaten a lot of salads. 

Makes: 4-5 servings (as a main meal or 6-8 as a side salad)

Ingredients:

• 2 cucumbers (or 4 Persian cucumbers if you can get hold of them)
• 4 medium salad tomatoes
• 1 medium red onion
• Handful of fresh mint - finely chopped
• Juice of a large lemon
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

Step one. 

To a large bowl, add the juice of a lemon and the chopped mint. 

Step two. 

Chop up the cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion into really, really small cubes, and add to the bowl. Mix really well to make sure all the veggies are coated with the lemon and mint, and can absorb the delicious flavours! Traditionally everything is chopped up really small so you can have a taste of each ingredient in every mouthful. 

Step three. 

Season with salt and pepper - I don't add salt to pretty much anything, so I just used the pepper and I thought that was more than enough alongside the fresh veggies, the lemon and the mint!

And there you have it! A delicious salad! As always, please let me know if you have a go at making this and tell me whether or not you liked it!

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Recipe: Warming Tomato and Basil Soup

Hello everyone! Hope you're having a lovely Sunday! I haven't done a recipe post for absolutely ages, so I felt like doing one today! As it is starting to get a little chillier and the sun is nowhere in sight, I thought I'd do a soup recipe as soup is one of my favourite things to eat when I'm feeling chilly or when I have a dreaded winter cold! I've been making it a lot recently as the weather is freeeeezing and this week I've been feeling a bit ill. Making soup is incredibly easy, and you will be surprised at how much better it tastes than it does out of a tin! You can even make it in large batches, freeze some and save it for later! I like to mess around with different flavours but I love making the classics like tomato and basil, and that is the recipe I have for you today!

You will need!

Around 8 large salad tomatoes per person (don't use tins of chopped tomatoes or it will taste like pasta sauce! Which isn't very pleasant - trust me! Ew!)

Vegetable stock cube (I use the Knorr stock pots)

200ml of water (roughly)

Fresh basil (dried also tastes just as good)

A blender - essential!

Salt and pepper (as seasoning - optional)

First things first, you'll need to stick the kettle on (not for a cuppa) to start off your stock! Whilst you are waiting for it to boil, you can start chopping your salad tomatoes (and basil if you are using fresh) into chunks. Smaller chunks will cook faster if you are in a rush or staaaaarving! Once your kettle has boiled, add boiling water to a large pan and pop in your stock cube. Wait for it to dissolve before adding anything else. 

Once your stock is ready, you can add the tomatoes into the pan. You want to let them simmer down so they go all soft and squishy. Once they are soft enough, turn off the heat and add in your basil. Leave to cool for a couple of minutes before blending (or you'll burn yourself if it splashes!) and serve! I like to have mine with a granary bread roll as the two go together perfectly!

See I told you it was simple! And so so quick! 

As always, if you make it tag me in a photo as I love it when you do this! 

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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