A Recipe for Bramble and Apple Scones

This time of year the hedgerows surrounding the John Julian workshop are bursting with blackberries ripe for the picking. This is a delicious way to use some of the late summer hedgerow harvest.

Blackberry and Apple Scones Served with Blackcurrant Jam in a Large Classical Pinch Pot

Ingredients 225g self-raising flour Pinch of Salt 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 tbsp caster sugar 1 tbsp light muscovado sugar plus more for dusting 1 tsp cinnamon 50g butter, cubed 1/2 apple peeled and diced very finely 115g blackberries 1 egg, beaten and mixed with 150ml buttermilk* 2 tbsp jumbo oats or flaked almonds *You can substitute buttermilk with whole milk and a tsp of lemon juice

Method

Preheat your oven to 220°C/ 200°C fan. Lightly grease a baking tray or line it with grease proof paper.
Sift together the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder into a bowl and add the sugars. Add the butter and rub in until it resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the apple and blackberries, mixing gently to avoid the blackberries becoming too squashed. Gradually mix in the egg and buttermilk mixture to make a soft dough – depending on the size of your egg, it may create a mixture that is slightly too wet so hold back a little bit and add in the mixture slowly to make a damp dough but not enough to make it sloppy and wet. If there is any excess, use it to glaze the tops of the scones.

Roll out the dough to about 3cm thick on a floured surface, then cut out 5cms rounds with a cutter. Knead and reroll the dough to stamp out more rounds until the dough is used up.
Bake in the oven at 220°C for 10 to 15 minutes, until well risen and lightly golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly.

Enjoy with blackcurrant jam and clotted cream.