8 Days - November 02, 2017

8 DAYS | 59

PHOTOS & STORY FLORENCE FONG

Gippsland pure

double cream: Available

at Cold Storage

supermarket ($9.50/200ml).

Use leftovers after baking

to eat with your scones.

Finish this on the day

you open the jar.

wonderful, and unlike most scones you’ll find
in Singapore. They’re golden and crusty on the
outside, but incredibly light and feathery once
broken apart. There’s a subtly rich lushness
to them — thanks to the addition of double
cream. What is double cream? A dense cream
skimmed from the surface of milk. It has a
butterfat content of at least 48 per cent —
regular whipping cream contains just 35 per
cent. It’s rare and expensive in Singapore, but
gives these scones so much more depth and
flavour, so try not to substitute it.
The rest of this simple recipe relies mainly
on technique. Rub small pieces of cold, good
quality butter into the flour with your fingertips
(or a pastry cutter) from a height, to introduce
air into the flour for a fluffier crumb. Do this
quickly as you don’t want the butter to melt. Then gently fold — rather than knead — the resulting dough. This
produces light and flaky layers. The less you handle the dough, the better your scones will turn out. These
ethereal, buttery babies are best enjoyed warm out of the oven, with double cream and dollops of the best jam
money can buy.

Burning

questions

about

scones

JAM FIRST, OR CREAM?

It depends which part of scone country (which

popularised the teatime treat) you come from. Folks

from Devon prefer layering on the cream, then the jam,

while peeps from Cornwall go the jam first, cream second route. Either way is

acceptable — we like to slather on the cream first if it’s thick and buttery like the

double or clotted variety, then crown it with quivering jam.

USE A KNIFE OR YOUR FINGERS TO SPLIT SCONES?

It’s said that British royalty and other noble folk twist apart their scones rather than slice them with

a knife. They then break the treat further into bite-sized pieces, slather on jam and cream, and nibble

each morsel daintily. However, we prefer using a knife ’cos it’s neater. And please, don’t sandwich your

scone halves to form a ‘burger’ — only peasants do that.

SAY ‘SKOAN’ OR ‘SKON’?

Apparently, aristocrats pronounce it ‘skoan’ while commoners say ‘skon’. So say skoan, lah.

IS IT ‘AFTERNOON TEA’ OR ‘HIGH TEA’?

‘High tea’ — as we often call it erroneously in Singapore — actually refers to a heavier meal eaten by

the English working class around 6pm. It’s a far cry from the more delicate ‘afternoon tea’ created by

the aristocrats, comprising elegant nibbles such as, yes, scones, petite cakes and finger sandwiches,

enjoyed between 3pm to 5pm.