198 SWEET ENDINGS

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Lightly oil a 12-cup muffin pan.In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir

until well mixed. Using your fingers, rub the butter or coconut oil into the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Lightly beat the eggs and milk together, then add to the mixture until a soft dough forms. If using, add the raisins at this stage and don’t overwork the dough. Tip the dough out onto a well-floured surface and gently push or roll it out to about 3cm thickness.

Place spoonfuls of the dough into the cups of the prepared muffin pan. I like to bake them in a muffin pan as the dough is quite soft and the pan encourages a muffin shape. If you prefer the scones to have a firmer texture, add a little more flour to the mixture and cut the scones out with a biscuit cutter. For an authentic township touch, use a small jam tin to cut the scones out of the dough and place them 3cm apart on a baking tray.

Paint each scone with the dissolved apricot jam and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly brown.

MAKES 12

2 cups cake flour200g sugar2 tsp baking powdera pinch salt1 cup butter, cut into pieces (or coconut oil

at room temperature)2 eggs, lightly beaten (or if you prefer

firmer scones, use only 1 egg)½ cup milk or coconut milka handful seedless raisins (optional)3 Tbsp smooth apricot jam dissolved in

½ cup boiling water3 Tbsp brown sugar2 tsp ground cinnamon

Many South African commuters leave very early in the morning to get to work on time. Breakfast therefore becomes ‘breakfast on the run’ in some homes. The first time I saw these scones being made was when my domestic helper asked if she could make them for a family funeral she was attending and needed a large oven to make a sufficient quantity. They weren’t the kind of scones my mother used to bake, which reached epic heights with the rich taste of butter, a spoonful of jam and lashings of cream. Rather, these scones served a purpose, to fill the tummies of the guests who had travelled many hours to pay their last respects. If the scones were a day or two past peak freshness, there was always a welcome cup of tea in which to dunk them.

AMAKHEKHE (township scones)