Everybody needs a great, classic scone recipe in their arsenal. These scones are a centrepiece at the Country Women’s Association kiosk at the Royal Melbourne Show each year, and they’re always a hit.
Mrs Pat Punch, of CWA Victoria, explains the background to these famous scones.
“We’ve been associated with the show since 1935, but we built the annex back in 1954. We bake the scones today in the same green enamel Federal Gas Oven that was used back then. Goodman Fielder donates 14, 25kg bags of flour each year and we use every one.
“We probably make around 100 dozen scones a day. We have 24 ladies come down to help out for the whole 11 days and we all stay at the CWA club.
“We leave in a bus about 5.30 each morning and then head back in the bus at the end of the day. It’s like a family: there is great camaraderie between us all. We love sitting down for dinner and having a chat about the day and all the funny things that happened. There are also about 20 to 25 helpers who meet us at the show to help out for a day. Yes, it is a big commitment because we also have to clean the place for two days before we open and then clean up for a day after. But we love it, and we raise a lot of money.”
Serves: 4–6
Ingredients
- 4 cups self-raising flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 225ml cream
- 325–400ml milk
- melted butter
Method
Preheat oven to 250°C and grease baking trays.
Add the cream to the sifted flour and salt with enough milk to mix to a soft dough. Roll out and cut into a decent size. Bake for 10–15 minutes.
When cooked, brush tops and bottoms with melted butter. It removes any flour and helps to keep them nice and soft.
Recipe taken from Country Women’s Association Classics
The Country Women’s Association of Australia has been at the heart of country life for almost 100 years, feeding families, preparing food for friends, preserving fresh produce and baking for loved ones everywhere.
Now updated, this collection brings together more of its very best recipes in a handsome companion volume to the bestselling hardback Country Women’s Association Classics. The recipes you will find inside are typical of the home-style cooking that’s synonymous with the CWA: salads and soups; casseroles, pies and hearty bakes; puddings, cakes, biscuits and slices; pickles, chutneys, lemon butter and quince paste. This is simple yet wonderful food, as cooked by the nation’s experts.
You can purchase Country Women’s Association Classics at penguin.com.au.
Published by Penguin Books Australia.
Also read: Flo’s Pumpkin Scones
I hope they are following their own instructions, the CWA scones I bought at the Adelaide central market last year were very poor quality
It depends on who is mixing the dough and if buttermilk is used.