Bake of the Month - January - Chocolate Afternoon Tea

It's January. It started well, you joined some kind of slimming club, took regular exercise and around about the 20th of the month (or earlier) you fell off the wagon. This knowledge, of course, has been gained from bitter personal experience. Having said that, I gave up on January diets a while back. I tend to wait until I get truly massive, around spring time. Therefore, I have been able to spend this month perfecting and of course, testing, this recipe. It was inspired by the Lifebuoy Cafe in Fowey, Cornwall, who have a Chocolate Afternoon Tea on their menu (http://www.thelifebuoycafe.co.uk/) and the basic scone recipe was taken from good old Delia, the queen of cooking.

So, scones, with chocolate chips, served with clotted cream and . . . . Chocolate spread, no jam in sight. You could always leave out the chocolate chips if you want to maintain some pretence of healthy eating. Bit in my opinion, if you're going to spoil your diet, do it properly. Traditional scones with jam and clotted cream invoke memories of summer’s days. This is winter. In winter we eat chocolate.

Recipe (makes about 8 generous scones):

8oz (225g) self raising flour

11/2 oz (40g) caster sugar

Pinch of salt

Half teaspoon of baking powder

3oz (75g) butter (at room temp)

2oz (50g) chocolate, chopped up. Use whatever you prefer, I used Green and Blacks dark chocolate.

1 egg, beaten

4 tablespoons milk

Method:

Pre-heat oven to gas mark 7 - 220 degrees C

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar. Then rub in the butter until you have a crumbly mixture. Then sprinkle in your chocolate, pour in the egg and 3 tablespoons of milk. Mix with your hands and make a ball. Remember not to work too much! Roll out so the dough is at least ½ inch thick and then brush with the remaining tablespoon of milk. Fold the dough in half and press down slightly. Then cut into rounds with a scone cutter. The point of folding the dough in half is so that they break easily when applying lashings of chocolate and cream. Put onto a greased baking sheet and into the oven for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack and eat as soon as possible. Scones are always best eaten fresh and, let’s face it after nearly a month of dieting; you’re going to eat them all in one afternoon anyway.