Brown Sugar-topped Mascarpone Scones

I'm not really a scone person. To me, they're more like bread than cake and that's no fun at all.

I saw this recipe in my Lorraine Pascale book (becoming a regular feature on this blog, I know) and they sounded divine, which, coupled with the fact that there was some left over mascarpone cheese in the fridge, meant that I had to make them.

I decided to liberally sprinkle these with some demerara sugar after I had glazed them. This gave them a lovely crunchy top, which was a nice contrast to the dense, rich texture of the scones.

Delicious.

Continue reading for recipe.

Makes 10 using an 8cm cutter.

Ingredients

• 340g self-raising flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 80g butter, cubed
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 80g mascarpone cheese
• approx. 90ml milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 10 tsp demerara sugar

Preheat oven to 200C and dust a large baking tray with flour.

Put the flour, baking powder, salt, butter and sugar in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the mascarpone and whizz for another couple of seconds until incorporated.

Pour the mixture into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in some of the milk and stir with a knife. Continue adding milk until all the crumbs are coated, but the mixture shouldn't be too wet.

Using your hands, bring the mixture together to form a dough, squeezing it together. Knead for a few seconds and then roll out on a lightly floured surface until about 2 cm thick.

Cut into rounds (I used an 8cm cutter) and place on the prepared baking tray. You will need to knead the scraps and roll out again.

Brush the tops of your scones with the beaten egg and then sprinkle liberally with demerara sugar. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes or until the scones are nicely risen, firm and golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before gobbling up!