Banana Scones

My love of cheesecake is matched by my love of banana bread. Oh, how I excited I get when I see that banana’s in my kitchen are getting ripe and ready to be baked. Naturally, in my quest to find something else to make with this amazing fruit, I came across this lovely recipe from Raspberry Cupcakes.

Ingredients.

Banana Scones with Whipped Honey Butter
(makes 9-10 scones, adapted from my plain scone recipe)
300g (about 2 1/3 US cups flour, closer to 2 metric cups) self-raising flour, sifted
1 over-ripe medium banana, well mashed (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 tsp salt
100ml (about 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp) pure/pouring cream (min 35% fat, heavy whipping cream in the US)
160ml (about 2/3 cup) milk
Note: if you are not planning to make the butter or to serve with jam, I recommend you add about 2 tbsp sifted icing sugar and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon to the flour mixture

For the butter: (Alternatively you could make Bill’s honeycomb butter)
115g (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room-temperature
4 tbsp honey
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
To serve: strawberry (or any other flavoured) jam, can replace butter with clotted cream

Remove the butter ahead of time to allow it to soften. Preheat oven to 230°C (445°F), 220 °C (430°F) fan-forced. Sift flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre, place the mashed banana in the centre. Gradually pouring the cream into the bowl, begin to cut cream and banana into dry ingredients with a flat bladed knife so that it starts to come together, then gradually add milk (using the same cutting motion with the knife to combine the ingredients) until there is enough to form a soft dough. (I usually save a small amount of milk to brush the tops of the scones)

Working quickly and gently, gather dough together on a floured bench. Try to handle the dough as little as possible, using lightly floured hands to stop dough sticking to you, and pat the dough into a rectangle about 3-3.5cm thick. You can lightly knead the dough with your hands for a smoother appearance but overknead it and your scones will be tough and hard.