Springtime Activity and Hot Cross Scones

It's been a busy week here at Oak Cottage and in the Orchards surrounding us. We wake up in the morning to the birds singing brightly as the sun peeks around the blinds that cover our bedroom window as well as the sound of the tractor running up and down the rows between the apple trees that surround us, as the farmer busily gathers up all the branches and trimmings from all the pruning that has been going on in the orchards these past few weeks.

The afternoon air is full of the lovely smell of burning apple wood and smoke from the bonfire that has been going almost constantly as he burns them to get rid of them. There is something about the smell of wood smoke that always tugs at my heart strings and makes me think of home, and when it's apple wood smoke, well . . . that's even nicer. For a girl from the Annapolis Valley who is used to apple orchards and rural settings, this is the place to be. Back home there is still snow on the ground, so it is pretty amazing to me that we are surrounded by so much hustle and bustle and an orchard that is quickly coming alive so early in the year.




Here at the cottage I have been busily gathering together my bits and bobs and getting ready for the Easter festivities that will take place in just a few weeks now. Branches secreted from out of the Orchards prunings have been put into pots to make a glorious Easter tree. If I am really lucky they may even bloom from being in the warmth of our home. Now wouldn't that be a special gift from nature!!! I busily thread little treasures and pretties on coloured ribbons to hang upon the wirey and budding arms.



Easter cookies have been baked and decorated, and as I set my thoughts and hands to this pleasant task, my mind goes back to the Easters of my childhood. My mother's oldest sister, Thelma, would always send a variety of homemade Easter Breads up to our home as a most welcome Easter gift. . . all soft and yeasty and full of lots of spices and fruits, decorated with sweet icings and candied cherries. We used to love them so much and look so forward to them every year.



The shelves in our local grocery are stacked with Easter goodies and row upon row of Hot Cross buns, all spicy and fragrant and just begging to be picked up and brought home. We like them split and toasted under the oven grill and then slathered with cold butter. It's our favourite supper snack in the evenings. That is what a bedtime snack is called over here . . . supper. I like that word. It conjures up all sorts of lovely thoughts and warm feelings.



It's nice to look and see Todd and Jess work out in the garden . . . Todd putting in some early spring pansies and Jess sniffing around the hedges to see if any new creatures have visited us since her last sniff, perhaps an errant rabbit or squirrel, maybe even a tiny hedgehog. I putter in the kitchen and throw together some hot cross scones for us to have as a late afternoon treat on this sunny but chilly spring afternoon. They will go quite nicely after the hours spent outdoors in the afternoon's waning sunlight. I think I'll go put the kettle on . . .



*Hot Cross Scones*
Makes about 8

Nothing could be more delicious than moist crumbly home baked scones mixed with the fruity flavours and spicy overtones of hot cross buns. These are an Easter time favourite in the cottage. I like to make the tops with a cross before I bake them and then once they are out of the oven I pipe a tasty cross of sweet white icing into it's crusty surface for an extra treat.

225g self raising flour
75g butter, at room temperature
40g light muscovado sugar
50 g sultanas
25 g chopped dried apricots
50g cut mixed peel
1/2 tsp ground mixed spice
1 large egg, beaten
4 TBS milk, plus extra for brushing
pinch of salt

To glaze:
2 TBS caster sugar, melted into 2 TBS boiling water

Icing:
1 cup of sifted icing sugar
a few drops of milk

Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/425*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift the flour into a bowl and then rub in the butter with your fingertips until it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in the muscovado sugar, mixed spice, sultanas, apricots and peel. Beat together the milk, the egg and a pinch of salt in a small jug and then stir this mixture into the dry mixture with a fork. Bring together to make a soft dough.

Lightly dust the counter with some flour and then pat the dough out to a circle, about 1 inch thick. Cut into rounds using a 3 inch cutter. DO not twist the cutter as you stamp them out as this will result in lopsided scones. Just give them a quick tap down and lift the cutter straight up again. Place them onto the prepared baking sheet. Reroll the trimmings and repeat as necessary.

Brush the tops with some milk and then cut a cross into them with a sharp knife. Bake for 15 minutes until well risen and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and brush the tops immediately with the sugar water mixture while still hot.

Mix together the icing sugar and just enough milk to make a thick paste. Put it into a small plastic bag and squeeze it all down into one corner. Snip off a tiny bit of the corner of the bag with some sharp kitchen scissors and then pipe the icing onto the warm scones in the shape of a cross. Eat while warm, or split and toast the next day, served up with lashings of cold butter.



Don't forget you still have a few more days to leave a comment on my Easter Giveaway post. Do leave a comment if you want to get in on the chance to win one of the goodies I am giving away! I will be making the draw at the weekend.