Serve warm from the oven with fresh butter and your best preserves.3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 cup sugar, plus more for the tops
1 1/4 cups chilled unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup cream, plus more for brushing the scones
1/2 cup milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and whisk in the salt and sugar. Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal. Stir in the raisins. 2. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, milk, egg, and zest. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the cream mixture. Stir gently until the dough just holds together (it will be very soft). Form the dough into a thick disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until well chilled.
3. Unwrap the dough and place it on a floured surface. Roll it out to a thickness of about 1 inch. Using a 2 1/2-inch fluted biscuit cutter, stamp out as many scones as possible and transfer them to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gently rework the scraps and cut out as many scones as possible. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Brush the tops of the chilled scones with cream and sprinkle generously with sugar. Bake until the scones are golden brown and crisp on the top but still moist in the center, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Serve warm from the oven with fresh butter, your best preserves and a fragrant cup of tea. Makes 10-12 scones
