Strawberry Scones and Cameron Highlands Holiday Get-a-way

The last week of the 2-weeks school break in mid June brought us to a short holiday in Cameron Highlands.  Yup.. again! If you have been following my earlier posts, my big big family and I went there last October.  We had a great time there and now, it's only us.

It was a last minute decision which we enjoyed the much cooler air in the highlands as it was freaking hot in KL!

This time, we discovered a small old fashion cafe that serves tea snacks such as scones, pies, cakes and sandwiches.  Their scones are really yummy and the best part, the food there is so cheap.  If you ever go to Cameron, I highly recommend you to visit The Lord's Cafe at Tanah Rata.  This quaint little cafe is on the first floor of Mary Brown outlet.  You can't miss it as it's right smack by the main road of Tanah Rata.

After eating their homemade strawberry scones, I felt inspired to make some when I get home and I did.  The recipe is at the end of this post.  Here are some of the pictures of our holiday.

 Lavender Farm

  

Me and my mini me at the Lavender Farm

   

 Taken at the Rose Farm

A small cabbage patch in the Rose Farm

Below is the strawberry scones that we had at Lord's Cafe.

And now, here's the recipe for my strawberry scones.

1 stick chilled butter, chopped, plus extra for greasing
3 cups self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup icing sugar, extra for sprinkling
1 cup dried strawberries, chopped
scant 3/4 cup milk, extra for brushing

1. Pre heat the oven to 160dC. Grease a 12-inch square cookie sheet.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a mixing bow,add the salt and butter, and cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.  Add the sugar, strawberries and milk and mix to form a dough, adding a little more milk if the mixture is too dry.
3. Sift flour onto a clean countertop and roll the dough to 1 inch thick using a rolling pin. Cut out 10 scones with a 1 1/2 inch round cutter, gathering up the trimmings and re-rolling as necessary.
4. Place the scones on the cookie sheet so that they are touching each other, which helps the scones to rise up straight. Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk and sprinkle with icing sugar.
5. Bake 12 - 15 mins until the scones are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap it from the bottom. Remove from oven and serve warm with strawberry jam and whipping cream.

 I served these scones with my homemade strawberry jam.  Where did the strawberries come from?  From Cameron Highlands, off course!..hheheheh..

 To wash it all down, nothing beats the strawberry tea..from the Camerons too.  Simply fantastic and satisfying tea!

Wanna have some scones?? 

Everything Strawberries - Jam, Ice Cream, Scones

My sisters and I bought lots and lots of strawberries from our recent holiday in Cameron Highlands. If you read my preceded post, our local strawberries come from this beautiful highland.  The strawberries are not super sweet but very flavorful - some sweetness with tangy sourness and very very juicy.  We love it.  I made jam and ice cream from it.  I freeze the strawberries first so that it can last to the weekend to make the jam and ice cream.

 Juicy red Strawberries.  It's more flavorful from the imported ones. Yummy.

Here's how to make the jam.  My sis taught me how.

1. Place the strawberries in a deep sauce pan and crushed it with a fork.  You don't need to puree it as I like  bits of chunky berries in the jam.  As you cook it, it will be soft.

 2. Boil with sugar to your taste until it thickens.  I only made about 1.5 kilos of the strawberries.  This takes about 40mins depending on the consistency that you want.  I cooked this till slightly thicken but a bit runny as it will set more when cooled.

 Look at the color...isn't it beautiful.

 I saved  some for ice cream...puree the strawberries with some sugar to your taste, chill overnight.  Churn it in the ice cream maker with 1 1/2 cup of whipped cream and a tablespoon of kirsch.  Freeze.

 Topped with some strawberry jam.

So, when you have homemade strawberry jam, what goes well with it?  Scones...yes!

 1. Mix 2 cups self raising flour with 2 tsp caster sugar

2. Rub in 20g butter to resemble breadcrumbs

3. Stir in 3/4 cup milk to mix to a soft sticky batter (add more milk if needed).

4. Turn dough into lightly floured surface and knead lightly until smooth.

5. Roll dough into 2 cm thickness and cut into 5 cm round molds, place scones on prepared pan lined with parchment paper.

6. Brush scones with a little extra milk and bake in very hot oven 230d C for 15 mins. 

Yields 10.

 Care for some tea?? ..serve with whipped cream and homemade strawberry jam...a perfect afternoon tea indeed!