We had a few crew drinks on the dry dock yesterday as morale has been a bit low this week (STILL in the shipyard!), so I rustled up a nice cheese platter, some charcuterie and these delightful little canapés. The look so pretty and are not too tricky to put together. You can freeze the scones once you have made them (just pop them in a little ziplock bag and defrost about 40mins before serving) which makes them a really quick canapé to put together if you can do the preparation in advance.
Scones:
400g plain flour
Salt (pinch)
1 ½ tsp bicarb soda
12g finely chopped fresh dill
85g unslated butter cubed and chilled
Zest of half a lemon
1 tsp lemon juice
200ml milk
2 eggs
Horseradish Cream:
Crème fraiche
Cream cheese
The Cherry Tree’s Horseradish Sauce
Salt and pepper
Topping:
Smoked salmon
Salmon roe
Dill or clove flowers to garnish
Method
Pre-heat the oven at 200C. Rub the butter into the flour, rubbing from a height to get air into the scone mix. Add the rest of the dry ingredients, continuing to rub the flour and butter. The desired texture is like a light “bread crumb” type of texture. Add the chopped dill. Combine the wet ingredients in a jug, with the lemon zest and then gently mix it into the dry mix. Try to handle the dough as little as possible. Shake some flour on a clean surface and then tip the dough onto it. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin, adding more flour if necessary but keeping the added flour to a minimum. Use a cookie cutter or a shot glass to cut out the scones, and then place on a lightly floured baking tray. Coat with egg wash and then bake for 8 minutes.
For the horseradish cream mix equal quantities of cream cheese and crème fraiche in a bowl then add horseradish (to taste) and salt and pepper. Top with smoked salmon, salmon roe and some dill or clove flower (just because it makes it look pretty)
Contact The Cherry Tree Cornwall & North Devon for orders and brochures: cornwall@cherrytreepreserves.co.uk
