Hot Cross Scones

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.

Pour the orange juice over the sultanas or raisins and leave to soak for around 15 minutes.

Sift the self-raising flour into a large bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips or in a food processor. Stir in the sugar, orange zest, mixed spice and soaked sultanas or raisins.

Mix the egg and milk together in a jug, then pour into the flour mixture and bring together to make a soft dough.

Lightly dust the work surface with extra flour, then roll out the dough to a thickness of about 2.5cm. Cut out the scones using a 6cm round cutter.  Re-roll the trimmings and cut out the remaining scones, then transfer to the baking sheet.

To make the crosses, mix together the plain flour and 1-2 tbsp of water. Knead to make a smooth dough. Roll out the dough to about ½ cm thickness and cut into a rectangle which is about 24cm long by 6cm wide.  Cut into 24 thin strips.

Brush the top of each scone with milk and lay 2 strips of the dough across on top of each scone.

Bake for about 15 mins, until well risen and golden.

To glaze, warm the honey gently then brush over the top of the warm scones.  Transfer the scones to a cooling rack and allow them to cool a little before serving

Top Tip!

To make a delicious honey and cinnamon butter, simply beat 120 g softened butter with 1 tbsp honey and ¼ tsp ground cinnamon until light and fluffy, then use to spread on the scones. Alternatively, make a delicious sugar free chia jam.