teatime treats...

are not always easy to come up with...

afternoon tea in Algeria isn't optional,

it's part of life...

and anytime between 3.30 and 5pm you can smell coffee brewing and you will know that on tables all accross Algeria it will be accompaied by anything from baguette to m'semen

to be honest my children seem to think that afternoon tea is a full blown meal rather than a snack to tide them over till supper time,

but Scones and Jam sre a good way of tempting them to have a little bit of a pick me up before going off to their after school activities rather than eating something heavier that will overload them and leave the feeling lethargic..

We don't have scones everyday of course, but when we're running late its a quick recipe to make up an of course they're delicious eaten straight from the oven...

the basic recipe is

8oz plain flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/4tsp salt

1 1/2oz butter

1tbsp sugar

185ml of laban (buttermilk)

into seived flour, add the salt and bicarbonate then rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips till it resembles breadcrumbs...

add the suar and any dried fruits you might be using

(we use dates, sultanas, lemon or orange zest even sometimes)

bring together to a soft unsticky dough with laban...you may not need all of it depending on your flour.

And the secret to a nicely raised scone...make sure you roll your dough to a good thickness before cutting..dont be tempted to roll it out thinly so get more out of the dough...

brush on a little milk and bake for about 12 minutes in a moderately hot oven...

I would show you an "after" shot but they got eaten as soon as they were cool enough to handle

The recipe is an easy one to inrcrease if you need to

we never do less than a quadruple batch...

our Algerian neighbours love them...