Hagrid's Rock Cakes?

This morning we (Rebecca and "Mum") attempted to make Cornish scones. Actually, it was a recipe for whole wheat apricot scones made for us by our Welsh friend Maria. Hers were delicious, and we all loved them. She gave us the recipe at our request so that we could make them ourselves. They are now in the oven, but we fear that they will turn out to be more like Hagrid's Rock Cakes than proper Cornish scones.  Preparing the dough was quite an adventure. It took twice as long as our regular scone recipe, since we had to weigh out every ingredient, find substitutes for things like "self-raising flour" and sultanas (raisins--which most in our family do not care for), rub in the butter with fingers instead of cutting it in with a pastry cutter, and dice dried fruit and almonds by hand.

Our first moment of doubt came when we tried to mix in the milk/water combination to bind the dough, and realized just how heavy this dough was going to be. Can you say dense? Did we do something wrong?!!  Will they be edible? We carried on, encouraging and reassuring each other, and got the first baking sheet in the oven. Here is a picture of what we fearfully dubbed Hagrid's Rock Cakes (note the cool oven mitts!).

They didn't rise much, despite having 4 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, but maybe scones don't? They were definitely edible and even tasty. In fact, the four of us had at least 3-4 with our tea for breakfast.

And later in the morning, we felt confident enough to share them with Steven next door and a postdoc from Bill's department here who had come over to rappel down into the abandoned tin mine shaft on Steve and Liz' property. So we will continue to work on this art of scone making. Rebecca pondered scone baking the whole time we were eating them.

If anyone out there has any experience with scone making, feel free to share your insights and suggestions with us.

By Rebecca and "Mum"