My-oh-my this was one delicious lunch-time treat. I made the scones to test out the new bench-top convection oven we were given for Christmas. I made the scones quite tall as the oven is not that big, so the scones took a while and I ended up finishing them off in the big oven (I got a little worried so went back to what I knew). I’m not sure I would bother doing scones in the convection oven again. I might try a cake from the recipe book that came with the oven though. One thing I found a little unnerving about baking with the convection oven is seeing the scones baking – I could not help but stare at them and worry. Whereas, when I make scones in the main oven, I know exactly how long they need, the temperature they should be at and where to put them in the oven. So I simply set a timer, walk away and come back to perfectly cooked scones every-time. I like that kind of baking certainty.

The berry compote is left over from some I made for a Christmas-day pavlova and was an Annabel Langbein recipe. I can’t recall when I last made a pavlova, and am beginning to wonder if I ever had before. Or perhaps, I had blocked out the memory of a failed pavlova attempt. Pavlovas can be tricky and my chap thought I should just go and buy one. But at $12 bucks a pop I was shocked. I had no idea 4 eggs and a cup of caster sugar could be that expensive! So I made my own and followed the recipe religiously. It looked magnificent when it was first finished baking, but flattened a bit when it cooled down. But by the time I got the cream and the compote onto the pavlova it looked pretty good. And it tasted darn delicious. I wish I’d taken a photo of it, but it was Christmas day and I was in a rush…

Back to the scones… they are the basic scone mix from the Edmonds Cookery Book with added dates, cinnamon and sugar. The scones were brushed with milk and then dusted with some cinnamon sugar a friend had given to me. Biting into the scone with the cinnamon sugar, the hot dates, the berries and the cream was just pretty gastronomically awesome.