Easy Strawberry Jelly with Scones

Easy Strawberry Jelly with Scones

Years ago, I once had a High Tea, and since then, I have been infected with the I love High Tea virus. A pleasant afternoon with friends and family. With delicious savory and sweet snacks. Every time different appetizers, but what is always a part of our afternoon tea table are scones. In winter, often scones with cranberry compote or Orange scones. And if I want to make it memorable, I make vanilla scones with blackberry pear and champagne jam.

In the summer and spring, I often choose strawberries as a side. And, of course, you can go for delicious scones layered with fresh strawberries, but what if you want to make everything in advance? Then this strawberry jelly with pieces of fresh strawberry is highly recommended. When you prepare the scones so that you only have to bake them, it becomes so easy!

Ingredients Strawberry Jam

• Strawberries - Use fresh strawberries if you can get them. Strawberries are best in late spring and summer. Outside this time, they may taste watery. Replace the strawberries with red currants or raspberries for delicious fruit jelly.
• Sugar with Pectin - Use sugar with pectin or pectin crystals for this jam. It will make your jam bind quickly. Not all jams need to be thickened with pectin. Some varieties (such as apples or plums) contains much pectin. Jelly sugar makes thickening the jam so much easier. If you cannot gain the jelly sugar, add the juice of 2 lemons to the jelly and the amount of sugar indicated in the recipe.

Ingrediënt Scones

• Flour - You can use regular all-purpose flour for making these scones.
• Milk - The milk in the dough gives the scones a creamy taste. You also brush the scones with milk so that they turn golden brown.
• Baking powder - Makes the scones rise. If you want to know more about baking powder and possible substitutes, you will find a blog about baking powder and baking soda here.
• Salt - Salt balances the flavor.
• Butter - The butter is grated and then frozen. This makes the butter cold, so you get butter flakes when the scones go into the oven. In there, the small butter packets melt, and water is released (butter consists of 18% water), which escapes as steam and makes the scones crispy and flaky.

Preparation Homemade Scones

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt three times. This makes the scone even fluffier. Quickly rub in the frozen butter until you get coarse breadcrumbs. Pour in the milk and mix until you get a sticky dough. The wetter the dough, the fluffier the scones!
2. Place the dough on a floured work surface and knead five times. Then fold the dough from left to right. Repeat this five times as well. You hardly knead scones dough. Otherwise, the layers would start to mix. So instead, fold the dough.
3. Press the dough into a 4 x 6 x 1 inch (10 x 15 cm (2 cm thick)) rectangle. Press circles out of the dough with a 2-inch (5 cm) cutter and place on a baking tray. Do not press the scones dough when it is placed on the baking sheet. That way, you get a fluffy scone. Even when cutting, press the cutter through the layers of dough. Do not turn the cutter because the layers will also mix, and the flaky effect of the scones will be gone. Brush with milk.
4. Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 465 °F (240 °C).

Preparation Strawberry jelly

1. Put 1 pound (500 grams) of halved strawberries in the pan.
2. Add the sugar and pour the water into the pan as well. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes on low heat. Check whether the strawberry jelly is sufficiently gelled (with the cold plate method, see below).
3. Pour the strawberries out of the pan onto a cheesecloth and let drain for 30 minutes. Use a cheesecloth (a special cloth for straining jam) to strain the jelly. You can also use a double-folded tea towel which, of course, should be clean. A tea towel does absorb more jelly, so you have less left over. When sifting, don't press the leftovers that are left behind. Otherwise, your jelly will become cloudy.
4. Mix the drained jelly with the strawberry pieces and pour them into sterilized jars. Let cool to room temperature.

Serve the scones with the strawberry jelly and Clotted cream. You can find the cream at the larger supermarkets. And if you really can't buy it? Then mix five tablespoons of sour cream with four tablespoons of mascarpone (double the recipe if you need more).
These scones are delicious as part of a high tea. On this page, you will find delicious high tea recipes.

Cold Plate Method for Checking the Jam

Place a cold plate in the fridge for at least 1 hour. After the indicated cooking time, remove the cold plate from the refrigerator and let a drop of jelly fall on it. If it stiffens immediately, the heat can be turned off. If the jelly still runs, it should continue to boil for a few minutes. Then test again and continue until the point is reached that the jelly sets immediately.
Put the plate back in the fridge in between to keep it cold.

Also tasty

• If you want strawberry jam with a little more spice, add a finely chopped red hot pepper to the jam. That may sound strange, but a pepper flavor combines very well with strawberries.
• It is also lovely to add vanilla to the scones. Mix 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract with the cold milk.

Sterilize Jam Jars

Sterilize the jars and lids. You can do this by washing them in the dishwasher. 

You can also bring a pan of water to the boil and immerse the jars and lids in boiling water for 2 minutes. Then, place them upside down on a clean tea towel until used. If you do not use them for a longer time, turn the lids on when the jars have cooled down.