Beat the cold with tea and scones

At this time of the year, I spend more time in the kitchen, either mulling over cookery books or trying out new recipes.  Cooking is said to be a combination of science, art and invention, so it is little wonder that between June and August, the status of my kitchen is upgraded to studio or laboratory.  
Last weekend I flitted between the kitchen and the sofa in front of the TV, watching tennis at Wimbledon, while Serena Williams defeated her sister Venus in the finals. On Sunday afternoon, the long drawn out contest between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick necessitated several trips back to the kitchen to search out sustenance. Never had Wimbledon’s legendary strawberries and cream looked so unappetising, as on a bleak mid-winter’s evening in Harare. While Centre Court spectators adjusted their Panama hats and slapped on sunscreen, Zimbos huddled under blankets and sipped hot tea, hoping that the Met offices predictions of a long, cold winter would prove unfounded.
While a hot cup of tea is always very welcome, it tastes even better if accompanied by a muffin, a drop scone or a pancake. Just about any cookery book you pick up, whether the Ladybird Cookery Book for young cooks, entitled Hot Puddings and Cold Sweets, or Mastering the Art of French Cooking, by Beck, Bertholle and Child, will have several recipes for the making of pancakes. Pancakes vary greatly, from family fare to the exotic crepe suzette, a delicate pancake tasting of orange juice and Cointreau, a speciality at Meikles’ La Fontaine restaurant. The basic ingredients are flour, egg and milk: adding butter and extra eggs can enrich the mixture.
Roddick and Federer were still battling it out on Sunday afternoon, on Centre Court, while I made a lengthy foray into the kitchen. I decided to make a batch of drop scones, a more substantial version of the classic pancake or crepe.
The Constance Spry Cookery Book, first published in 1956, has a never-fail recipe for drop scones, which I would like to share with you.
Drop Scones
½ lb flour      
A nut of butter
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon cream of tartar         
1 egg
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ pint fresh milk (approx)
1 tablespoon syrup
Mix all dry ingredients, rub in butter, add the syrup. Add half the milk, mixing well with a wooden spoon, then break in the egg and beat well. Then add remaining milk. The mixture should just drop from the spoon. Allow to stand 10 – 15 minutes, not longer. Heat a well-greased, heavy-based pan, and when really hot drop mixture in spoonfuls and bake for about 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. To keep warm and soft, wrap in a clean cloth, as you make them. If pan becomes too hot, turn down heat.
These delicious teatime treats can be served with syrup, honey, or jam. For celebratory breakfasts, serve with crisp fried streaky bacon and Maple syrup.
It will take more than a batch of drop scones and syrup to sweeten the bitterness of Roddick’s defeat at Wimbledon. But hey, there’s always next year to try again. And I have at least two more winter months in my kitchen laboratory, to try out recipes aimed at taking the edge off wintry weekends, and guaranteed to warm the cockles of your heart.
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