Scones are a classic summer treat best enjoyed on a warm day as part of a picnic, and they are incredibly easy to make yourself.

Mary Berry’s plain scones take 10 minutes to prepare before placing them in the oven to bake for 10 minutes, so it only takes 20 minutes overall to make this tasty recipe from scratch.

It is pretty foolproof to make these scones as long as you do not handle the dough too much as overworking it will affect the scone’s light and fluffy texture.

In her cookbook ‘Fast Cakes: Easy Bakes in Minutes’, Mary wrote: “The secret of a good scone is not to have the mixture too dry and not to handle the dough too much.”

Always add more milk if the dough is too stiff or difficult to work with, and you will have some delicious homecooked scones in no time.

How to make Mary Berry’s plain homecooked scones 

Ingredients (makes 10)

• 225g of self-raising flour
• 50g of butter (cold)
• 25g of caster sugar
• One level teaspoon of baking powder
• One large egg
• 125ml of milk

Kitchen equipment needed:

Round 8cm biscuit cutter

Baking sheet

Method 

To begin, preheat the oven to 220C (200C Fan/Gas Mark 7) and lightly grease a baking sheet.

Place the flour and baking powder into a bowl, add the butter and rub it until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir in the sugar into the mixture. Then, crack an egg into the measuring jug, lightly beat it and then pour 125ml of milk into the jug.

Stir most of the eggy milk mixture into the flour, but keep one tablespoon of the mixture to glaze the scones later.

Mix into a dough and then turn onto a lightly floured kitchen surface. Knead lightly and then roll it out to 1.25cm thickness,

Use a biscuit cutter to cut the dough into 10 scones, then place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the top of the scones with the remaining eggy milk mixture.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until the scones are a pale golden brown colour, then remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Your delicious homemade scones and then ready to serve with butter, jam, cream or your filling of choice.