I tried a fantastically easy & wholesome recipe from the Irish Countrywoman's Association, adored it, and given the festive time of year put our own CrafTea spin on it to add a little Christmas cheer at the table.
You'll need
- 8oz cooked mashed potato (made with lots of butter and cream!) - this can be from fresh potatoes or reconstituted powdered potatoes (follow the packet instructions) to save time.
- 8oz self raising flour
- 2tsp baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3oz real irish butter at room temperature
- 125ml milk
- red food colouring + pastry brush/clean paintbrush
- butter to grease a baking tray
- extra flour for dusting & kneading
- 2 raisins
optional for savory scones - a sprinkle of dried herbs like rosemary, oregano, parsley or mixed herbs.
optional for sweet scones - handful of dried fruit, cranberries, raisins, or 1 cup sugar and/or cinnamon.
How to make your Potato Scone Santa!
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celcuis, 400degrees farenheit or Gas Mark 6.
In a large bowl, sieve your flour, add the salt and baking powder. Chop the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour so it looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Add in the mashed potatoes and any sweet or savory optional extras you like (ideas are listed above)
Add the milk - little by little until the dough comes together and you can roll it into a ball and knead it. You may not need all the milk depending on how dry the mashed potatoes are.
On a dusted flour surface knead the dough a little so its pliable.
Grease your baking tray and place the dough on it. Save one piece of dough to the side (approx the size of a grape).
Mould the dough on the baking tray into this shape (santa's beard, face and hat). I curled the dough at the top of the hat for a cute effect.
Whether you are making one large Santa or two small ones, the dough should be approximately 1.5 -2 inches thick in all places.
Now the really fun part where Santa comes to life....
With the small piece of dough set aside roll it into a grape shape. Paint the nose with the food colouring and place it on top of the 'face' as the nose. If you need to stick it down on the face to prevent it rolling off, use a little leftover milk.
Make fingerprints all along where you want the hat to end. Paint above them with red food colouring (see the dots in picture below).
Make some more fingerprints around the beard area and dust with flour.
Squish two raisins into the dough for eyes!
...just like this!
It was tough to show the detail in a photograph with the dark winter's light so I thought drawing it out would help :o)
If you want the face to be a nice golden colour brush it with a little leftover milk.
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 degrees celcius or 400 degrees Farenheit or Gas Mark 6 for 25 minutes.
Your Potato Scone Santa is best eaten hot, smothered in butter! Enjoy xx x