Best Scone in Edinburgh Locheil Prize: BENUGO

I’ve always had great affection for a good scone. They remind me of the carefree days of my early childhood on the croft in Lochaber, where Mrs. Donelly made the best scones; warm, fresh from the oven, oozing with jam!

The history of the humble scone dates back, in some form in Scotland to the fifteen hundreds. Traditionally, it was a round griddle cake/bread called a Bannock, that was cut into triangular pieces for ease of transport. Indeed, Bannocks (made on a stove top process) can still be found in some places in the Highlands and Islands today. As a few of you might remember from my recent trip to Lewis to see @Hebridean, a heritage baker if ever there was one, her Bannock was absolutely delicious! Interestingly, some Canadian and American Indigenous peoples call their round skillet bread a Bannock too. More modern scones, what I am referring to as a “tradition scone”, the ones I remember from my childhood are, small, handheld, round, golden brown, with a crumble texture and a rise of approximately 5cm, common found all over Scotland today, and usually paired with jam and clotted cream.

Although I pride myself in my own scone making, I was looking forward to my scone adventures in Edinburgh as the year 2021 began. So, in April I decided to spend a month finding the best scone in the city, it actually took two months, because I wanted to find one I could thoroughly recommend! So, I constructed the “Locheil quality assessment” based on my experience of baking and eating Scottish Scones over the last 40 something years. Firstly, I created a 100-point scale where scones were evaluated on 10 aspects of texture, rise, taste etc. on an assessment continuum of 1-10. I slept content… dreaming of all the fresh traditional scone bakes I would be partaking in, oozing with fresh clotted cream and fresh jam.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed day after day, visiting cafes where the scones, were over baked, under baked, over worked etc. etc. Scones were in short supply in early 2021, and even if I did find them, they were usually more of a sweet bread than a scone, or so dry I could have sold them for bricklayers cement!

However, the perks of this culinary adventure in the city was the discovery of most amazing Syrian, Kurdish, and French delicacies, perfectly paired with a latte as I walked the streets of Edinburgh soaking in the architecture. One of my favorite delights worthy of a mention was the Pistachio Crusted Raspberry Choux Bun, filled with Creme Patissiere, from La Barantine in Stockbridge (don't miss it if you are visiting the city).

I visited over fifty cafes, in seven districts, in eight weeks, and did not find a satisfactory scone that I would feel good about putting my seal of approval on. Dejected, I was honestly about to throw in the towel and declare my own as the best scone in the city!

I love how cosmopolitan Edinburgh has become, I love the fusion of cuisine I see and delight in trying new things, but I was despondent about the “loss” of knowledge of such a simple traditional treasure, it seems the simple-scone was actually the not-so-simple-scone!

Drowning in my scone sorrow, after another day of epic failures and eight weeks of trying, I decided to visit the National Museum of Scotland on Chalmers St. One of my favorite things to do is to meander around and explore our national treasures in the Scottish History and Archaeology galleries. Feeling uplifted I made my way upstairs to the café for a cuppa before heading home…

Sometimes in life, when you least expect it, life throws lemonade at you instead of lemons. I immediately became excited as I entered the “Benugo” café at the sight of their scone. Hmm I thought, the right color, the right rise, texture, perpendicular sides, flourless bottom… could it possibly be!

I sat down with my scone in the beautiful Balcony Café and it was almost perfect, traditionally speaking. Crumble texture, delicate buttery taste, not too sweet, almost perfect simplicity…

As the full sense of satisfaction began to set in, I smiled as I realized I had finally found a scone in Edinburgh that I could stand behind and recommend to our visitors. I was even more thrilled to find out that BENUGO provides scones for Historic Scotland which means that when you visit many Historic Scotland sites across Scotland you will be able to find one. I found mine at The National Museum of Scotland but you can also eat a BENUGO scone at Edinburgh Castle Café.

Delighted to have been selected, Benugo has volunteered to share their scone recipe with the Locheil followers. So here is, may there be many warm scones, fresh from the oven, oozing with jam in your future! Slàinte Locheil

BENUGO TRADITIONAL SCONE RECEIPE

Ingredients:

3kg self-raising flour

300g of sugar

3 x 250g unsalted butter (3 blocks) ENSURE THEY ARE SOFT!

1.5lt of full fat milk

(300g Sultanas if you want one that looks like the picture above)

Method:

Mix flour sugar and butter, slowly add milk to obtain right consistency.

Cooking:

Heat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7 and lightly grease a baking tray. 12/15min or until golden brown.