Recipe(tried): Stir and Bake Sweet Milk or Buttermilk Scones (1950's)

STIR AND BAKE SWEET MILK OR BUTTERMILK SCONES

FOR SWEET MILK SCONES:
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda**
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/3 cup raisins or crasins (dried cranberries)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup cooking oil

FOR BUTTERMILK SCONES:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking soda**
2 Tbsp sugar
1/3 cup raisins or crasins (dried cranberries)
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk*
1/4 cup cooking oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Sift flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and sugar together into a bowl. Mix well.

Stir raisins or crasins into dry ingredients and mix well. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients to receive the liquid ingredients.

In the same measuring cup, pour in 1/2 cup of milk or buttermilk and then pour in the 1/4 cup of oil over it to make 3/4 cup total liquid, but don't stir.

Pour the measuring cup of liquid, all at once, into the center of the flour mixture in bowl. Stir with a fork until mixture cleans sides of bowl and rounds up into a ball.

Knead dough ball 5 or 10 times in bowl to bring everything together. Add a little more milk or flour as needed to make a non-sticky dough that holds together.

Scoop out 1/3 cup portions of dough and with your hands, form each into a 1/2 inch high flattened circle or flattened triangle and place on baking sheet. Allow room between each scone for rising in oven.

Bake in a preheated 425 degrees F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until tops are slightly browned and centers are done.

*To make sour milk, place 1 1/2 teaspoons of vinegar
or lemon juice in measuring cup and add enough milk to
epual 1/2 cup. Stir and let stand 5 minutes to thicken.
Or just thin some plain yogurt with a little milk and use that instead.

** The baking soda in the sweet scones promotes browning and adds to flavor. The baking soda in the buttermilk scones reacts with buttermilk/sour milk to enhance rising in addition to adding to browning and flavor.

Makes about 6 to 8 scones.
Adapted from Wesson Oil biscuit recipe; Charleston, SC - News and Courier, December 1, 1950