Today I am handing you over to Michelle Fidler - an amazing Alphington community leader. She’s been a tireless woman of action for years. And … if seamlessly organising school fetes and wetlands festivals with care, good humour and generosity isn’t enough, she’s also a fabulous cook.

As the current (and founding) President of Alphington CWA there’s no one better to take you through the sacred scone making process! Take it away Mich …

When people hear CWA, many of them immediately think "scones". 

I had never made a scone prior to the establishment of the Alphington CWA three years ago.  My mum, a life member of the CWA, joined when the South Wangaratta branch started in the 1950s. She had always made our scones - and always late in the afternoon of Christmas day - to have with cold meat and salad for dinner. 

I remember as a child watching as she sifted and poured (never measuring anything), mixed and cut … and 15 minutes later we would be eating hot scones straight form the oven. I would wonder, how does she do that?

Today, I cannot count how many I have made! And last year I was lucky to have a lesson from Joy - the queen of scones - as I worked alongside her in the CWA cafeteria at the Royal Melbourne Show.  

One thing I can say - there are never two batches exactly the same - but no matter what they look like, the taste always takes me back to the kitchen bench at the farm.

Recipe

• 4 cups of SF flour

• 1 teaspoon of salt

• 300ml thickened cream

• 300ml milk

Sift the SR flour into a large bowl. Add the salt, thickened cream and milk. Stir with a knife until well combined. It will be a little bit sticky. This is where my mum would say to add more flour or milk as needed!  You'll get to know when that is only by experience.  

Turn out onto a floured bench.  Turn the sides in four times - one each side (fold up the bottom, then down the top, then RHS, then LHS).

At this point I ALWAYS hear Joy's voice in my head, "I have done all my mixing in the bowl - no need to mess with it too much on the table". 

Next turn it over and either use a rolling pin or use your hands to flatten it until it is about 2-3cm thick (I just use the length of my thumb to the first knuckle as a guide - that's how I was told to measure).  

I use a scone cutter with a 5.5cm diameter. This is a good size for afternoon tea scones and will make 18-20 scones.  Place them on baking paper on a tray (tapping off any excess flour) so they are not quite touching and bake for 12-15 minutes at 200 degrees.  They are cooked when the top and the bottom are about the same colour, and if you pick one up and tap it on the bottom it sounds hollowish.  

When you take them out of the oven, brush the top and bottom with melted butter and put on a wire rack to cool.

And that's it - CWA scones my way.  Enjoy.