Rosemary, Lemon & Golden Syrup Scones

These gorgeous Lemon Rosemary scones are the perfect item to serve up on Anzac Day. Bake up a batch of these for morning or afternoon tea. The scones come together with just 5 minutes prep and have a ginger, golden syrup and lemon flavour to them. Serve them with home made lemon curd (also a cinch and made in 5 minutes!).

I should explain Anzac Day for those of you outside Australia and New Zealand. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance of the troops that fought in Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire during first world war. There are certain foods associated with Anzac Day, Anzac biscuits being the made one. They're a delicious mix of golden syrup, coconut, oats and butter and are terribly addictive to eat.

The flavours I used in these scones were rosemary which is significant on Anzac Day because it is a herb that is found growing wild in the Gallipoli peninsula. I also used lemon because of its bittersweet quality and because it goes well with rosemary.

Everyone in Mr NQN's company was asked to take today off as tomorrow is Anzac Day. So today Mr NQN is home from work today and we've had a nice four day weekend. I brought a batch of these scones over to Nina and Garth's house on Saturday. Mr NQN doesn't like scones but Garth is a voracious eater that loves home baked goodies. I didn't think Nina would eat these as they're pretty much everything that is on her no go list. But I thought I'd check with her just in case.

"Hey you don't eat scones do you? Does Garth?" I messaged her.

"I ate a scone once in England. It was after a 20km race so I was very hungry," she responded. Then she added unprompted, "Mostly I find scones to be an unusual food. They are not sweet enough to be dessert but not savoury either. I don't know what they are and I think that they don't know why they are or how they fit into the world."

For once I completely agreed with Nina about food because scones are exactly that. The scone itself isn't sweet or savoury and generally it's what you put on it that determines which direction it takes. I love savoury scones as much as sweet but for these I decided to make these more sweet than savoury. I added golden syrup, ginger and lemon zest to the scone dough, paired them with golden syrup cream but also topped them with golden syrup glaze. The rosemary is a decoration but it also adds aroma. And best of all the scones only took 5 minutes to make and while they were baking I made the lemon curd to go with them.

So tell me Dear Reader, how do you feel about scones? Do you prefer them sweet or savoury? Are you at home today as well?

Rosemary and Lemon Scones

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Makes 9-10 scones

• 2 cups all purpose flour plus extra for dusting
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch salt
• 150g/5ozs. butter, cold and cut into cubes
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1-3 tablespoons milk (just enough to bring it together)
• 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon water

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line two baking trays with parchment. Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a food processor and process until mixed well. Add the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, ginger and golden syrup and process until it becomes like sand.

Step 2 - Empty the mixture onto a clean surface and add milk to make it come together. Flour the surface with flour so that it doesn't stick. Then cut out circles using a cutter - I use a 6cm cutter which gives me about 9-10 scones, I prefer not to make them any smaller as they can dry out.

Step 3 - Brush with egg yolk and bake for 20 minutes. Top with a small sprig of rosemary and serve with lemon curd (see recipe below) and golden syrup drizzled clotted cream.

5 Minute Home Made Lemon Curd

Makes one small batch enough for these scones)

• 65g/2.3ozs. butter, softened
• 3 egg yolks
• Juice and zest of 2 lemons
• 1/3 cup sugar

Step 1 - Whisk the butter, yolks, lemon juice, zest and sugar in a large microwave proof bowl. Microwave on high uncovered for 1 minute, then remove and whisk again. Continue cooking in 1 minute bursts for another 3-4 times until it starts to become thicker. On the final minute it may look as though the butter and eggs have separated but give it a good whisk and it will come together. Pass through a sieve. This sets further upon cooling.