Drop Scones, (Also known as Scotch Pancakes and I’m sure they’ve got lots of other names too..)

Cold grey afternoons. Or evenings. Or mornings. A time when you need a treat that isn’t too bad for you and to lavish them with really good butter. Or to use them as a base to pile on scrambled egg and chopped ham. Or smoked salmon if you’re feeling posh.

Simple enough to be literally Childsplay, and Lucy from my Lucy Williams series does make them in her kitchen, so you know that they have to be simple!

So here, just for you, is my recipe. I can’t remember who it started as belonging to, but I’ve played with it over the years. Feel free to add a handful of raisins, or chocolate chips, or finely chopped dried apricots or chopped leftover chocolate (I know, how often do you get that?)

125g plain flour ( 1 cup flour 4 1/2oz)

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

25g caster sugar ( 2 tablespoons.)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Up to 100ml whole milk

1 tsp lemon juice


Spray oil to oil the frying pan

A heavy-based frying ban, nice and big and shallow.

Lots of recipes have a set order for adding the ingredients. Mine get weighed into a jug and then whisked hard together and left to stand for half an hour or so. Longer is better, but my beloved family tend to start hanging around looking hungry if I do that! Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, who’s one of my favourite cook describes the right texture as reluctantly soft dropping.

Preheat the pan, then drop spoonfuls of the drop scone batter into it. I usually fit in five or six and have been known to have two pans going because they really are best straight out of the pan. If you want to add extras, then put the dollops in and then add the goodies on top, because that way you can spread them out easily.

Flip them over when bubbles start coming up and cook till lightly golden. Meanwhile, your audience can get out plates, knives and butter, and then wait hopefully and while remembering how much they love you!

For readers of the Lucy Williams series, I’m sorry to say that they don’t come with two gorgeous men thrown in. I haven’t found one that does yet, so please let me know if you find one!