Home Made Archives - The scented abode

When we visited Fortnum and Masons, I noticed lovely jar of Rose Pouchong infused Apricot conserve, which is the inspiration for these apricot and Rose scented Scone recipe.

Scones are so easy to make, and they are better freshly baked, eaten slightly warm with a big pot of tea, jam and whipped cream. I can’t think of anything better to cheer up a dull cold afternoon.

Here are the ingredients for home made scones:

50grams of dried apricots (diced into small pieces about the size of a raisin. Soak the dried apricots in a strongly brewed dark Rose Pouchong Tea overnight. Drain and remove all the excess liquid.

40grams of room temperature butter

225grams of self-raising flour

1.5 level tablespoons of caster sugar, a little more if you prefer the scones to be sweeter to taste.

A pinch of salt

110ml milk (this can be soy milk if you prefer)

A little extra flour for rolling and dusting the scones with.

To make the scones, preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

The mixture should be made as light as possible, sieve the flour into a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour and rub into the flour as if making pastry. Aim for a light fine crumbly mixture. It’s very important to get the butter combined in well with the flour, next add the sugar and salt and mix well.

Slowly add the milk and then add in the pieces of apricots. By pre soaking the dried apricots overnight in the Rose scented tea, they have taken on the wonderfully aromatic floral qualities of the tea. This is enough to add just the subtlest hint of Rose to the scones.

If you want the scones more fragrant, add a couple of drops of Rosewater. Continue to add the milk and then combine into a soft dough.

Roll the dough out on a well floured pastry board. As my work tops are made of granite, I dusted this with plenty of flour and rolled them out with a well dusted rolling-pin. The dough should be rolled out to the thickness of about 2cm or thicker if you want high-rise scones. I’ve rolled these out to about 2cm and then used a large round cutter to cut out 8 scones.

Lay them out on a well buttered baking tray.

I then sprinkled some granulated sugar and dusted the scones with some flour.

Next, pop the baking tray(s) into the preheated oven (220 degrees Celsius) for 15-20 minutes until the scones look warm and golden in colour.

Cool them on a baking rack.

Best served freshly baked and still warm from the oven with a pot of tea, with Jam (apricot or marmalade is delicious with these scones) and cream, clotted if you want to be extra indulgent.

Apricot Scone infused with Rose Pouchong tea

Home Made After Sun Lotion

It is nearly the end of term and with it the annual tradition of the School sports day. This year, my eldest had opted out of taking part. (Apparently it’s optional at her school) Instead she watched the event with some of her friends.

When I returned home that evening, both she and my husband were glowing bright red from where they had been sitting in the sun.

When they were much younger, I would run around after both of my kids with a bottle of sun-lotion, smearing them from head to foot to keep their delicate skins protected from the sun.

Unfortunately, I was at work when they caught the sun.

In previous years, my go to remedy for sun stressed skin is Calamine lotion or cream from the pharmacy. The pink liquid is by far the fastest way of cooling down hot skin. It is also good for sensitive skins, the zinc in the lotion reduces any rash faster than anything else I’ve tried.

My daughter now considers herself to be way too cool to be using a lotion that she thinks is for kiddies. She turned her nose up at it declaring “it stinks”. I must admit it’s got quite a chalky medical aroma to it.

This is an argument that I’m unlikely to win.

I have therefore created a lotion that still has the cooling properties of the calamine, but, with all natural healing properties that will look and smell great.

So here’s how I made it:

6 Tablespoons of Calamine lotion (the type you get from the Pharmacy)

4 Tablespoons of Cold Pressed Organic Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons of Sweet Almond Oil

1 teaspoon of Stearic Acid (orderd online from natural Heath & Beauty store)

Ingredients for Home Made After Sun Lotion

For the scent, I added the following essential oils: 7 Drops of Lavender essential oil (Great healing and skin soothing properties) 5 drops of Lemon essential oil (good antiviral and antiseptic properties and a refreshing scent), 1 drop of Citronella (just one drop, as it can overpower everything else, it’s a good bug repellent during the summer months).

As this was the first time I made this lotion, I tried out a very small amount first to see if it would work.

The Calamine lotion is water based, mixing it with the oils would need something to bind them together to stop them from separating.

I used Stearic Acid as this is a natural ingredient and works to act as an emulsifier, I simply added this to the mix in quarter teaspoon amounts.

This meant it was easier to whisk into a creamy consistency, switching to Sweet Almond Oil once I’d gotten to the bottom of the jar of Coconut oil.

I continued to alternate between the Calamine and the oils, adding the stearic acid whenever I felt the mix started to look too thin. I kept going until It was the consistency of a soft cake batter, in a pretty pink colour.

Essential oils were added at the end, which was whisked into the mix.

As there are no chemical preservatives, I’ve kept the quantity small, enough to last a couple of weeks for the whole family to use.

The mix was poured into an empty clean recycled bottle that used to contain a hand wash. I designed and added a lable and some clear vinyl to make the label waterproof.

I think the finished result wouldn’t look out of place in a beauty store. My husband was first to try the lotion, no adverse reaction from my Hub, no adverse reaction from me or from my kids.

The texture and smell is a lot better than the original lotion.

Do let me know if you’ve made your own sun lotion, or can recommend one to try.