MANILA, Philippines — How very English to be eating scones for afternoon tea!
It’s lovely, indeed, to be served scones along with bite-sized sandwiches, tea cakes and pastries on a three-tiered afternoon tea set platter. You just pick a piece of scone after a piece or two of tea sandwich, gently beak it, slather it with clotted cream (or whipped double cream, sometimes) and then jam, and bite away. Wash it down with tea brewed from loose leaf tea leaves, and you’re good to go.
Chef Alvin Ong makes these scones even more irresistible by adding California raisins and dried cranberries into them before baking the scones, and it is simply marvelous. He featured these scones, which he fondly calls Craisin Scones, in a baking demonstration which he conducted for Dane International Commodities during the recently Bakery Fair 2025.
For those who want to make their own scones, here is Chef Alvin Ong’s recipe:
Craisin Scones
Ingredients:
215 grams all-purpose ?our
65 grams white sugar
11 grams baking powder
6 grams salt
18 grams dehydrated potato ?akes
160 grams chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
18 grams water
45 grams full cream milk
60 grams whole eggs
85 grams dried cranberries
85 grams California raisins
Procedure:
1. In a bowl, combine all dry ingredients, except dried cranberries and raisins.
2. Add in your chilled butter and transfer to a tabletop mixer. Using paddle attachment on the mixer, pulse slowly until dry ingredients are slightly hydrated by the butter and has pea-sized crumb texture.
3. Add in your wet ingredients, and pulse paddle until combined.
4. Then add in dried fruits and paddle just to combine.
5. On a ?oured work surface, flatten dough to around 1.5-inch thick, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 180°C.
7. Take out chilled dough. By using a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut dough into round shapes. Transfer to a lined baking sheet. Brush top with egg wash and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until ?rm in the center.
8. Transfer to a cooling rack to let cool.
9. Serve.
Yields 12 pieces.