Tattie scones – a traditional Scottish treat for St Andrew’s Day

Happy St Andrew’s day folks!

St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and 30th November is his day, St Andrew’s day. In all honesty, we don’t actually do anything to celebrate it, it’s just another day and a heck of a lot of Scots probably couldn’t even tell you when St Andrew’s day is but…. it gives me an excuse to share some of my favourite Scottish noms with you. So I’m all up for it!

Last year as a St Andrew’s day treat, I shared my recipe for traditional Parlies (or Parliament Cake) with you. A spicy, dark, ginger biscuit which goes fantastically well with coffee.

http://www.eliandkate.com/parlies-or-parliament-cake-an-old-fashioned-scottish-biscuit/

This year I’m sharing Tattie Scones or Potato Scones if you are being posh. These are a basic staple in a full Scottish breakfast but they aren’t just found in Scotland, you get them in Ireland too, although there they tend to be called Farls. They are super easy to make, but soooo tasty, so here goes.

You will need….

• Leftover mashed potato…. yup you read that right, cold mashed potato, preferably without milk or butter added. Tattie scones are basically a little cake of fried mashed potato. You need 500g.
• Add in 160g of plain flour and a half tsp of salt.
• Add a tbsp of oil or melted butter.
• Now get your hands in there and mix it all together.

You are not looking for a dough as such, more just until it starts to stick together. It will come together in a ball, that’s what you are after.

Dump that out onto your surface and roll it into a sausage shape and cut 6-8 equal portions.

Next roll them into little balls

and roll them out into discs. You are looking for a nice even depth of about 2 – 4mm or the thickness of a pound coin (ish).

Next is the reason these are called Farls in Ireland, we cut each disc into four quarters, you do see tattie scones as squares as well but I grew up with tattie scones as triangles so this is how I make them.

The cooking…

• You need to get a large frying pan on the stove at a medium heat. Drop some butter into it and let it melt (butter gives the best flavour and makes then lovely, golden brown and crisp. mmmmmmmmm)
• Cook batches of four at a time and you are looking at about 2 or 3 minutes per side, until they are nice and golden.

How to serve…

You can eat these hot or cold and serve them with pretty much anything. My favourite is to have them on a roll with bacon but you can eat them with butter and jam, or Kate likes them with butter and cheese. Most folk I think would include these as part of a cooked breakfast ( a full Scottish). Just enjoy them any way you like.