Sultana scones and a successful Saturday

Last week was a little stressful. J had a few wobbly days. Having had 7 perfect months at his new school (7 months!!! where did that time go!) he had a couple of wobbly days at school too. Nothing major, just struggling to focus on one occassion and struggling to listen well on another occasion. So pretty minor given all his previous difficulties when he was younger at school. But still a wobble.

Friday evening stress levels grew higher still. 'I don't want to go'. 'I'm not going'. 'I'm staying home'. He was worried about Saturday. There was a taster day at one of the secondary schools that we had been considering for him. Saturday morning was much the same. Even though I had phoned them and talked him step by step through what was going to happen and what the timetable was. He still didn't want to go.

Daddy agreed that if necessary he would stay on site and be with J to support him as much as he needed it.

Then after a short while Daddy came home after dropping J off. Much to my amazement he stayed. We kept our telephones close at hand waiting for the phonecall to come. It never did.

At pick up time, J emerged with a bagful of scones he had made and a big smile on his face. He had really enjoyed the day.

As well as doing Art, and Science, he had made scones including some shaped like dinosaurs. Can you spot T-rex and Stegasaurus here:

They sent home a copy of the recipe so he made another batch at home soon after. Here's the recipe (slightly amended as we used more dried fruit and a little more milk). I love the fact it is a real Step-by-step method so that J could work pretty independently in the kitchen.

Ingredients: (makes 8-10 scones)

200g self-raising flour

75g margarine or butter cubed

50g caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

50 ml milk

70g dried fruit (eg sultanas)

Step by Step Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220C and grease a baking tray (we used fry light spray).

2. Measure out your ingredients.

3. Sieve flour into a large mixing bowl and add the sugar.

4. Rub the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Add the dried fruit.

6. Crack an egg into a glass and check for any shell. Beat the egg with a fork and stir in the milk.

7. Gradually add the egg and milk mixture into the flour. Keep a little of the milk and egg mixture to one side. Mix slowly to form a dough.

8. Turn the dough into a lightly floured surface and knead very gently to bring it together into a ball of dough.

9. Roll the dough no thinner than 2cm thickness using a rolling pin.

10. Cut out circles (or other shapes - J made a dinosaur one using a dinosaur cutter) and place onto the baking tray.

11. Glaze the scones with leftover egg and milk.

12. Cook for 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

13. Allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Linking up with Small Steps Amazing Acheivements which is being hosted over at Autism Mumma this week whilst Ethan's mum takes a rest in preparation for the new baby!

And if you haven't read our guest post over on Autism Mumma it can be found here. (In fact, all the wonderful guest posts that Jeanette pulled together over Autism month are worth a read!)

Also linking up with Raisie Bay's Kids in the Kitchen of course - Which I think everyone on the planet should link up with because it is great for reminding us to let the kids get involved in the kitchen and it has really inspired us so much with our cooking.