Review: Charming introduction to scones
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 5, 2012
As I plan to review four of Ms. Romsey's cookbooks, I think it best to cover the major issue I have with all of them right at the beginning: Measurements and ingredient names.  For the British marketplace, it's not a problem.  British cooks will understand things like cornflour and caster sugar; Americans will have to look them up. Volumes can be a problem. British cooks will know that the pints of liquid referred to are Imperial pints.  Americans will have to do some stepping to come up with the equivalent measurements for some ingredients.  (For the record, an Imperial pint is roughly 20 liquid oz. Thus 1/4 of a pint will be about 5 oz in the UK, not 4 as it is here in the US.) Ingredients listed by weight are simpler, and any cook who routinely uses a scale for baking will have no problems with these.  However I think that it would have been an enormous help to all cooks if the measurements had been converted to metric.The other issue I have, and I don't think this is necessarily a problem with Ms. Romsey's formatting, is that pages will sometimes repeat on my Kindle.  I'll go through the first page of a recipe, turn the page and find most of the information repeated on the next page.  I don't know what causes this issue, but be aware of it as you work. It can be confusing if you're in the middle of a recipe.All that said, I must say I like this cookbook tremendously.  Scones have always been an occasional treat for me, and now I have a handy and simple guide to making them for myself.  Romsey begins with recipes for basic scones, then provides a number of variations for both sweet and savory varieties.  The cheddar and chive scones sound most delicious as do the walnut and raisin ones.Apart from the issues outlined above, the recipes are simple, easy to follow and should allow even timid cooks to bake up delicious scones with ease.  I'm very pleased to add this cookbook to my collection and hope Jane Romsey will choose to share more of her favorite recipes with readers.