Last weekend we had a few unexpected visitors, a lovely surprise but i`m sure anyone will agree with me that you always have that burning question raging inside of you...What am I going to offer them to eat?!
I have a freezer full of odds and sods and I was mentally trawling through the contents of my larder racking my brains for inspiration.
Most of us can rustle up a sandwich at the drop of a hat, even if we have to defrost some bread in the microwave. But the only sweet thing that I could think of that was lurking in my cake tins was a packet of Sainsbury`s Basic scones that I had bought on a bit of a whim the day before!

The logic behind the purchase was that they represented good value and it was just the two of us that were going to eat them, little did I know!

Sainsbury`s Basic scones look exactly what they are, basic!
They are smaller than the average scone but given that they are only 35p for ten you just can`t expect miracles.
The sultana`s have just made a fleeting visit through the mixture but you can still spot a few if you look carefully.

So I sallied forth into the kitchen feeling far less confident than I was looking, I assure you. The sandwiches were a doddle, just some grated cheese, egg mayonnaise and a couple of slices of ham that needed using up.
But then the challenge began, how to make a very run of the mill basic product look spectacular!

As you lift one of the scones from the packet you can tell by the weight of the scone that the texture is going to be firm. Each scone does have a golden top that has a touch of flour sitting on it.
I thought that the texture may be improved by warming the scones slightly, so I decided to warm them in the conventional way and put them into the oven for a couple of minutes. that way they seem to hold the heat more than if they had been warmed through for a couple of seconds in the microwave.
I think that most of us have always got jam in our store cupboards and by sheer chance I had a jar of Strawberry conserve. In the fridge I had a drop of double cream that I whipped up until it was thick and stood in peaks.

When we had enjoyed the sandwiches with a few cups of tea I went into the kitchen and put the scones into the oven to warm, ready for their topping. They have a much heavier texture and I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be a more project difficult than I thought, but they manage to raise ships from the bottom of the ocean so surely I could make a silk purse from a sows ear!
I got my serving plate ready and took the warmed scones from the oven, they didn`t have that home baked smell attached to them but they looked fine. Warming them through had certainly brought out the best in them, although they crumbled slightly when they were cut.
I decided that buttering them may well make them fall apart totally, so I skipped that part and moved on to phase two and placed a large dollop of strawberry conserve on the top of each half of the scones.
The jam ran into the warm scones and in fact they started to take on a different light. I needed to get the whipped double cream onto the top of them without disturbing the crumbly texture any further, so I used a teaspoon and popped a scoop on the top of each.

Five minutes later the teapot was refreshed and I was offering the scones to my visitors.
OK, I have certainly tasted better, the more you pay the better quality the scone becomes and you can usually depend on them being buttery and packed with fruit.
The jam and cream was making up for the lack of fruit and the home baked touch. The plate was cleared and they were enjoyed!
Granted they crumbled as you picked them up off of the plate but that was small worries.

Maybe they wouldn't be my first choice to serve for afternoon tea but they saved the day in this case!
So well done Sainsbury`s for saving my bacon.