Preheat the oven to 220/ 200C F/Gas 7 and dust a baking sheet with flour.
Add the flours, bicarbonate of soda, a pinch of salt, the butter and sugar to a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then pour into a bowl. Alternatively, you can do this in a bowl with your fingers.
Using a hand mixer, gently blend the egg, treacle, Guinness and buttermilk together in a bowl. Stir this into the dry ingredients to form a dough.
Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and bring the dough together gently. Try not to be heavy-handed – you want to keep all the air in so the scones stay light. Pat the dough and roll it out to 2.5cm thick. Dip a 6.5cm pastry cutter into some flour and stamp out the scones, keeping the pastry cutter well-floured so it doesn’t stick.
Once all the scones have been stamped out, put them on the baking sheet and sprinkle the tops with wholemeal flour.
Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool before serving.
Recipes and photography taken from The Irish Kitchen by Cherie Denham, photography by Andrew Montgomery (Montgomery Press, £30)
