A perfect winter morning, this was, with the sun pouring its liquid gold into the house, flaming it with light. Just as well, since when we trotted downstairs to prepare breakfast it was minus-16-degrees Celsius, with a biting wind. Sufficiently frigid to ensure that our two little dogs would spend an absolute minimum of time out of doors in the backyard, to relieve themselves.

And then, they, like us, looked forward to a warming breakfast to banish the winter chill. And what better way to celebrate, in our modest household, Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee than to use a recipe for drop scones that she herself had sent along as a gift from her kitchen (!) to then-U.S.President Dwight Eisenhower in 1960.

I'd always thought of scones as biscuits which one split open while warm to lather with butter and preserves, for afternoon tea. But these are clearly hotcakes or pancakes, suitable for a winter's breakfast.

Button and Riley were very patient while I went about preparing them. They're quite able to distinguish what's on the menu at any given time and figure, correctly as it happens, that they'll be served little tidbits of whatever it is we're having, once they've finished their own meals.

The recipe called for 2 eggs, 1/4 c.caster sugar (I just whizzed ordinary granulated sugar in a grinder until it was finely textured), 1-1/2 cups milk, 3 cups flour, 3 tsp.cream of tartar, 2 tsp. baking soda, and 2 tbsp.melted butter. Of course that's far too much for two people to consume for a breakfast sitting, so I cut the recipe to a third, but kept the eggs intact, as indeed a note to the president from the Queen pointed out: "Though the quantities are for 16 people, when there are fewer, I generally put in less flour and milk but use the other ingredients as stated...."

I would, on another occasion, put in less sugar, and perhaps think of adding flavouring, such as vanilla extract. Otherwise, the resulting flapjacks, hotcakes, pancakes, scones, whatever one wishes to name them, were quite, quite good.