10/07/2018

Very Cheesy Cheese Scones

Name: Very Cheesy Cheese Scones
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 450 g self raising flour (plus extra for rolling); 2 tsp baking powder; pinch salt; 50 g butter; 250 g grated cheese (e.g. mature Cheddar) (you can substitute some of the Cheddar with Parmesan, gruyere etc.); 250 ml yogurt (or milk or buttermilk or any of these diluted with water) (plus extra for brushing the tops of the scones)

Cheese Scones. Is there anyone who doesn’t love a cheese scone? Warm from the oven and eaten slathered in butter, there can’t be many home baked savouries that are so comforting yet take hardly any time to make from scratch.

Here I share my easy and delicious recipe that knocks the socks off bland, mass-produced cheese scones. In fact, I think these just might be the best cheese scones ever.

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SCONES: HOMEMADE VS SHOP BOUGHT

I love scones of all types, Classic Sultana Scones and all manner of savoury scones. But I can’t understand why so many people buy bland, boring ones found in supermarkets. Because they’re so quick and easy to make at home.

I think mass-produced cheese scones are the most disappointing of all. Often looking tasty enough, as if they’d have a good cheesy bite, the ones I’ve tried (including some labelled as made ‘the truly Artisanal way’) have been largely dreadful. They have very little flavour and an unpleasant, dry texture.

The good news is that, like all scones, the cheese variety are dead simple to make in your own kitchen. Providing you use plenty of well-flavoured cheese, I think you’ll be impressed with the results.

EASY

The basic scone recipe is easy. Start by rubbing butter into sifted self-raising flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Although self-raising flour already has raising agent in it, for scones I like to add additional baking powder to help get a really nice height to the scones.

At this stage you can also add some mustard powder. Personally, I like to keep the scones simply cheesy.

Next, grated cheese is stirred in. A mature Cheddar is ideal. Sometimes I’ll swap in a little Parmesan for extra flavour. On this occasion I happened to have some gruyere cheese in the fridge so some of that went in too.

To form a soft dough, liquid is then added. I most often use plain, full-fat yogurt in all my scones, mainly because I always keep some in the fridge. But also because it makes the scones light and fluffy. You could use a mixture of yogurt and milk or water, all milk, milk and water or buttermilk.

When forming the dough, start off with a rubber spoon or spatula to bring the mixture together, then switch to gently using your hands. Handling the dough as little as possible should help to keep the finished scones nice and soft inside, so just give it a few seconds’ light kneading before rolling out onto a floured surface.

Don’t roll it too thinly either if you want a nice tall scone; 2-3 cm is about right. Stamp out the scones, re-rolling any scraps to use up all the dough and put them on a lightly greased baking tray. A 6 – 7 cm cutter should give you approximately 12 scones with this recipe.

For extra cheesiness I sprinkle over more grated cheese after brushing the tops with a little yogurt, thinned with water, to help it stick.

The scones are then put in a preheated oven where they’re only going to need 12-18 minutes, so don’t go wandering off once you’ve put them in.

When they’re nicely risen and browned, transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool a little – if you can resist the wonderful cheesy aroma – before having at them with the butter and a blissful grin. Tip: pulling apart a warm scone rather than cutting in half will keep the interior fluffy!

SERVING CHEESE SCONES

I think all scones are best served slightly warm. but if they’re not going to be eaten straight away then store them in an airtight container or freeze once they’re completely cold. A few seconds in the microwave or a few minutes in a low oven will be enough to warm them through again.

All a really good cheese scone needs is plenty of butter to make a wonderful snack at any time. But I also love them in a quirky, savoury version of that British classic, the cream tea: homemade cheese scones spread with soft cheese and topped with homemade chutney like my Smoky Tomato Chilli Chutney.

Or how about ramping up the cheese flavour even more? Try spreading them thickly with homemade Potted Cheese.

Cheese scones are also a nice change from bread when served alongside soups, stews and salads and, as they’re so quick to make, are a good standby if you find that you’re out of bread.

VARIATIONS

I think there’s a lot of scope for creating different flavours of savoury scone and, although I regularly make cheese ones, I plan to do a lot more experimentation with different ingredients.

Just a few minute’s thought has come up with these possibilities to try (I’ll recipe links as I test them):

Sun-dried tomato & goat’s cheese
Roasted onion & garlic
Roasted Pepper, Salami & Cheese Scones
Feta & chive
Cheese & Ham Scones with Wild Garlic
Sage, apple & cheese
Cheese, Smoky Bacon & Spring Onion Scones
Cheese, Chorizo & Chive Scones
Cheese & Walnut
Cheddar & Cream Cheese Scones with Garlic & Herbs

4.9 from 39 votes