Whilst out with Fiona during the week, enjoying a gorgeous slice of cake and an espresso in Juliet’s in Tunbridge Wells, Fiona had a little ‘food envy’! This is just one of my funny little sayings that makes Fiona laugh, but basically, just incase you don’t know, food envy is where you have ordered your food and as soon as it comes to the table you see that someone else has something better than you and you wish you had ordered what they had!!! Fiona’s dilemma on this day was she fancied something savoury, opted for Rocky Road (I know, not savoury at all) and then saw gorgeous cheese scones! A classic case of food envy.
I had Lemon Feather Cake, I have never had it before, but it looked so gorgeous and rustic and I just had to try it, it was truly amazing, the best cake I have had in a very long time and I am currently researching recipes so that I can bake it at home and get it onto the Blog as soon as I can, I can not live without this cake!!!
Anyway, back to cheese scones, the very next day I was watching Nigel Slater’s, Dish of the Day and he baked a huge cheese scone that you can just tear and share, I just had to bake it and will be making this for Fiona very soon, she will love it.
Please excuse the lack of measurements for the cheese in the recipe, I was truly just following the video and baking, but just use what ever leftovers that you may have laying around the fridge, a large handful is probably about right and next time I bake this, if using unsalted butter again I will add a little salt, I just felt that it needed it, just to bring out that savoury taste that a good cheese scone should have, but as is always the case, just play around with it, use your favourite cheeses and enjoy. Whilst waiting for Hubby to proof read this, my mind went on a little wander and I was thinking about what else I could add, I came up with caramelised onions, chilli flakes or a really interesting mustard, I just love recipes that you can play with and make your own.
We had our cheese scone as a side with gorgeous Waitrose meat balls and it was divine, but it would be great served with a cup of tea to a friend who is maybe not as cake mad as I am.
Buon appetito
450g plain flour
4 teaspoon baking powder
85g butter
350ml milk
Cheese, crumbled for the scone and a small amount grated for the top – any left overs you have in your fridge, about a large handful, I used English Blue & a mature Cheddar
Preheat your oven to 200°C and flour or line a baking sheet.
Sift the flour and baking powder in to a large bowl. Grate the cold butter into the flour and, using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. If you have a Magimix or large food processor simply blitz the butter and flour for about 10-15 seconds until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the milk and using a wooden spoon or the food processor, mix the liquid and dry ingredients together, mix until you have a nice dough and place this on a lightly floured work surface.
Lightly flatten out the dough, add the crumbled cheese and knead with your hands for a minute or two until the mixture forms a smooth dough and the cheese is nicely combined in to the dough. Resist the temptation to over-knead or the scone will be tough.
Using your hands, roughly shape the dough into a round loaf like shape.
Place the scone on your floured baking sheet and brush with your egg wash and a light covering of grated cheese. Score the top with a sharp knife, I just scored mine to form quarters, so that it was easy to tear, but you could do smaller slices if you wanted.
Bake the scone in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. It should have doubled in size and look golden brown on top.
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