I had another of those plan-less summer Saturdays that I mentioned in my last post, and guess what, it rained again. That meant I was back to baking. I’ve had a craving lately for scones, and after we’d made spelt dosa with curried paneer for breakfast, I had a whole load of spelt flour leftover. I’ve not used spelt flour with scones before, but after a little searching I found a few recipes which looked pretty great. One of them was full of honey and oats, which I’ve bookmarked for later. However what I really wanted was something filled with cheese, so here’s a recipe for cheese spelt scones.
I’ve not baked scones in absolutely ages. In fact, my last scone recipe is one of the earlier ones on the blog. You’ll notice a theme from those though, I love myself a savoury cheese scone. Sweet ones have their place, covered in clotted cream and jam, but for me, cheese scones are the ones that always win. These are great covered in butter, perhaps with some marmite.
The key with scone dough is not to overwork it. You don’t want them to be too tough, so once it comes together, stop mixing and once you’ve rolled it out, even if you’re combining scraps, don’t re-roll. You want it to be handled as little as possible, to keep the scones soft.
Oh and hey, I got nominated in ‘Best Food Blog’ at the 2017 Bloggers Blog Awards. It’d mean an absolute ton if you could vote for me (and your other favourite bloggers on the shortlist).
- 225g spelt flour (white)
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp English mustard powder
- ¼ tsp mild paprika
- 2tsp (rounded) baking powder
- 40g unsalted butter - room temperature, cubed
- 100g Cheddar cheese (sharp cheese) - grated, plus a little extra for the top
- 50g Emmental cheese - grated
- 1 large egg, beaten with enough full fat milk to make up 175ml liquid
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan assisted) and line a couple of baking trays with grease proof paper.
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, seasoning, spices and baking powder) in a large bowl.
- Add the butter and, using your hands, rub it through until there are no large lumps remaining and it resembles course sand.
- Mix the cheese through.
- Make a well in the center of the cheese & flour mix and pour in the egg & milk mixture. Use a knife to gently stir this together. You don't want to over handle it.
- Once it's combined, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to about 2cm thick.
- Using a 5-6cm circular cutter, cut out into as many scones as possible. This'll be around 8 or 9. You can push the scraps together to form more, but don't re-roll as you want to handle as little as possible.
- Place on the baking tray, brush with egg and sprinkle cheese on top.
- Bake in the center of the pre-heated oven for about 12 minutes, until the top has gone golden and they've doubled in height.
- Allow to cool on the baking tray for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- They are better fresh, and eaten within 24 hours.
Oh I definitely need to try making these, I love a good scone and prefer savoury to sweet every time!!!
Emma | HarmonyBlaze.co.uk
Best cheese scone recipe i’ve ever made! Need to be cautious about the liquid as I found didn’t need all the milk, so might be better to add egg and then add as much milk as required to bring it together. So yummy straight from the oven. Perfect for a Sunday tea after a big lunch!
Hi Ruth, thank you so much for the kind words and the feedback.
Really glad you enjoyed them! Glad they went down so well.