Cakes & Bakes: Cheese and chive scones

Home-made cheese and chive scone, sliced with cheddar and butter | H is for Home

Cheese and chive scones are on the menu for this week’s Cakes & Bakes.

Grated mature Cheddar cheese | H is for Home Chopped chives on a wooden chopping board with sharp knife | H is for Home

They’re easy to make – and have a very good effort versus reward ratio!

Pouring buttermilk into cheese and chives scones mixture | H is for Home

Grated cheese and chopped chives are added to a standard scone mix (a useful ‘go to’ recipe that can be tweaked and adapted for many uses). Cut into the desired size & shape – and baked for about 15 minutes. What could be easier for a bit of home baking?

Shaping cheese and chive scones using a fluted circular metal pastry cutter | H is for Home Brushing buttermilk on to the tops of uncooked cheese and chive scones | H is for Home

They smell delicious as they come out of the oven – and look tempting as they sit on their cooling rack. Too tempting! Don’t worry though, you can tuck in almost straight away if you feel the urge. We like ours with a smear of butter – and perhaps a thin slice of cheddar to boost the cheesiness! Goats cheese, red Leicester, Gruyère and Camembert have also worked well during our extensive experimentations.

Cooked cheese and chive scones cooling on a wire rack | H is for Home

They’re a perfect light meal or snack at any time of day.

Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest

Home-made cheese and chive scone, sliced with cheddar and butter | H is for Home
Cheese and chive scones
Yields 12
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
25 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
25 min
Ingredients
  1. 350g/12oz self-raising flour
  2. ½tsp bicarbonate of soda
  3. ½tsp cream of tartar
  4. pinch of salt
  5. 300ml/10½ fl oz buttermilk
  6. 75g/2½oz grated cheese (I used a mature cheddar)
  7. 2tbsp finely chopped chivesHome-made cheese chive scones ingredients
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Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 225ºC/440ºF/gas mark 7
  2. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, cream of tartar and salt into a large mixing bowl
  3. Stir in the grated cheese and chopped chives
  4. Make a well in the centre
  5. Reserve about 2tbsp of the buttermilk before adding the rest to the flour
  6. Bring together to form a fairly wet dough, trying not to mix or knead too much
  7. Flour a work surface well before gently patting the dough to about 4cm thick
  8. Form rounds using a large, fluted cookie/pastry cutter
  9. Place the rounds on the baking tray leaving a little space between each
  10. Brush the tops of the scones with the reserved buttermilk
  11. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops have turned a light golden brown
  12. Allow to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack
  13. Serve while still warm
Notes
  1. Slice in half horizontally, butter each half generously and top with a thin slice of cheddar
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H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Red Leicester cheese scones

Buttered, home-made red Leicester cheese scones | H is for Home #recipe #scones

We watched Great British Bake Off winner, Nadiya Hussain’s new BBC cooking series this week. She made Eton mess cheesecake, smoked haddock welsh rarebit and red Leicester cheese scones. It all looked amazing but as we’re afternoon scone lovers, that was the one I wanted to recreate the most.

Flour and grated red Leicester mixture | H is for Home

Nadiya gave viewers a really useful scone-making hint that I’d never heard before. She advised when cutting out the rounds, don’t twist the cutter as this makes the scones lean when rising during baking. One to remember!

Cutting red Licester cheese scones from dough | H is for Home

The other revelation was using onion salt in the recipe. We have some pots of wonderful Cornish Sea Salt, one of which is onion flavoured. I find ‘regular’ onion salt tastes a bit strong, but this one is more subtle – so I added double the ¼tsp measure she sets out. It worked perfectly.

Brushing the tops of red Leicester scones with milk before they go into the oven | H is for Home

The entire process took half an hour from start to delicious end. Nadiya served up hers with her own home-made chive butter; however, plain old salted works a treat too. I reckon red Leicester cheese scones would be successful as part of an alternative ploughman’s lunch – served with cold meats, boiled eggs, salad and pickled onions & red cabbage. Great for picnics, drinks parties or afternoon teas too.

Cooked red Leicester cheese scones cooling on a wire rack | H is for Home

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest

Red Leicester cheese scones
Yields 9
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
30 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
15 min
Total Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 175g/6oz self-raising flour
  2. 50g/1¾oz strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
  3. ¼ tsp onion salt
  4. 55g/2oz unsalted butter, room temperature
  5. 25g/1oz red Leicester, grated
  6. 150ml/5fl oz whole milk, plus 1tbsp extra for glazingHome-made red Leicester cheese scones ingredients
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If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas mark 7
  2. Grease or line a baking tray with baking paper
  3. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the flours, onion salt and butter into a bowl and rub together using your fingertips until you get a fine breadcrumb consistency
  4. Mix in the cheese
  5. Make a well in the centre and add the milk
  6. Bring the dough together with your hands, being careful not to knead or the dough will become tough
  7. Dust the work surface with flour and press the dough out to the thickness of about 2cm/1in
  8. Cut out the scones using a 5cm/2in circular cutter and place onto the prepared tray
  9. Bring the offcuts together gently, again being careful not to knead and cut out as many circles as possible until there's no dough remaining
  10. Brush the tops with milk and bake for 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden and well risen
  11. Allow to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack
  12. Serve warm with butter
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Adapted from Nadiya's British Food Adventure
H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Buttermilk scones

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Home made buttermilk scones | H is for Home

These buttermilk scones are probably the quickest, easiest and perhaps cheapest recipe we’ve featured in our Cakes & Bakes series. There are only 2 ingredients; self-raising flour and buttermilk… Three, if you count the pinch of salt. And they take less than half an hour to make; from getting the ingredients out of the cupboard, to taking the scones out of the oven.

Buttermilk scones being cut and shaped | H is for Home

It’s a great beginner’s recipe or something to make with the kids. All you need is equal weights of flour and milk – simple to remember! If the dough feels a little sticky (some buttermilk can be thicker or thinner in consistency than others) add a little more flour. Similarly, if the dough feels too hard, add a little more buttermilk (or milk if you’ve already used all the buttermilk).

Scones being glazed with buttermilk | H is for Home

Buttermilk scones make a great afternoon snack that can be put together in almost the same time as it might take to make a sandwich. Have them savoury with thin slices of sharp cheddar cheese, or go sweet with a fruit jam and clotted cream.

Home made buttermilk scones with cheese and a mug of tea | H is for Home

Click here to pin the recipe for later

Home made buttermilk scones | H is for Home

Buttermilk scones

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Course Tea
Cuisine British

Ingredients
  

  • 250 g self-raising flour
  • 250 g buttermilk
  • pinch of salt

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 225ºC/440ºF/gas mark 7
  • Line a large oven tray with parchment paper and set aside
  • Mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl
  • Reserve about 2tbs of the buttermilk before adding the rest to the flour
  • Bring together to form quite a wet dough, trying not to mix or knead too much
  • Flour a work surface well before gently rolling the dough to about 2cm thick
  • Form rounds using a medium-sized cookie/pastry cutter
  • Place the rounds on the baking tray leaving a little space between
  • Brush the top of each with the reserved buttermilk
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops have turned a light golden brown
  • Allow to cool for a few minutes on a wire rack
  • Serve while still warm
Buttermilk scones ingredients
Keyword buttermilk, pastry, scones

Cakes and Bakes: Sourdough cheese scones

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Sourdough cheese scones with a mug of tea | H is for Home

This week, I’ve made a batch of sourdough cheese scones. I’ve made sweet scones before, I’ve made savoury scones before, but I’ve never used sourdough in a scone recipe before. They’re quick to make, quick to cook and alas – quick to consume too!

You can double up on the recipe and, after the egg-wash stage, put a dozen in the freezer to cook off another day.

Save the recipe to Pinterest here!

Sourdough cheese scones recipe | H is for Home
Sourdough cheese scone with a mug of tea | H is for Home

Sourdough cheese scones

Ingredients
  

  • 100 g/3½oz sourdough starter 100% hydration
  • 350 g/12oz self-raising flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 85 g/3oz cold butter cubed
  • 75 g/2½ grated cheese something like a mature cheddar
  • 250 g/9oz buttermilk

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 220ºC/425ºF/Gas mark 7 (about 200ºC if you have a fan oven)
  • Grease a large, shallow baking tray
  • In a bowl, mix the flour, cream of tartar and salt. Add the butter and rub with your fingers (or use a pastry blender) until it resembles fine crumbs
  • Make a well in the dry flour mixture and add the buttermilk and sourdough starter and combine using a flexible plastic dough scraper/cutter. Add the cheese and blend
  • Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat it down to so it's about 4cm thick
  • Make into scones using a round pastry cutter
  • Carefully transfer to the greased tray and brush the top of each scones with a bit of beaten egg or milk
  • Bake until risen and golden on the top, about 12-15 minutes