450g plain flour (~16 oz; 1 lb)
(omit baking powder if using self-raising flour)
6 tsp (2 TBL) baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp English mustard powder (optional)
100g (~4 oz, 1 stick) cold butter
250g (~9 oz) strong hard cheese like mature red Leicester or cheddar (reserve some for topping)
2 tbsp finely chopped chives (optional)
120ml (4 oz; 1/2 C) cold milk
120ml (4 oz; 1/2 C) cold water
1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk for brushing on top
Heat the oven to 220C. (425F)
Put the flour, baking powder, salt and mustard powder into a large mixing bowl and whisk together until smooth and well combined.
Grate in the butter, then rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like wet sand.
Finely grate in 225g cheese, add the chives, and then stir to combine. Mix in the milk and water until the dough just comes away from the edge of the bowl; don’t handle it any more than is necessary. Tip on o a very lightly floured surface and flatten into a rectangle about 2.5 cm (1") high. Cut out with a fluted cutter (about 6cm wide for 12 scones), reshaping as necessary while handling the dough as little as possible.
Put on a baking tray and brush the egg and milk mixture. Grate the remaining cheese over the top and bake for about 12 minutes until golden.
Allow to cool slightly on a rack before splitting open.
Marilyn's Notes:
I really like when The Guardian does a deep dive into a recipe. The article author will test various known recipes and then create a version that she feels is perfect. In this case, I agree with her.
Here's how I adapted...mostly because I had to:
After finding this recipe, I bought 8 oz package of CABOT extra sharp white cheddar, but then life got in the way and by last night, there was only a small chunk left. To reach 250 grams, I used what I had: the Cabot extra sharp, some Tillamook cheddar and a chunk of boring Comte. I think it redeemed itself in this recipe.
I added the Colman's dry mustard and a heavy shake of Cayenne pepper, but didn't have chives so I tossed a TBL of Sunny Paris into the milk blend to soften. Sunny Paris (Thank you again, Michael in Naples for telling us about this!) is a ridiculously expensive Penzey blend of purple shallots, chives, green peppercorn, French basil, French tarragon, chervil, bay leaf and dill weed. I love it.
I made the dough last night, shaped it into a square (~2.5 cm high...and yes, I do keep several rulers in my kitchen, both metric and inches) on a Silpat without additional flour, divided that in half, then cut triangles (ended up with 14 by schmooshing end pieces into triangles), brushed with egg, added cheese topping and put the entire tray in the freezer.
This morning I baked a single frozen scone at 400 F CONVECTION to test timing, which took 17 minutes to reach 189 degrees internal on a room temperature tray. After that, it took 22 minutes to bake the remaining frozen scones on the cookie tray that was still slightly cold from freezer.
Final height ranged from 3.5 cm (1.5") to 4.5 cm (1 3/4"). They didn't rise to the height seen in the article, but then I'm not British. Maybe there was a bit of cultural bias going on in my kitchen?
While I liked this size for breakfast, I think they would be perfect for a tea if half this size. Since the dough is dense, I think they can be cut smaller and still have integrity. However, I'm too lazy to make another batch and punch out fluted rounds to test this theory.
PS: next time I'll use all dark orange cheese...the Cabot and Comte were both white and didn't give the cheezy (ha!) appearance and bubbly top crust I would have preferred.
https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/swap-photos/ch-scones.jpg
(omit baking powder if using self-raising flour)
6 tsp (2 TBL) baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp English mustard powder (optional)
100g (~4 oz, 1 stick) cold butter
250g (~9 oz) strong hard cheese like mature red Leicester or cheddar (reserve some for topping)
2 tbsp finely chopped chives (optional)
120ml (4 oz; 1/2 C) cold milk
120ml (4 oz; 1/2 C) cold water
1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk for brushing on top
Heat the oven to 220C. (425F)
Put the flour, baking powder, salt and mustard powder into a large mixing bowl and whisk together until smooth and well combined.
Grate in the butter, then rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like wet sand.
Finely grate in 225g cheese, add the chives, and then stir to combine. Mix in the milk and water until the dough just comes away from the edge of the bowl; don’t handle it any more than is necessary. Tip on o a very lightly floured surface and flatten into a rectangle about 2.5 cm (1") high. Cut out with a fluted cutter (about 6cm wide for 12 scones), reshaping as necessary while handling the dough as little as possible.
Put on a baking tray and brush the egg and milk mixture. Grate the remaining cheese over the top and bake for about 12 minutes until golden.
Allow to cool slightly on a rack before splitting open.
Marilyn's Notes:
I really like when The Guardian does a deep dive into a recipe. The article author will test various known recipes and then create a version that she feels is perfect. In this case, I agree with her.
Here's how I adapted...mostly because I had to:
After finding this recipe, I bought 8 oz package of CABOT extra sharp white cheddar, but then life got in the way and by last night, there was only a small chunk left. To reach 250 grams, I used what I had: the Cabot extra sharp, some Tillamook cheddar and a chunk of boring Comte. I think it redeemed itself in this recipe.
I added the Colman's dry mustard and a heavy shake of Cayenne pepper, but didn't have chives so I tossed a TBL of Sunny Paris into the milk blend to soften. Sunny Paris (Thank you again, Michael in Naples for telling us about this!) is a ridiculously expensive Penzey blend of purple shallots, chives, green peppercorn, French basil, French tarragon, chervil, bay leaf and dill weed. I love it.
I made the dough last night, shaped it into a square (~2.5 cm high...and yes, I do keep several rulers in my kitchen, both metric and inches) on a Silpat without additional flour, divided that in half, then cut triangles (ended up with 14 by schmooshing end pieces into triangles), brushed with egg, added cheese topping and put the entire tray in the freezer.
This morning I baked a single frozen scone at 400 F CONVECTION to test timing, which took 17 minutes to reach 189 degrees internal on a room temperature tray. After that, it took 22 minutes to bake the remaining frozen scones on the cookie tray that was still slightly cold from freezer.
Final height ranged from 3.5 cm (1.5") to 4.5 cm (1 3/4"). They didn't rise to the height seen in the article, but then I'm not British. Maybe there was a bit of cultural bias going on in my kitchen?
While I liked this size for breakfast, I think they would be perfect for a tea if half this size. Since the dough is dense, I think they can be cut smaller and still have integrity. However, I'm too lazy to make another batch and punch out fluted rounds to test this theory.
PS: next time I'll use all dark orange cheese...the Cabot and Comte were both white and didn't give the cheezy (ha!) appearance and bubbly top crust I would have preferred.
https://recipeswap.org/fun/wp-content/uploads/swap-photos/ch-scones.jpg
