Cheddar cheese scones
Zimbabwe was a British colony and as a result we adopted a lot of their food culture. One of these being scones. I grew up eating scones and naturally they were one of the first things I hunted for in bakeries after I left Zimbabwe (second to meat pies ). Needless to say, I never found scones but the next best thing were biscuits and that’s when the confusion began .
You see, what we call biscuits in Zimbabwe, in the US they call cookies. What Americans call biscuits is the savory equivalent of what we call scones in Zimbabwe. It’s a little confusing because these words exist in both countries but have totally different meanings! Another example is the word ‘smart’ If you tell someone in Zimbabwe that they’re smart, It usually means that they’re well-dressed or stylish but if you tell someone in the US the exact same thing, it means they’re clever or intelligent. If you’re not aware of some of these subtle differences, it can lead to a lot of confusing conversation.
Anyway, I digress from the main topic of this blog post! Inspired by the US version of biscuits, I made these by simply taking the sugar out of my basic scones recipe and replacing that with extra sharp cheddar cheese (my fav). So cheesy and crumbly. Over the years I’ve learnt that the less liquid and the more butter I use in my scones, the more crumbly they are and that’s just how I love them.
Traditional scones are usually enjoyed with something sweet like jam and a cup of tea but because these are savory, serve warm as an accompaniment to your favorite soup or stew. For me, these scones tasted so much better the next day, warmed up for a few seconds in the microwave.
This recipe makes about 10 scones. I used a 2.5 inch ( about 6.3 cm) round cookie cutter. Do let me know if you give these babies a try.
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 10 tbsp. cold butter, cubed
- 3 ½ oz. / 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- ¼ cup cold whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 C)
- Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
- Add the butter, rub the mixture with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Mix in most of the shredded cheese. Leave some to top the scones later.
- Make a well in the center, add the milk, mix everything together well using a fork. The mixture becomes a little sticky at this point.
- Bring everything together to form a soft dough.
- Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll it to about 1 inch thickness.
- Cut the dough into whatever sizes or shapes you like.
- Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Brush the tops with a little milk and top each scone with a little shredded cheese.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees F (165 C) and continue to bake for another 10 minutes.
- Serve warm with your favorite soup or stew.
Notes
This recipe makes about 10 scones. I used a 2.5 inch ( about 6.3 cm) round cookie cutter.