Cheddar Cheese Scones  

Here is a recipe for "Cheddar Cheese Scones" like these...

Ingredients:

2 - cups of all purpose flour.
1 - table spoon of sugar.
1/2 - tea spoon of salt.
3 - tea spoons of baking powder.
pinch of nutmeg.
4 - ounces of butter. (1/2 stick)
4 - ounces of cheddar cheese. (yellow, sharp)
1/2 - cup of whole milk.
2 - large eggs.

Prep Time: 10 minutes.

Oven Temp: 425 degrees.
Bake Time: 11 minutes.

Preperation:

The instructions are very simple I just included so many pictures...

Set the oven to 425 degrees so it can warm while you prepare the scones for baking. The scones cook best in a warm oven, and they only bake for 11 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and baking powder. Swish it around so it is well blended.

Dice the butter and cheese into 1/4 inch cubes. Perfection not required but the butter should be less than 1/4 inch so it blends well in the dough when kneeded. Shreeded cheese is not recommended. The cheese needs to have some body so there are tasty cheesy flavorful bites in the scones.

Add the butter and cheese to the flour and swish it around so it is somewhat evenly coated.

Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk and eggs.

Mix the milk and eggs so they are combined as if you were making a scrambled egg mixture.

Gradually turn in the flour mixture in from the sides until it is manageable by hand. I use a stiff spactula at this point.

Kneed by hand until it is well blended. It will be a little tacky and you can use a little flour on your hands but not too much, maybe a table spoon or two.

At this stage there is a tendancy to over flour and the scones will come out dry.

Finished kneeding, still just a little tacky but not sticking to the bowl. You can see the chuncks of cheese in the dough and look how clean the bowl is...

A tiny bit of flour on your work surface and pat the dough flat forming a circle about 7.5 inches in diameter.

With a long flat knife cut the circle in half then half again and again forming 8 pie shaped pieces.

The pieces should be relativly the same size so they all bake evenly.

Place them on a baking sheet. There is enough oil from the butter and cheese to keep them from sticking. I use a single layer cookie sheet from the 1950's. Seems to do well. I haven't tried the newer "air bake" cookie sheets.

Bake for 11 minutes. A little more and they become dry and crusty. A little less and they remain doughy. Still eatable in either case but the 11 minutes in the hot oven seems to work perfectly everytime. I use the digital timer on the microwave to be accurate.

They slide off the cooking sheet and leave it relativly clean. I let them cool about 5 minutes or so before placing them on a plate.

Here they are! Hey, only 7 left. They don't last long around here.

I would make them on the same day that you are going to eat them. Wrap them individually in plastic for overnight storage. I imagine in a large covered dish unwraped, would be just fine.