The ultimate cheese scones
- Portion size: Makes 6
- Hands-on time 10 minutes, oven time 14 minutes
- Difficulty: easy
These light and fluffy cheese scones are easy to make and topped with a toasted cheese crust. They make a delicious savoury treat for afternoon tea.
- What makes a great scone: The scones should be well risen with a crisp crust topped with golden toasted cheese. The texture should be light and fluffy with a sharp hit of cheese flavour, inside and out.
- The key ingredients: Use good quality to ensure your scones have that melt-in-the-mouth savoury flavour. Cayenne pepper and mustard powder give a spicy back-note that complements the cheese flavour.
- Which cheese to use: A well flavoured cheese such as extra-mature cheddar, aged gruyère, a quality parmesan or a strong blue cheese is essential.
Prefer your scones sweet with jam and cream? Make our classic scones instead.
Ingredients
- 225g self-raising flour, plus extra to dust
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1½ tsp mustard powder
- 55g chilled salted butter, cubed
- 100g mature cheddar, finely grated, plus 50g grated
- 60-100ml warmed mixture of whole milk and water, plus extra milk for brushing
You’ll also need…
- Heavy-duty non-stick baking sheet
- Round 6cm plain or crinkle pastry cutter
Method
- Put the baking sheet in the oven and heat it to 220°C/200°C fan/gas 7.
- Meanwhile, sift the flour, baking powder, salt, cayenne pepper and mustard powder into a food processor. Add the cubed butter and process briefly until the mixture resembles very fine breadcrumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, put the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, add the butter and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles very fine breadcrumbs.
- Tip the mixture into a large mixing bowl (if it’s not already in one), then mix in the 100g finely grated cheese.
- Add the milk and water mixture to the bowl a little at a time (you may not need the full 100ml) and, using a dinner knife with a cutting motion, mix everything together quickly and evenly. Bring the mixture together quickly with your hands into a smooth ball, then put on a lightly floured work surface. Resist the temptation to knead it.
- Gently press out the mixture using the heel of your hand to 2.5cm thick. Cut out 4 scones using your cutter. Gently press the offcuts together and cut out 2 more scones. Shape any remaining dough into a small disc (the cook’s perk!).
- Brush the tops of the scones with milk and sprinkle with the remaining 50g grated cheese. Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven, put the scones on it, spaced well apart, then bake for 12-14 minutes until richly golden and cooked though.
- Remove the scones from the oven and serve as soon as possible after baking, ideally spread with a little butter.
FAQs
Yes, the recipe already uses self-raising flour.
Butter, marmite, more cheese all work well. Or treat your scone like a mini sandwich with added ham, smoked salmon and cream cheese etc.
Serve them warm with butter or your favourite savoury toppings. Or as a side to winter soups.
Cheddar and gruyere make good choices or a combination of both.
Keep everything as cold as possible, mix/work the dough as little as possible and preheat the baking tray (this helps kickstart the baking for good rise and crusty base).
Yes, cook, cool and wrap well before freezing. Defrost at room temperature then reheat in a low oven for 5-10 minutes to refresh and warm through.
Nutrition
- 287kcals Calories
- 14.6g (8.8g saturated) Fat
- 8.5g Protein
- 29.5g (0.7g sugars) Carbs
- 1.5g Fibre
- 1.4g Salt
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Reviews
Beautiful scones, but did find I needed to more milk. The mixture didn’t bind well with just 60mls. Other similar recipes have about double the amount of liquid. But it didn’t stop them being absolutely delicious!
These are beautiful . I changed my cheese from just cheddar to a mixture of provolone picante and cheddar . It makes them properly cheesey .
The recipe should say 60 mils each of milk and warm water 120mls I read it as 60 mls in total and obviously it didn’t work.
Hi Diana. Thanks for your feedback! We’re going to re-test the recipe and get back to you! Thanks, Thea.
Great recipe; can’t go wrong with Delicious Magazine! I did add a little parmesan after a recommendation from a friend and they were amazing!!
Thanks for the feedback Elspeth, so glad you loved our cheese scones!
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