The ultimate cheese scones
- Published: 21 Nov 17
- Updated: 26 May 25
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.
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Makes 6 -
Hands-on time 10 minutes, oven time 14 minutes
Before you start
You never knead a scone dough, as you want it to be only very lightly mixed. This is what gives them their crumbly texture.
Make sure your butter is fridge cold when you chop it and mix it into the flour. Cold fat in a dough will create a flakier texture once it’s introduced to the hot baking sheet. If you’ve got the time, put the cut scones in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking for maximum flakiness.
A few spoonfuls of finely chopped chives mixed into the dough gives the scones a pleasing garlicky flavour.
Nutrition
- Calories
- 287kcals
- Fat
- 14.6g (8.8g saturated)
- Protein
- 8.5g
- Carbohydrates
- 29.5g (0.7g sugars)
- Fibre
- 1.5g
- Salt
- 1.4g
delicious. tips
Preheat the heavy-duty baking tray to get the raising agent working immediately. This gives the lightest, airiest scones with the crispest bases.
Use cold butter as it mixes in evenly without becoming greasy.
Warm the milk and water mixture to give the raising agent a boost.
Do everything with the lightest of touches – overworking the dough can make the scones tough. Using a dinner knife to mix in the liquid rather than your hands helps avoid overworking the mixture.
Press out the dough rather than rolling it to avoid stretching the dough or compacting it.
The deeper the dough, the taller your scones will be. When cutting them out the dough should almost come to the top of the cutter.
Don’t twist the cutter – press straight down for an even rise.
Don’t worry if the top of the dough isn’t perfectly smooth. It gets covered with cheese anyway.
You can warm day-old or defrosted scones briefly in a microwave or oven to bring them back to life.
Watch how to make them here:
The scones are best eaten warm the day they’re made but will keep in an airtight container for up to 24 hours or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Defrost thoroughly.
What else to add to cheese scones
Swap half or all the cheddar with another firm cheese and add fresh or dried herbs, nuts, seeds, olives or chilli in step 3. Or try these variations:Cheese and crispy bacon
Reduce the salt to 1/4 tsp. Griddle 100g streaky bacon rashers for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden. Roll up in kitchen paper and leave until crisp, then finely chop. Stir in with the cheese (step 3).Parmesan, tomato and basil
Omit the mustard and use parmesan instead of cheddar. Dry 50g sun-blush tomatoes in kitchen paper, then chop coarsely. Add in step 3 with 15g shredded fresh basil.Blue cheese and apple
Use 1/4 tsp salt, omit the cayenne and mustard, and replace the cheddar with dorset blue vinney, crumbled. Coarsely grate 1 large eating apple, then squeeze in your hands to remove excess juice. Stir into the mix in step 3 with the blue cheese, then use 50g blue cheese for the topping.