Sweet scones are great but a savoury variation is a good one to try too. I had been having a lot of sweet treats lately and today I was craving for somethong savory. Scones are one of my favorite baked goods to make for breakfast or snack. They are easy to make and very flexible for many variations.

Today we are making Spiced Cheddar Cheese Scones, a savory scone for a change. This scone is loaded with .. you know what, cheese! lots of cheese and a mix of spices to give it a nice flavor. This is soft and flaky at the same time, perfect for some butter or jam if you wish to add sweetness to it. I’ve made quite a lot of scones before, both sweet and savory. The main difference of this one compared to most of my scones is the addition of egg for a more bread like soft scone texture.

Unlike most of omy scones recipe that are small batch of 4, this recipe yields 8 so there’s plenty of room for sharing. You can divide the dough into 2 and freeze and bake the half in the future. This way, you can have freshly bake scones in the morning with less effort.

About This Recipe

• Ease in Making the Recipe: Scones is one that I consider to a be a very easy recipe, regardless if you are making sweet or savory version. You can make scones in 1 hr, that already include the chilling time of 30 minutes. This is one pastry that I often prefer to make in the morning when I feel like having it for breakfast. For me, nothing beats freshly baked Scones. With easy recipe like this, baking it the same day you are serving it is what I recommend you do.
• Ingredients: The ingredients are simple and easy to find, not to mention flexible. You can use this base dough to make both sweet and savory variation. All you need to change are the mix in, this recipe uses grated cheddar cheese and mix of savory spices.
• Texture, Taste & Flavor: It’s a flaky buttery scone, that’s for sure. It has just the right sweetness that perfectly balances the spices. that is how I always like it. The scone has a very tender crumb texture. Thanks to the cake flour, it surely made the texture soft and light. This scone uses egg so the texture will be more soft and slightly bread like than scones that do not use egg. It taste good, trust me 🙂
• Make-Ahead: Definitely Yes! You can make the dough ahead of time and keep it frozen up to 2 months, But with a recipe this easy, I highly recommend just make it the same day you want to serve it. I always say and I stand by it that scones and biscuit are best eaten the same day they are made, even better few minutes after baking.

Ingredients for Spiced Cheddar Cheese Scones

• Cake Flour or All-Purpose Flour – Cake flour produces a lighter crumb Scones and so this is my go to most of the time. This is not saying that you cannot make it using all-purpose flour, you can and it will work too but with slight difference in texture.
• granulated Sugar – this recipe uses small amount of sugar, only 1 tablespoon. You can make it 2 or 3 tablespoon if you like it sweeter but take into consideration that there is white chocolate added in this so that is also sweet.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda – I used 2 leavening agent to gift a lift to the scones. Since there is buttermilk which is acidic, adding baking soda makes sense. The baking powder is also needed since we are adding a lot of heavy graded cheddar cheese, it will really need all the help it could get to push the scones to rise.
• Salt – always add salt to enhance the taste. I used table salt.
• unsalted Butter – I always grate my butter when making scones. Grating the butter makes an even size pieces that easily mix with the dough. Freezing is highly recommended for easier grating and for a more flaky scones.
• Buttermilk – Buttermilk produces a light tender crumbs because of its acidic nature that works with baking soda. No need to buy an entire carton, make one at home by simply mixing the milk + 1 teaspoon of pure white vinegar or lemon juice. Leave it for 5 minutes until it curdle.
• Mix of Spices – I used a combination of paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
• Cheddar Cheese – Use strong cheddar cheese for better flavor and avoid melting cheese as it will make the scone soft and wet.
• Parmesan Cheese (optional) – You can add grated parmesan cheese on top of a crunchy top or use extra cheddar cheese.

Why Cake Flour?

I used to make scones and biscuit using all-purpose flour, it does work too. But if you want a a light tender scones, cake flour will do the job better. Cake flour have the lowest protein content among all other type of flour, about 5 – 8 percent which produces a light tender crumb. This is why this is the recommended type of flour when making cakes as cakes a better with light tender texture. Another benefit of using cake flour is that it absorb liquid and sugar better thus making the bake product moist

All-purpose flour on the other hand have 10 – 12 percent protein content. The higher protein content produces a chewier compact baked product like cookies and flaky pie crust. Over mixing will easily result to a tough baked goods.

This is not saying that All-purpose flour will not work, as I mentioned I tried it several times before and it also worked but with difference in texture. When I started using cake flour for my scones and biscuits, I immediately noticed the difference and never looked back. Give it a try and compare the texture if you want to test it yourself. Judy, one of the reader commented this when she made my Flaky Glazed Orange Scones

How to Make Scones

Everything in this process is easy. Scones always start with cold butter and mixing it with the dough along with the flour, sugar, salt, leavening agent. The add-ins can vary and is very flexible. For this recipe, I used mix of savoury spices and lots of grated cheddar cheese. Fresh herbs like chives will would great too.

Mix the Dry Ingredients

To start the process, sift the dry ingredients in a bowl. Sifting is important here because we are using cake flour here and cake flour tends to have lumps. Sifting also aerate the flour, making it lighter and fluffier thus producing light and soft scones. Once all mix, add the spices, sugar and cheddar cheese.

Add the Wet Ingredients

Gradually add the liquid which is buttermilk in this case. I often add half of the liquid to start with and then add more liquid as needed. If you end up adding more liquid that the mixture needed, simply add small amount of flour to dry up the dough, and rub your hands with some flour too so it doesn’t stick to the dough. Just do not add too much flour as you do not want ending with a tough scones. Once you can gather it together to form a disk and it is not cracking, then you can stop adding more flour or liquid. This is pretty much applicable to any kind of scones not only for this variation.

Shape, Freeze

Once that is done, wrap the dough and freeze it at least 30 minutes, if you have 1 hr to spare, freeze it for 1 hour. You can even freeze it up to 3 months. No need to thaw when ready to bake, simply add 2-3 more minutes when baking frozen raw Scones. You can shape and cut this in the shape that you wish. I divided the dough into 2 portions and have the half portion in square and the other half in triangles which is the traditional shape of a scone. You can use cookie cutter to cut out the scones or simply use a knife to cut it evenly. I prefer doing the later as there is no scraps with this method. If you use the cookie cutter, gather up the scraps and continue cutting until all dough are used up.

Bake

Now the brushing of the top. You can use buttermilk to brush the top, that is if you do not want to crack 1 egg just to use to brush the top. Of course using egg wash will produce a better browning on top but it will not affect the overall taste of the scones. If you have a leftover mixture of the milk & egg from the recipe, you can use that instead.

Arrange the scones in a parchment lined baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven. Bake at 400F, hot oven is key to producing a great scone.

Tips to a Successful Flaky and Light Scones

The process of making the scone is pretty basic, even if this is your first time making it. I left few tips below on scone making, spare some time and read it because it is crucial to having a soft and flaky scone.

• Cold Ingredients: This is one of the secret to a flaky scones just like with biscuit and pie crust. Eggs, cream/milk/water should be cold not only the butter. Using cold ingredients prevents the butter from melting before the scones are baked, leaving it instead to melt in the oven and create a super-flaky end result
• No Over Mixing:  Just like when making bread over mixing could result to a tough scones. This is why it is very important to handle the dough with care, slightly and gradually push it around but do not knead it too much to make the texture smooth. Stop as soon as you are able to gather it up together. With scones, lumps and bumps is perfectly fine, it gave the scone a more rustic look
• Chill or Freeze Before Baking: The dough will soften as you handle it because of the warmth of your hands, so as extra precaution, chilling it or even freezing it before baking is highly recommended for a flaky texture.
• Hot Oven – Pre-heated hot oven is recommended when baking scones or biscuits. This is important so that the scones could reach its fullest height and lightest crumb.

Substitute for Buttermilk

You do not have to buy a carton of buttermilk just forr this recipe. You can make your own by adding 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or plain white vinegar to the same amount of liquid in this recipe. Leave it for 10 minutes until it curdles. If you do not have lemon juice or vinegar, you can also use full fat milk or heavy cream. Add the liquid gradually as each of this substitute have different level of moisture that could affect the dough.

Ok, I think that’s about it. Spare sometime watching the video and carefully read and follow the instructions below. Let’s get started!

Ingredients:

• 450g/2 cups Cake Flour or All-Purpose Flour
• 3 tablespoon granulated Sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 3/4 teaspoon table Salt
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Paprika & Italian Seasoning
• 115g cup COLD Butter (Freeze overnight or minimum 1 hour)
• 220ml COLD Buttermilk (plus more for brushing top and as needed, about 1 tbsp)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, sift the flour. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, paprika, cayenne powder, garlic powder and Italian seasoning. Add grated cheese. Using a large holed cheese grater, grate the frozen butter.
3. Wet Ingredients: Gradually add buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough starts to come together. You may need more or less of the recommended measurement. You do not have to use all of it, once it start to come together, stop adding more. Start by adding half of the liquid first then gradually add as needed.
4. Shape the Dough: Carefully gather to bring the dough together. It you find some spots dry, add a bit of buttermilk to moisten it. If you find it too wet, add small amount of flour. Roll the dough into a disk and cut into 4 and stack the 4 pieces on top of each other. Press and then shape into a disk again.
5. Freeze: Wrap with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 30 minutes. You can leave this overnight in the freezer for baking the following day. This can be kept frozen up to 3 months. No need to thaw once ready to bake. Simply add 2 – 3 minutes in the baking time.
6. Arrange: Cut the dough into 8 wedges about 1/2-inch thick each. Alternatively, you can use 1.5-inch cookie cutter. Gather the scraps and reshape and cut until all the dough has been used up. Place the scones on the baking sheet spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Brush top with remaining buttermilk or egg wash (1 beaten egg + 1 teaspoon water).
   • For smaller portion: Divide the dough into 2 and cut each portion into 4 pieces. In the video, I cut the half of the dough into squares and froze the other half for future baking
7. Bake for about 18 – 20 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the pan halfway through. Check at 15 minutes to make sure the top is not browning too fast. If this is the case, simply cover the top with aluminum foil. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
   

Makes 8 scones

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