Mature Cheddar and Mustard Scones
The recipe below is a slightly simpler variation of the scones with Stilton cheese and walnuts, nonetheless, still divine and I bake them both equally often. They reheat very well in the oven (covered with aluminium foil) maintaining their fluffy and soft texture, making them even more desirable to bake.
The key to delicate and puffy scones is to handle the dough as little and as gently as possible!
Ingredients:
For 8 scones using a cutter 6 cm in diameter.
If you don’t own a cutter I’d suggest to roll out the dough into a thick log, divide it into 10 equal parts and roughly shape each part into a ball.
- 250 g of self raising flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 65 g of cold butter, cubed
- 1/2 a tablespoon of sugar
- 1/2 of a good pear, (sweet and not too soft), peeled and chopped
- 125 g of grated mature Cheddar cheese, plus some more to sprinkle on top
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon of powdered mustard (paprika or a few pinches of cayenne pepper if powdered mustard is hard to find)
- a good pinch of salt
- black pepper, 5-6 grindings of the pepper mill
- 100-120 ml of milk, full fat
Preheat the oven to 190 C, Fan.
Line a large baking tray with a sheet of greaseproof pepper and dust it with some flour.
Sift the self raising flour with the baking powder and the sugar into a large mixing bowl.
Add the butter and rub in using your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Don’t rush this process and handle the ingredients with delicacy.
Stir the grated Cheddar, mustard powder, salt and pepper.
Beat the egg in a small bowl or a glass, reserve one teaspoon of it (you’ll need it for glazing with a few drops of the milk) and pour it along with most of the milk into the mixing bowl. Gently mix the dough and the liquids using your hands (I like to stir the ingredients with a finger first) to make a soft dough.
Add the chopped pear and knead everything gently.
If needed add a little bit more of milk or flour, bearing in mind that the dough should be sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a dusted with flour work surface.
Very gently roll it out to the thickness of roughly 4 cm.
Stamp out the scones using the cutter. Knead the trimmings and stamp out more scones; repeat until you’ve used up all of the dough.
Place the scones onto the prepared baking tray, leaving some space between them.
Mix the reserved beaten egg with a few drops of milk. Brush the tops of the scones (not the sides which may stop the sones from rising) with the glaze and top them with some grated Cheddar.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
Enjoy the the scones still warm with cold butter, or even better with cream cheese and smoked salmon or crispy bacon, seasoned with more black or cayenne pepper and freshly chopped chives.
