Stilton Cheese, Walnut and Pear Scones
These savoury scones have been a revelation to me and I must admit that I now prefer them over their sweet, internationally known, counterpart – rigorously served with clotted cream and jam.
These slightly spicy (thanks to a generous portion of Stilton cheese) are very satisfying, light and fluffy. The recipe is so simple to follow and the inimitable scent wafting through the house as the scones bake in the oven fills me up with a real sense of comfort.
They are irresistible freshly baked and still piping hot, broken in haft in our hands and topped with cold butter. If there are any left over I like to reheat them (they will still be very light in texture) and pair them with more cheese – soft creamy and delicate brie works very well, or with sliced ham, not to mention the obligatory smattering of butter. Have them for breakfast, lunch or as a part of an aperitivo.
The key to fluffy scones is to handle the dough as little and as gently possible!
Stilton cheese, if hard to find, can be appropriately replaced by any other strong crumbly blue cheese. I wouldn’t mind reaching for a good goat’s cheese here either.
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
- 1/2 of a tablespoon of fine sugar
- 65 g of cold butter, diced
- 75 g of Stilton cheese, crumbled
- 50 g of Cheddar cheese, grated
- 35 g of walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 of a pear (sweet and not too soft), peeled and chopped
- a good pinch of salt
- black pepper, 3 grindings of the pepper mill
- 1 large egg
- 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 in most of the Stilton (leaving a few crumbs to top the scones before baking), the grated Cheddar, 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 the 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 pears with the walnuts and knead them in 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 the crumbled Stilton.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until well risen and golden brown.
Enjoy!
