Parmesan & Cheddar Cheese Scones

It's no secret: I love cheddar cheese. Combining cheese and scones, well, it's just a matter of time before I try a recipe like that.

Luckily, this one was in the Simply Scones cookbook, just waiting for me to try it.







Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
dash ground red pepper (or flakes or cayenne pepper)
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1/3 cup milk
2 large eggs
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tsp water (glaze)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400ºF and grease or cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and spices together. Add all of both cheeses and mix. Add the cut up butter and, using knives or a pastry cutter, cut in the butter until the flour mixture resembles coarse sand.

3. In a small bowl, combine the milk and two eggs. Mix well. Add the egg and milk mixture to the dry flour and cheese mixture and stir with a wooden spoon to combine.

4. Using a large spoon or a 1/4-cup measure, dollop out onto the baking sheet, leaving about three inches in between each scone.

5. Brush the glaze on the top of each scone. Bake for approximately 17-22 minutes, or until golden.

The Process:

Cheddar Cheese, 2% Milk,
Parmesan Cheese, Large Eggs, Egg & Water Glaze,
Unsalted Butter,  Salt & Spices, Baking Powder

Flour and cheese mixture

Flour, Cheese and Butter mixture

Dough

Evenly space your scones

Use a small paintbrush like this, which you can find in the cooking aisle.

Dough brushed with glaze.

Bake until lightly golden.

Results:

I love cheddar cheese. Baking a savory scone with cheddar cheese just combines two of my favorite foods.

These scones are best served warm, and I find they complement a bowl of chili just perfectly. The spice in them (I added cayenne pepper as well as red pepper flakes) might have something to do with that. 

They were quick and easy to make, a scone I will put on my go-to list as a side bread. 

These go excellently with a bowl of chili.

Raspberry-Filled Almond Scones

This recipe uses Raspberry Preserves to create a filled scone.

I love almonds, so when I saw this recipe in Simply Scones by Leslie Weiner and Barbara Albright, I just had to try it. No question about it. In fact, it was the first recipe I tried out of the small, but potently-scone-recipe-packed book. Let's just say that great things come in little packages.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup almond paste, well chilled
1/4 cup unsalted butter, chilled
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tbsp raspberry preserves
1 egg yolk mixed with 1/2 tsp water (glaze)
3 tbsp slivered almonds

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a food processor, pulse the coconut until it is finely chopped. Stir the coconut into the flour mixture.

3. Add the almond paste and mix with a wooden spoon until somewhat uniform. Add the butter and use knives, your fingertips or a pastry cutter to incorporate until the flour looks like coarse sand.

4. In a small bowl, mix the milk, egg, vanilla and almond extracts. Add to the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spatula until combined.

5. Turn out onto a floured surface and flatten to 3/8 inch height. Using a floured 2-1/2-inch cookie (or biscuit) cutter, cut out 16-18 rounds from the dough, piecing together as necessary.

6. Place nine rounds on the baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Mound 1/2 teaspoon of preserves onto each round. Place another round over the top of the preserves, pinching down the sides to make sure they stick.

7. Brush the tops with the egg glaze and evenly divide the slivered almonds over the tops of the scones.

8. Bake until golden brown, about 18-25 minutes.

9. Remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.


The Process:

Finely chop the coconut in a food processor before mixing with the other dry ingredients.

Coconut, chopped fine.

Dry ingredients plus butter and almond paste.

Cut out as many rounds as you can before piecing together the remainder of the dough and forming more.

In order to keep the cutter from sticking, flour the bottom edges. I do so with a heap of flour on my counter, and swirl the cutter in the flour before each cut.

Bottom layer of the scones: one dough round and a 1/2 teaspoon of preserves.

Add a second round to create the top of the scone and press the edges down to get a good seal.

Brush with egg glaze and sprinkle almonds on top, pressing gently down so that the almonds don't fall off.

Bake until golden.

Enjoy!

Results:

Although these are just a bit more labor-intensive than typical scones, the extra effort was worth it. The almond flavoring was strong, but not overpowering, likewise with the preserves in the middle, which offer just a hint of raspberry flavor. (I actually used currant jelly, since I did not have raspberry on hand, and it turned out well.) I will definitely be repeating these scones, and I look forward to trying more recipes out of the Simply Scones book!