Saturday 16 July 2011

Easey Cheesey Scones

It is a day for enjoying the winter sunshine.  A day to hang the washing outside.  A day for walking down the street, with our little white cat in tow, discussing shadows.  A day for sitting on the swing in the neighbour's front yard.  A day for baking scones in a warm kitchen.  We original planned to make pumpkin scones.  There wasn't enough mashed pumpkin the fridge.  Instead we made cheese scones.

I found a simple cheese scone recipe from Lovely Wee Days that I had bookmarked.  Then I discovered we had no milk.  I turned to the ingenius idea I got from AOF to substitute soda water for milk.  I also had mixed the mashed pumpkin with some cream cheese so I threw some of that in as well.  I let Sylvia sprinkle the smoked paprika in.  It was a generous amount.  Kids are never subtle.

When I suggested cheese scones to Sylvia, she gave me her funny little nod of approval.  She was up to her elbows in the mixture and helped cutting out scones.  Yet when they came out of the oven she wasn't interested in them.  Maybe she ate too much cheese while we baked.

Both E and I loved the scones.  They were best once given a 10-15 minutes to cool down.  We had them with various combinations of butter, promite and the pumpkin-cream cheese mixture.  I found them terribly moreish.  Hard to stop at one.  Easy to just keep eating them.  Soft and cheesey inside.  Crispy cheese on the outside.  Not for the calorie- conscious.  Perfect for any cheese-lover.  Great with soup or for a simple lunch

I am sending this to the Bookmarked Recipe event that is hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes and was founded by Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: Fish and chips – reflections of a vegetarian
This time two years ago: Pear and Walnut Chutney
This time three years ago: Tagged: Top Ten Photos
This time four years ago: Dench bread and Dukkah: simple pleasures

Cheese scones
adapted from Lovely Wee Days
  • 2 cups grated cheddar cheese (not packed)
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (not packed)
  • 2 cups self raising flour (I used half white, half wholemeal)
  • generous sprinkle of smoked paprika
  • 1 cup soda water (or milk)
  • 1/4 cup mashed pumpkin and cream cheese (or milk)
  • extra grated cheese for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 240 C.  Mix grated cheddar and parmesan cheeses with flour.  Gently stir in soda water and pumpkin and creamed cheese mixture until the dough comes together in a soft ball.  Mine was really sticky and needed a bit of flour sprinkled on it so I could handle it.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead a couple of times until smooth.  Pat flat on a floured board until about 1cm thick (or a bit thicker).  Cut into rounds and place almost touching on a greased baking tray.  Sprinkle with grated cheese (I used parmesan and cheddar again).

Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Mine were still a little doughy after 15 minutes but a few more minutes helped.  Wrap scones in a teatowel.  Best eaten warm.

On the stereo:
With my Little Ukulele in my Hands: I'm the Ukulele Man: George Formby

10 comments:

  1. I love the substitutions - I find baking incredibly fun when you try different things (and they work!). I'm not a cheese fan but am still impressed with how fluffy these look in your first photo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've never had a savory scone before but you can't go wrong with cheese! These look delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love your new blog design!! Oh Johanna, I was just about to bake muffins for my Saturday baking, but now you have tempted my love of all things scones to bake these gorgeous scones instead... :-) They just look too perfect to resist! :-) And just look at beautiful Sylvia helping with the mixing!! Too wonderful! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mm loving these scones Johanna! In fact they'd be perfect for breakfast round about now! :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beautiful scones! I actually prefer savory option like this to the sweet ones!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Johanna,
    These look terriblymoreish, i'd be too afraid to make them at home and wonder how many i'd eat in one go. For me the paprika makes all difference.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Kari - if you are not a cheese fan these aren't for you but soda water seems to do well as a substitute for milk which seems to run out at the worst moments here when it comes to baking

    Thanks Joanne - you must try a savoury scone - they are delicious - great with soup

    Thanks Anh - I prefer savoury scones too - though I think I love pumpkin scones because they can be sweet or savoury

    Thanks Astra - these scones were incredibly simple - but that is one of the joys of scones - as for Sylvia she is a darling but when she starts to eat the flour I am less than impressed

    Thanks Lorraine - Sylvia had the last one for breakfast this morning - she developed a taste for them after all

    Thanks Shaheen - perhaps not a recipe for you to make at home alone - though they would go very well with soup and I think it would be quite easy to half the recipe. I add smoked paprika to lots of things these days because I love the flavour.

    ReplyDelete
  8. They do look awfully "moreish"! Love that pic of Sylvia's hand in the flour. She's quite the little kitchen helper, it appears. :) You've inspired me to make scones--one of the things I haven't really tried on the ACD. Pumpkin and cream cheese sounds like such a heavenly combination!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely scones. I almost did a double take at your mention of winter as it is so cold here! I am wearing a fleece and contemplating turning the heating on!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love how you completely adapted these scones for what you had available to you! They look so yummy.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)