Sweet Potato, Cheese and Herb Scones

This year I made Sweet potato, cheese and herb scones for International Scone Week (12-18 August).   Last year my life was so crazy over winter, that I missed it.  I am glad to be able to participate this week as I love to see what others bake and also want to support Tandy who does a great job year after year of keeping International Scone Week happening.  It is one of my favourite blog events.  Plus, it is always a great excuse to experiment with baking scones.

I saw the recipe for Sweet potato, cheese and herb scones in Coles Supermarket Magazine.  The photo of the golden scones looked so beautiful.  They were served with herbed butter.  The beauty of the recipe is that it will accommodate different cheeses and herbs.  I made some changes to the recipe and did not both to make the herb butter.

The scones I grew up with with really simple.  Just flour, butter, milk and flour.  My mum still whips up a batch of scones with as little sweat as she might take a packet of biscuits from the cupboard.  These scones are quite unlike them.  They are not the plain jane scones to top with jam and cream.  The recipe has lots of ingredients and lots of steps.  It isn't quick but it is worth it.

I made them on a busy weekend.  While the sweet potatoes roasted, we plastered mosaics to complete the lovely Turkish lamps we made at a workshop the previous day.  Then while the scones baked I went outside to help Sylvia plant some succulent cuttings I had picked up on a bike ride.  No wonder that when they came out of the oven, it was so satisfying.  We ate them for an early dinner before doing the grocery shopping.  They were really filling so we were not tempted at the supermarket.  They were big.  The next day we had enough to eat them for breakfast, lunch and tea.

Though they are not the scones I grew up with, they were wonderful in a different way.  I am very fond of savoury scones and there are just not enough interesting scones in my life.  I wish I came across more in cafes.  These were so lovely and soft with some sweetness of sweet potato, albeit the chunks were a bit bigger than I would prefer, and the flavours of herbs and the salted honey cheese I substituted for goats cheese.  I have made some simpler Vegan sweet potato and cheeze scones if that is what you are after, but I highly recommend these beautiful soft flavoursome scones.  And check out more International Scone Week baking at Tandy's blog.

Scones I have made for International Scone Week in previous years:
2022 - Pumpkin, pineapple and cheese scones
2021 - Pumpkin scones with ginger ale
2020 - Olive, pineapple and cheese scones
2019 - Chocolate and tahini scones (v)
2018 - Spiced walnut and chocolate scones
2017 - Avocado, rocket and brie scones (v)
2016 - Pesto and poppyseed scones (v) 
2015 - Pumpkin, pecan and poppyseed scones (v)
2014 - Chocolate and cranberry scones (v)
2013 - Beetroot, apple and walnut scones (v)
2012 - Walnut, brie and apple scones

Sweet Potato, Cheese and Herb Scones
Adapted from Coles Magazine July 2024
Makes 10-12 large scones

600g gold sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 pinch salt
1 1/4 cup of milk (I used soy)
1 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar

Dry ingredients:
2 cups plain wholemeal flour
1 1/2 cups plain white flour
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 pinch caster sugar

150g chilled butter, chopped (I used nuttalex)

2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp finely chopped dill
1 tbsp thyme leaves
2 spring onions, thinly sliced

1 egg
1 1/2 cups (180g) grated vintage cheddar
120g goat’s cheese, crumbled*

extra milk for glazing
extra grated cheese for topping

1. Preheat oven to 200 C.  (I heated mine to 220 C because my oven needs more power than most.)

2.  Prepared soured milk.  Place milk and lemon juice in a large jug and set aside.

3. Spread potatoes in a roasting dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of salt.  Roast for 20-25 min until it is tender but not charred.

4. Placed dry ingredients into a large bowl and rub cubed butter in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.  Mix in spring onions, parsley, dill and thyme.

5. When the roast sweet potato is roasted, blend half sweet potato with half the soured milk until smooth.  I used a hand held blender.  (If it still has some texture that is fine.  I'd like to try blending the old fashioned way with a potato masher.)

6. Pour sweet potato puree into dry ingredients.  Use the second half of the milk to swish out any sweet potato mixture left in jug and pour into dry ingredients.  Add egg and cheddar and fold ingredients together until just mixed.  Fold in goats cheese.

7. Line a large oven tray with baking paper and generously sprinkle with flour.  Turn out dough onto the flour.  Sprinkle with more flour and gently pat into a 15 x 35 cm rectangle that is about 3 cm high. 

8. Brush with extra milk and scatter with extra grated cheese. Slice dough into 10-12 rectangles.  I separated them slightly but they were still close enough to be clinging to each other after they spread.  

9. Bake for 25-35 minutes until golden brown and hollow when tapped.

10. Eat warm with butter or creamed cheese.  They are are big scones so if you are not baking for a crowd, I suggest you cool on a wire rack and enjoy the next day.

* Notes: I used soy milk instead of dairy milk and nuttalex vegan margarine instead of butter because I have them around the house.  I substituted a soft salted honey cheese for the goats cheese, but I don't think that it is very common.

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