Apple and cheese scones
(Makes 12)
Nothing makes a kitchen more homey than the smell of scones baking in the oven and they are easier to make than you think. Something I’ve learnt is that it’s much easier to cut out the scones if you dip the cutter into some flour in between each cut. This makes the cut smoother and not at all sticky and so ensures that the scones rise nice and evenly. Clever, isn’t it?
PREP 10 minutes COOKING 15 minutes
Ingredients
300g spelt flour, plus extra for rolling
2 tsp baking powder
75g butter, chilled and diced
1 apple, such as Cox or Braeburn
2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked and finely chopped or 6 sprigs of
fresh thyme, stalks discarded
125g extra-mature Cheddar cheese, grated
1 egg
about 125ml buttermilk
2 tsp grainy mustard
salt and black pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 200C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Put the flour, baking powder and butter in a food processor and blitz until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs, then tip it into a bowl.
Grate the apple into a clean tea towel, then squeeze out as much liquid as you can – it’s important to do this, otherwise the mixture will be too sticky.
Stir the apple into the flour mixture, then add the herbs and half the cheese and season well.
Crack the egg into a measuring jug and whisk in enough of the buttermilk to make it up to 150ml.
Stir in the mustard. Make a well in the centre of the flour and apple mixture, pour in the egg and milk and bring everything together with a spoon to form a soft dough.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead it briefly to bring it together into a ball. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 3cm.
With a 5cm straight-sided pastry cutter, cut out 12 scones, rerolling the dough as necessary.
Place the scones on the baking tray, spacing them well apart.
Brush the tops with any remaining buttermilk and scatter with the rest of the cheese.
Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes or until they’re well risen and light golden in colour.
Remove them from the oven and leave them to cool on a wire rack, then serve warm.
They’re yummily wonderful split in half and spread with a little butter and served with a few slices of cheese and apple on the side.
DAVINA’S TIP: These are best eaten the day you make them so if you don’t need them all, pack them into a freezer-proof container once cool and freeze them for up to 1 month. Defrost the scones and warm them through in the oven before serving.