Garlic, Chive & Cheese Scones

This recipe for Garlic, Chive & Cheese Scones is so simple. Not only simple but also tasty. Roasting the garlic gives a lovely creamy texture and the flavour is milder too.

Roasting the garlic is the first step in what is quite the easiest recipe. That is the first of our flavours. Then we also have chives, with that mild onion flavour. The final flavour is cheddar cheese which is always great in scones.

Scones are easy to make but it is important to handle the dough as little as possible. That ensures a tender crumb.

The recipe calls for self-raising flour but plain flour can be used instead, with the addition of baking powder. I will detail that in the notes below the recipe.

Another ingredient which you can substitute is the buttermilk. If you don’t have that you can use the same amount of milk and remove a teaspoon of it and replace it with lemon juice or white vinegar. After leaving it for a few minutes the milk will be lightly curdled to make a great substitute.

The first step is to roast the garlic. The cloves are then mashed to a pulp. All the dry ingredients are mixed together. Then the buttermilk, egg, chives and garlic are combined. Then make the dough. To do that you just stir the wet ingredients into the dry. It will easily form a dough. But, add a drop of water if needed.

Then the dough is flattened. The scones are the cut out. Once placed on a baking tray they can be baked. The baking time is about 15 minutes, depending on how hot your oven runs.

My Scones

I baked my scones for 15 minutes. The rose nicely and coloured well. So I removed them from the oven, onto a wire rack.

Once they had cooled I cut one open and buttered it for a taste test. The taste was awesome. The cheese flavour came through, melding so well with the garlic and just a hint of chives.

They really were very good indeed. In fact I ate far too many.

They will be fine for a day or so if stored in an airtight container. You can also refresh them by reheating. The scones freeze well too.

Another easy, cheesy, recipe to try is Parmesan Potato Stacks

Garlic, Chive & Cheese Scones

Recipe by geoffcooCourse: Biscuits, Cookies, BreadDifficulty: Easy

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Ingredients

• 1 bulb of garlic

• 300g(2 cups, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) self-raising flour. – see note below for using plain flour

• 100ml(1/3 cup + 4 tsp) buttermilk – see note below to use milk

• 75g(5tbsp+1 tsp) cold unsalted butter, cubed

• 70g(2 1/2 oz, about 3/4 cup) grated cheddar cheese

• 1 medium egg(large in USA)

• 12g(3 tbsp) finely chopped chives

• 8g(2 tsp) caster sugar

• 3g(1/2 tsp) salt

• 1g(1/4 tsp) pepper

• drizzle of olive oil(or veg oil)

• 30ml(2 tbps) cold water(you may not need it all)

• 1 tsp or so of milk to brush

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/390F
• Cut the top of the bulb of garlic.
• Drizzle a little oil over the top of the garlic bulb.
• Wrap the garlic bulb in aluminium foil and place it on a baking tray.
• Place it in the oven and bake it for 25 minutes.
• Remove the garlic from the oven and take it out of the foil, set it aside to cool a little.
• Squeeze the cloves out of the garlic bulb and mash them well, to a pulp.
• Mix the flour, salt, pepper and sugar together in a large bowl and set aside.
• Add the butter into the flour and cut it in, using a pastry cutter, or rubbing between your fingers, until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. A few larger pieces of butter remaining will be fine.
• Whisk the egg and the buttermilk.
• Add the cooled garlic and whisk again.
• Then add the chives as well and mix through.
• Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and use a knife to stir it into a sticky dough.
• If required water, a little at a time, until the dough is combined and sticky.
• Tip the dough onto a floured surface and pat into a disc at 1 inch(2.5cm) thick.
• Cut out round discs using a cookie cutter( I used a 2inch/5.7 cm one).
• Place the scones onto a parchment lined baking tray, or one with a silicone mat.
• Brush the tops with a little milk.
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the scones have risen and turned a golden brown colour.
• Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool.

Notes

• To use plain flour measure out 300g(2 cups) and then remove 3 tsp of the flour and replace it with the same amount of baking powder. Mix them together.
• To use milk instead of buttermilk measure out 100ml and then remove a teaspoon or so and replace it with the same amount of lemon juice or white vinegar. Stir them together and leave for a few minutes for the milk to curdle.