Irish Buttermilk Scones / Cheese & Herb Scones

littleturtle's Note:

Perfect to go with your morning coffee or a great afternoon snack with hot tea. The secret to making good scones is a quick, light hand when mixing, and a hot oven.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 8 scones

Buttermilk Scones

• 8 ounces self-raising flour (preferably self-raising soda bread flour)
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 ounce butter or 1 ounce hard margarine
• 1 egg , beaten
• 5 fluid ounces buttermilk
• eggs or milk , to glaze
• cinnamon sugar , to dust

Cheese and Herb Scones

• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 ounces cheese , grated
• 2 tablespoons fresh herbs , chopped (basil or whatever you like)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°F (gas mark 8).
2. Sift flour with salt and rub in butter or margarine.
3. For Cheese& Herb Scones add mustard, cheese and herbs to the dry ingredients at this point.
4. Make a well in the centre and pour in the egg and most of the buttermilk.
5. Mix quickly to form a soft dough, adding a little extra buttermilk if necessary.
6. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll out lightly until 1" thick.
7. Working quickly, cut into 2" rounds.
8. Glaze with egg or milk and set on a floured baking sheet.
9. Before baking, dust scones with cinnamon sugar for Buttermilk Scones or sprinkle a little grated cheese on top of each scone for Cheese& Herb Scones.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes until light brown.

Reviews

[mishimoo]

I am an avid devourer of scones and have been ever since I can remember. My late grandfather made the best scones in the world (and the best tea, nothing better than scones and tea for Sunday lunch) and my mum's weren't too far behind. I grew up eating plain scones and cheese scones so these were pleasantly different with the herbs and mustard. I had to add a little more flour. They rose well and were quite tasty, though I still prefer Grandad's recipe. Mum liked them and she is hard to please with scones.

[Chef #785387]

I made them again, finishing off the buttermilk, with jam from raspberries from my garden, and it reminded me of punting in Cambridge where I first tasted scones. Wonderful!

[Mrs_Kohls]

We all agreed these are AWESOME!! I made them with Parmesan/Romano cheese and dried basil (2 tsp. instead of 2 tbsp.) I didn't have any dry mustard, so I put a couple of dashes of garlic powder in instead. These were easy, however, I want to mention that mine after adding nearly all of the buttermilk were very sticky, so I rolled them out on a well floured surface to keep them from sticking to it. They came out with a more cakelike texture than biscuits, and I'm hoping that is the way they are supposed to be. Thanks littleturtle for an AWESOME recipe!!