Cayenne And Cheddar Cheese Scones

Warm, buttery cheddar cheese scones with a kick of cayenne. The perfect side for any soup or salad.

Cheddar Cheese Scones on parchment paper. - 1

It’s been soup month here, so I would be remiss if I didn’t post one of my favorite sides to pair with soup, Cayenne and Cheddar Cheese Scones. Honestly, these things are like the bastard love child of a biscuit and scone. They are a little more substantial than a biscuit but lighter and less crumbly than a traditional scone.

I actually went and did some research on the difference between the two because I wanted to make sure I was labeling them correctly, and apparently, people have some VERY strong opinions on the subject. (BTW, I love that article, you should read it.)

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked on a white plate. - 2

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked on a white plate. - 3

And I get it. I can be pretty pedantic about things (you’ll pry the oxford comma from my cold dead hands), but these scones are so good that you could call them cupcakes and no one’s going to complain when they bite into one.

They’re just slightly crisp on the outside, buttery on the inside and full of cheesy flavor. The slight warmth of the cayenne makes them incredibly satisfying and the perfect side for soups with milder flavors. I almost always pair them with classic chicken noodle and my Easy Chicken Peasant Soup to round out the meal. They really take whatever dish you serve them with and level it up in a big way.

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked next to a bowl of soup. - 4

Cheddar Cheese Scones stacked next to a bowl of soup. - 5

More Recipes to Serve With Scones

Beef Stew
Ham and Potato Soup
Chicken Carcass Soup
Roasted Tri-tip

Ingredients

Scones

▢ 2 1/4 cups ( 315 g) all-purpose flour
▢ 2 tablespoons ( 25 g) granulated sugar
▢ 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
▢ 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
▢ 1/2 cup ( 4 oz) cold butter cubed
▢ 1 cup ( 4 oz) sharp cheddar cheese shredded
▢ 1 cup buttermilk

Egg Wash

▢ 1 egg beaten
▢ 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425°Cover a baking sheet in parchment paper or foil.
Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cayenne and salt in a large bowl.
Using a pastry cutter or food processor, cut butter into flour mixture until no butter pieces larger than a pea remain. Add cheese and stir.
Mix in buttermilk, stirring until a shaggy dough forms.
Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead until the dough is no longer sticky, about 6-7 times.
Re-flour surface and press dough out to 1/2-inch thick and cut into 16 2 1/2-inch rounds.
Beat egg and water together.
Place scones on baking sheet and brush with egg wash. Bake for 12-14 minutes until scones are golden. If you are unsure if scones are done, carefully lift one and check the bottom of the scone. If it’s lightly browned, it’s done.

Nutritional Information Recipe Slightly Adapted From: Food.com

Small-batch Instructions: Recipe halves cleanly, no cooking changes needed. Freezer Instructions: Freeze cut-out dough on a baking sheet for about an hour, until firm. Then store in an airtight container. Dough will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. To cook, bake frozen scones at normal temperature for 2-3 minutes longer than usual.

Saturday Morning Snapshot

Edible props from the morning’s shoots and the /Fimcast to help pass the time…

State of the Blog

Hey look, my Simply Delicious Asian Chicken Salad is in a round up of 15 Tasty Recipes To Help You Keep Those Healthy Eating Resolutions on Buzzfeed. You should check out the other recipes on the list. There are some really good ones on there.

Also on the internets, Baking Mischief was Foodista’s featured blog of the day on Wednesday. Many thanks to them for that!

On the blog this week, I got to share my Green Eggs and Ham Mini Quiches, which I’ve been wanting to make for YEARS. Wednesday, post numero uno of our new “Waste Not” series went up, which included buttermilk freezing and substitution tips and links to forty fantastic recipes to use up leftover buttermilk. And Friday, we had my Sharp Cheddar Broccoli Chowder, of which I still have a serving in my freezer and am thinking about eating right now…

Next week, we have one of my favorite sides to pair with soups, the final entry in our February soup and stew series, and a special treat inspired by our friends across the pond.

Recipes/posts released this week were:

What to Do With Leftover Buttermilk - 11

What to Do With Leftover Buttermilk - 12

Sharp Cheddar Broccoli and Ham Chowder - 13

Sharp Cheddar Broccoli and Ham Chowder - 14

Green Eggs and Ham Mini Quiche – Green eggs, ham, and cheddar cheese in a buttermilk crust make a fun and delicious tribute to one of Dr. Seuss’ most beloved works. So tasty you might not want to share them with the kids! What to Do With Leftover Buttermilk – How to freeze and substitute for buttermilk and 40+ recipe ideas to use up this often-wasted ingredient! Sharp Cheddar Broccoli and Ham Chowder – Broccoli and ham chowder made with sharp and delicious cheddar cheese. A perfect and easy weeknight dinner for those nights when cheese is a necessity.

Pop-culture Corner

Did you watch the Grammys last week? I tuned in and out throughout the evening, but that Hamilton number was perfection.

Any comics fans in the house? Soooooo, I read Civil War last weekend and let’s just say, way less nuance and way more gratuitous Spiderman crotch shots than I was expecting… Kinda glad Cap 3 is going to be a loose adaptation.

I am obsessed with the Sherrilyn Kenyon/Cassandra Clare lawsuit going on right now, not just because as a young teen, I devoured everything Kenyon ever wrote, but also because Clare is such a polarizing figure in the literary world.

New Girl creator, Liz Meriwether’s Vulture essay that ran this week on the comedy inspired by living in and hating LA is so lovely it almost makes me want to start watching New Girl again.

Finally, I’ve been doing a Pushing Daisies rewatch, and man, I had forgotten how just how much good singing there is on that show. A Pushing Daisies recipe is percolating. I just have to figure out when to fit it in…

Meal Planning

Saturday: Spaghetti Sunday: Oven-baked Beef Ribs Monday: Teriyaki Chicken Tuesday: Simply Delicious Asian Chicken Wednesday: Carne Asada Burrito Bowls Thursday: Chicken in Cream Sauce Friday: World’s Easiest Chicken Taco Soup

Adorable light and airy Victoria Sponge Cupcakes filled with raspberry jam and topped with buttercream frosting.

Victoria Sponge Cupcakes - Adorable light and airy sponge cupcakes filled with raspberry jam and topped with buttercream frosting. Recipe includes nutritional information and small-batch instructions. From BakingMischief.com - 15

I’m so excited to share today’s recipe because it was actually part of a birthday gift for my youngest sister, Tammy.

Over the summer, we did a family girls trip to the UK. We started in Edinburgh, did a side trip to Oxford, and ended the vacation with a few days in London. The whole thing was a great adventure. We took a boat out on Loch Ness, rode bicycles around Oxford, and survived the August tube strike in London.

Every night after dinner, we’d walk around whatever city we were in, find a bakery and buy something to take back to the hotel and share. This ended up with some real winners, like the chocolate-filled doughnut I had in Edinburgh, and the shockingly delicious banoffee pie we bought in Greenwich (I don’t like bananas in baked goods, why do I love this????) and some not so winners. No one liked treacle tarts and we all forgot that black forest gateau contained cherries until we bit into it–ick. But Tammy’s favorite dessert by far was Victoria sponge cake.

She’s mentioned it dreamily a few times since we got back, so I went to look up a recipe to send to her. But alas, since Victoria Sponge is a quintessentially British treat, all of the recipes were in British English, which my sister, who is not even a baker, does not speak.

So as a gift to her, I adapted the recipe for American cooks and sensibilities. I started with the great Mary Berry’s Victoria sponge recipe, translated it from metric (though we should probably all be using metric to bake as it’s so much easier), turned it into a cupcake, and added a buttercream on top. Now, any time she wants, she can make a little bit of England here in the US.

If you’ve never had Victoria sponge, it’s so good. Light and delicious sponge with a raspberry jam filling and sprinkled with powdered sugar. I’m not usually one for jam-filled desserts, but there’s something about the blend of flavors and textures here, the mild and the sweet, smooth and spongy that is really lovely. They are perfect for a light dessert, or serving to guests with tea.