Savoury scones

Following our trip to the fantastic The Three Chimneys I came back all inspired to try and make wonderful new things.
The first of which was cheese scones.
The Three Chimneys gave us little freshly baked cheese scones as an appetizer to nibble on while we were looking at the menu each night. They were still warm from the oven, crisp yet soft in the centre, and despite being gluten-free, did not turn to crumbs!
These would be ideal as an extra savoury snack to take to work for lunch, or something to bridge the gap between getting in from work, while cooking the main meal.
I dug around in my massive library of cooking books and found a recipe for scones in the reliable Dairy Book of Home Cookery.
I followed the recipe variation for cheese scones, but using g-f flour, and the scones turned out well. I added a little grated parmesan to the top of each, and used an upturned champagne flute to cut them out in the absence of any biscuit cutters.

Another variation I made was sundried tomato and black olive. I simply chopped a few black olives and some sundried tomatoes and added these to the scone mixture along with a little of the preservation oil. The mixture did need a little more flour to avoid being too sticky.

The scones didn’t rise too much, and were a little dense. I have seen some recipes in the past that use 00 flour – something which I’m pretty sure there isn’t a g-f equivalent for, so their flatness was no surprise. To be honest, the scones turned out how I’d hoped (but actually nothing like the version we’d had at the Three Chimneys!), as something savoury to nibble on instead of indulging in something far less healthy and more salty. The only issue was that they seemed to go stale pretty quick – best eat them while still warm from the oven then!

Basic recipe (from the Dairy book of Home Cookery)

200g self raising flour
1/2 level teaspoon salt
50g butter
125ml milk
extra milk for brushing

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Rub in butter finely.
3. Add milk all at once. Mix to soft, but not sticky dough with knife.
4. Turn on to lightly floured board. Knead quickly until smooth.
5. Roll out to about 1cm thickness.
6. Cut into 9 or 10 rounds with 6cm cutter.
7. Transfer to buttered baking tray. Brush tops with milk.
8. bake towards the top of hot oven (230C or Gas 8) for 7-10 minutes (or until well risen and golden brown).
9. Cool on wire rack. Serve with butter or whipped cream and jam, or butter and cheese.
Makes 9 to 10 scones.