Scones With Cheese

5 from 1 vote

These tender cream scones are a traditional scones recipe made with butter and cream. It's a great jumping off point and you can easily customize it!

Prep Time20

Cook Time30

Freeze time15

Total Time45

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 229kcal

375 grams bleached all-purpose flour
15 mL baking powder
5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
5 mL crushed hot pepper flakes optional
5 mL freshly ground black pepper optional
115 grams unsalted butter very cold, cut into small pieces
140 grams shredded cheese plus extra for garnish
190 mL whole milk (3.25 % fat) plus a little extra for brushing on the scones before baking

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, hot pepper flakes, and ground pepper.
Drop the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients, and press the cubes of butter into the flour with your fingertips to get large flour-covered flakes (approximately the size of corn flakes).
With your whisk, incorporate the shredded cheese.
Stir in the cold milk until the dough clumps (don’t over-mix it!). The dough should be a clumpy, floury mess at this point.
Using your hands, press and gently squeeze the dough together, working it just enough to be able to gather the dough into a fat disk.
Roll or pat out the dough to a 2.5 cm (1¼ inch) thickness.
Cut the dough into circles using a 2¾ inch round cutter.
Repeat with the scraps of dough, pressing them together to cut out more scones. You will have 12 scones in total using all the dough.
Place the scones on a parchment lined half sheet pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200 °C) while the scones are freezing.
Just before baking, you can brush the tops of the scones with a little milk and sprinkle with extra cheese.
Bake the scones until the edges, bottoms, and tops are golden brown. This takes about 20 to 25 minutes.

This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
This scones recipe is made with all-purpose flour, also known as plain flour, which is why we have to add baking powder and salt to the dry ingredients. If you are in the UK or other countries that regularly use self-rising flour:
- use 375 grams self-rising flour and do not add the baking powder and the salt