“Simple is good.”
Jim Henson
Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!
What I didn’t envisage was the time and effort this good Daring Baker put into researching and experimenting with scones. Hats off to Audax from Audax Artifex!
Thank you Audax for a great daring challenge; it was delicious in every way and very satsifying. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the scones our other daring bakers have stamped out!
[print_this]Recipe: Savoury Scones: Cheddar & Garlic Greens 
Summary: Light as feather scones two way … sweet and savoury. Both good and great options for tea. {eggless/vegetarian}. The recipe is infinitely adaptable to individual tastes too.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Serving: About eight 2-inch scones or five 3-inch scones
- 1 cup/140 gm plain (all-purpose) flour
- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) (10 gm) (1/3 oz) fresh baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 4-5 garlic scapes with greens, chopped fine
- 90gm cheddar, grated, chilled
- 3 tbsp/40gm frozen grated butter
- ½ cup /120 ml cold buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon milk, for glazing the tops of the scones
- Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sea salt for sprinkling
Method:
- Preheat oven to very hot 240°C.
- Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
- Rub the frozen grated butter (or combination of fats) into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized pieces if you want flaky scones or until it resembles coarse beach sand if you want tender scones. Add the cheddar and garlic and mix through with a fork.
- Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be!
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. To achieve an even homogeneous crumb to your scones knead very gently about 4 or 5 times (do not press too firmly) the dough until it is smooth. To achieve a layered effect in your scones knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
- Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
- Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
- Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
- Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.
- Note: For the Pistachio & Cranberry Scones, substitute the sea salt with 1 tbsp vanilla sugar, and add 1/4 cup of coarsely ground pistachios and dried cranberries, Don’t add the garlic, cheddar or toppings. The method is the same.
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Amazing Photos! ANd I love your flavour combos!
ceecee
I love your personal decorative touch to the scones. Beautiful and delicious.
I think my comment got vanished, like i said in my earlier comment, i love your personal decoration on the scones, they look beautiful and yumm.
Oh Deeba – look at those scones!! Scones were the first thing my mom taught me to bake as a little girl so I have always had a soft spot for them. Love both these flavour combinations – so want to try the savoury ones now! Great photos, as always 🙂
Wow Deeba, such amazing photos. The scones look so perfectly flaky and crispy!!! Yum..
Lovely scones! That is something I could eat all the time.
Cheers,
Rosa
Love how you dressed up your scones. Perfectly elegant scones for tea. I’m impressed you made so many versions. As usual, you did a fabulous job on this challenge.
OMG I can’t take my eyes off these clicks. simply stunning.
superbe travail et sublimes photos! bravo et merci pour ce plaisir!!
Beautiful pictures and delicious looking scones!
what nice scones Deeba many times I dont made!! look amazing dear:)
Your scones, and your pictures, are amazing! Seriously, wow. Great job.
I want to try this kind of bread..Sounds yummy thank you for sharing this post to us..
Garlic and cheddar?…..this is bound to taste as heavenll as it looks!
Your photos are amazing! Where do you get buttermilk from, though? or do you substitute it with yogurt?
Your scones are beautiful! I love the little designs you made to add that special touch. Nice job on the challenge!
The garlic and cheddar sound fantastic – they look great.
Your scones are delectable! I very much enjoyed your exceptional photos, a lovely post.
Scones look simple enough, but I bet there is a whole lot of smaller but important things that need to be in place to get them perfect! Your scones look so good! And when you say cheese and garlic with a garlicky chives dip… yumm.. I got to try this!!
Simple is amazingly good indeed!
Beautiful pictures and awesome combination of flavors – just the mention of each can get people drooling!
I feel so bad whenever you mention about power failure 🙁
It’s like, all the mehnat going down drain, I can imagine how much it sucks 🙁
Deeba, your scones are almost like puff pastry! Look at those layers! Both flavors sound amazing! Hats off to you, as always you did a fabulous job!
Hi Deeba, I must tell you I love your blog for some time now. Theese photos look divine, like always, and the flavours you chose for the scones sound really nice! Great job!
Looks like something’s been omitted: when do you add the cheese and garlic? Thanx
Missed it. Have updated that now. Sorry!
Amazing pictures….
They look absolutely fantabulous and delish !!
Yumm !!
Just lovely Deeba! I love how pretty your Pistachio & Cranberry Scones look!
Right now I am in my kitchen and scones are baking in the oven… Do I need to say more ..how tempting they look 🙂
Love the pistachio-dried cranberry version. They look delicious
I love savoury scones and have all of the ingredients necessary. Could be scones in the morning for Slow Sundays.
Only you could take a simple biscuit/scone and make it look so stunning! The s-shaped curl atop the poppy seeds is gorgeous! Love the cranberry-pistachio, but I am dying to try the cheddar – garlic scape biscuits! Also – beautifil layers..almost puff pastry like. Phenomenal and gorgeous take on the challenge, Deeba! I wish I could have you come take photos for me!!
I think I found my new favorite baking blog! I love your photographs and recipes.
You are far too kind. Thank you!!
Hi Deeba…Its a wonderful post and i might try this soon. I was wondering if you help me where to find sea salt in gurgaon ? Also do visit my blog http://www.foodburys.com and let me know it it….
What a beautiful post Deeba and such stunning photos. I loves scones of all type…these are a must try. Thank you for sharing. Hugs xxxx
Your scones look so beautiful – great work! What a shame about the power cut spoiling your second batch, but the rest turned out so well that it doesn’t matter!
Wow! I am always so impressed with your work! Your biscuits loo utterly fantastic! I love the little decorations you put on top, too, what a creative idea!!