I have been enjoying staying at my sisters out in rural North Auckland. The country has been experiencing wintery conditions lately so it has been nice to be inside and play around with cooking in her gorgeous woodburning Homewood Stove. My brother in law had a bit of a hankering for a savoury scone so we rustled up a batch just using my usual scone recipe but adding some delicious ingredients to make a nice savoury scone. They were delicious straight out of the oven with some extra butter added. Would make a great winter meal along with a bowl of soup.

I usually add a bit of sugar with my plain scones or date scones but you do not need to add any to savoury ones. Also you can hold the butter – there should be enough fat content in the cheese to do the trick.

Directions

• Preheat oven to 230c
• If adding bacon to your scones, pop your rashers in a roasting dish and put in the oven to cook while it heating up. I do this so I know the bacon is cooked and it increase flavour.
• Use a large bowl – I use my kenwood bowl or a bread making bowl.
• Sift together 3 cups of strong plain flour with
• 5 teaspoons of baking powder and
• 1 tsp of paprika -either smoked or plain.

Mix these dry ingredients together with a knife or a big spoon then make a well in the centre and add your savoury ingredients which could include the following:

• Cup and half of grated cheddar.  (if adding other cheeses such as feta, you can reduce this to a cup or less)
• Chopped feta
• Chopped capsicum – either fresh or preserved in oil
• Paprika or smoked paprika – about a tsp
• Bacon – chop up about 3 rashers of cooked bacon into pieces
• Spring onion, fresh herbs or dried herbs. We used thyme.

If adding cheese, you won’t need to add the 25g of grated butter that you would normally put in your scones– but you can if you want!

Using a knife or a spoon, mix with enough milk to make a soft dough.  About 1 cup of milk. Careful not to over mix or they will be too tough. Add a bit more milk if too dry but if you add too much and its too sticky to work, add a little more flour.

• Sprinkle some flour onto a cold oven tray and turn the dough out. Pull together with your hands and shape into a square.
• Cut into 3×3 squares to make 9 big ones or 12×3 to make a dozen moderate size.
• You can glaze with a bit of an egg or milk wash or just sprinkle some paprika on the top.
• Cook in hot oven about 12 minutes.

Add other savoury ingredients to your taste such as sundried tomatoes, rosemary, chorizo – whatever you have to hand. Delicious straight from the oven!