Savory Bacon Cheddar Chive Scones

I have been in such a baking mood lately. I think it’s all of the rain we’ve been getting lately. Expecting more rain this weekend, I planned a baking day with a friend, pitting some sweet strawberry scones against savory bacon cheddar chive scones. I must say – savory scones for the win!We used a tip that I picked up from Kitchen Konfidence to grate the butter into the dough. This gave us the cold, small pieces of butter so essential for good pastries, and was so much easier than trying to cut a cold stick of butter in with a pastry cutter.A little crumbled bacon, cheddar cheese, and chopped chives…Pat out a perfect little wheel of dough, and slice it up into wedges. Bake just 20 minutes, put on a fresh pot of coffee and enjoy!

• Servings: 8 large scones
• Time: 20 min
• Difficulty: Easy
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Recipe adapted from Annacia on Food.com

INGREDIENTS
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
2 tsp sugar
1⁄4 c cold butter (1 stick), grated
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1⁄3 cup snipped fresh chives
1⁄2 lb bacon (cooked, cooled, and crumbled about 1 cup)
1 cup half and half
Butter to brush the tops

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 425°F Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line it with parchment or a silpat.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. Grate the butter directly into the dry mixture. Mix in the cheese, chives, and bacon till evenly distributed. Add 1 cup of half and half, stirring to combine. Transfer the shaggy dough to a well-floured work surface. Pat the dough into a smooth 7″ disk about ¾” thick. Cut the disk into 8 wedges.
Bake the scones for 20 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Brush a bit of butter over the tops during the last two minutes of baking to get a nice golden crust.

Now, the strawberry scones weren’t bad, just didn’t have as much complexity. I’m thinking to add some rosemary and/or orange zest next time.They did end up being a perfect vehicle for more Orange Vanilla Marmalade. Happy Weekending!

Cranberry Orange Cardamom Scones

Recently my in-laws gifted us with more oranges than we could possibly eat before they go bad.

Since we actually had a Sunday with no morning plans, I decided to look to my favorite scone recipe and make use of some of this citrus. Tyler Florence’s recipe for Blueberry Scones has become my go to recipe for making light and flaky scones. I’ve tried a few different fruit varieties to great success. 

I ground whole cardamom pods because I had them in my pantry. You could also use pre-ground cardamom. Of course, fresh ground spices are always a little stronger.

The dough is pretty gooey, so be sure to flour your work station before you pat it out into a rectangle, 1-1/4 in high. You could also use biscuit cutters if you want round scones.Cut in half, half again, and into triangles. 8-16 depending on how big you want your scones. This time around I cut 16 so that I would have some leftovers to share with my coworkers. 

Orange Cranberry Cardamom Scones

• Servings: 8-16
• Time: 30 minutes
• Difficulty: Medium
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Recipe adapted from Tyler Florence’s Real Kitchen “Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze”

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting your work surface and your fruit
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 5 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold, grated
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chopped fresh cranberries
• 2 Tbsp orange zest
• 1 Tbsp cardamom

Preheat the oven to 4oo degrees F. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom and sugar. Using a standard cheese grater, grate the very cold butter into the flour mixture. (Check out Kitchen Konfidence to see where I got this great idea). The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and pour in the heavy cream. Fold everything together just to incorporate; do not over work the dough. Toss the chopped cranberries with some flour to help prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the scone when baked; then fold them into the batter.

Press the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 12 x 3 x 1 1/4 inches. Cut the rectangle in half; then cut the pieces in half again, giving you four 3-inch squares. Cut the squares in half on a diagonal to give you the classic triangle shape. You can also cut these in half again if you want smaller scones.

Place the scones on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, until beautifully browned. Let the scones cool.

These are delicious served with a honey whipped butter or an orange marmalade, or a pomegranate jam. Make use of some seasonal citrus and enjoy these with a nice cup of coffee this weekend.