How-To: Make Cheese Scones!

Since visiting Marks & Spencer on Mother's Day I have had a craving for cheese scones. They had them on sale in the cafe, I don't just get random cravings when I'm there! I wondered how to make them a few times, but didn't really bother to look into it as I was having too much fun with making muffins.
At work we've been raising money for The Stroke Association throughout March (raised £85 in total - woo!). They sent us a fundraising pack but until now I haven't opened it - useful I know. Inside they had all the usual advice on planning events, information about the charity etc. but they also had some recipes in there to sell at the Tea Party they recommended throwing. Imagine my delight when I saw that one of the recipes was cheese scones!

Lately I've had a bad stomach, the only symptom being really bad pain in my stomach at all times. It's annoying, but I've been trying to get on with life as best I could. This afternoon at work it got a bit much and since I had no more appointments I headed home for some R&R. And that brings us to todays post, so you can guess what I've done with the extra time!

Here's the recipe so you can make your own:

Ingredients:
225g self raising flour (I used ordinary flour and 3tsp baking powder)
55g unsalted butter
100g grated mature cheddar cheese
150ml milk
1/4tsp mustard powder (I skipped this step)
Pinch of salt and pepper

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C (220C for non-fan ovens) and cover a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt, pepper, mustard powder and butter. Then use your hands to mix it all together.

3. Add the milk and 75g of the cheese and continue mixing it all with your hands until it becomes a soft dough.

You might have to add a little more flour or milk, depending on whether it's too sticky or not sticky enough. Eventually you will end up with a nice, soft dough that looks like this.

4. Put the dough onto a floured surface and knead it before patting it out into a 2cm thick circle.

5. Use a 5cm cutter (I used a glass) to cut the scone shapes and place them on the baking tray.

6. Knead and re-shape the remaining dough until it's all used up.

7. Brush the tops of the scones with milk and sprinkle the remaining 25g of cheese over the top of them.

8. Pop in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until they've risen and gone golden. Once done, take them out and leave to cool.

And voila! Now you have cheese scones and a room full of friends! (Trust me, once the smell starts spreading through the house people will love you!)

Are you going to have a go? Let me know what you think. :)