Monday 9 August 2021

Belinda's Cheese Scones - #ISW2021

I have been fortunate to attend two of Belinda Jeffery's cooking classes in the beautiful Northern Rivers area of New South Wales.  She is a wonderful cook and a warm and charming person.  And I love her cookbooks!  This recipe is my contribution to International Scone Week, hosted by Tandy of Lavender and Lime.  #ISW2021 was started in 2011 by the lovely Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, and is now maintained by our terrific host Tandy.

This recipe is from Belinda's book Mix & Bake; she calls it 'Really Good Cheese Scones', and indeed they are.  She suggests, and I agree, that you need to use a really tasty vintage cheese and grate it fresh for these babies.  I decided to add a few dried herbs to the mix too, for an extra punch of flavour though they are great without.

Funnily enough, I am a walking disaster area when at Belinda's classes.  On the first occasion, I cut my finger (well, technically my friend cut it as I put up my finger while she waved her knife around) and bled like a stuck pig.  I came over all faint and had to lie down.  And the second time, I just came over all faint for no reason at all, and had to lie down.  I am jinxed obvs. :-)   


golden and cheesy


Makes 8:


ingredients:


185g./6.5 oz self-raising flour

80g./3 oz wholemeal self-raising flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp mustard powder

a few grinds of black pepper, to taste

a few dashes of dried herbs like chives or oregano (optional)

150g./5.5 oz really fabulous, sharp vintage cheddar cheese

30g./1 oz parmesan cheese,  plus a bit extra for sprinkling over the tops of the scones before baking

60g./2.2 oz cold butter, cut into chunks

125 mL/7 oz cold buttermilk or regular milk


Method:


On goes your oven to 200C/390F, and line a baking tray with 2 layers of baking paper

Tip the flours, salt, mustard, black pepper and dried herbs into your food processor (or a large mixing bowl and whisk in by hand), and whizz it for about 15 seconds

Add the cheeses and give it ten seconds, then add the butter chunks and whizz again till you have tiny shreds of butter

If you used the processor, now tip the mixture into a large bowl, and make a well in the middle

Pour in the milk, and using a knife, stir the liquid into the flour mixture - beware, this is a dry mixture and will take a bit of time, so you'll probably need to push your hands into it and pat it together so you end up with a large, rough ball

Turn out the mixture onto a lightly-floured bench or board, and pat into a smooth-ish dough (Belinda says DO NOT add more milk)

Now roll out the dough till about 2.5cm/1 inch thick

And cut out 8 rounds with a scone cutter or glass jar (6cm/2.5 in across) dipped in flour (keep patting the bits of dough together till you have used it all up)

Place the scones on the tray, all neighbourly-like, shoulders touching

Sprinkle on the extra parmesan, and bake for 20 minutes till golden

Put them on a wire rack with a tea towel over them to cool down a little, then eat while warm with loads of butter!


Notes:


I was really tempted to add a wee bit more milk, but they turned out fine in the end (but beware, it is a very dry dough)

Belinda says to roll out the dough till 4-5 cm thick!  Nope, this was never going to happen; I would have ended up with about 4 scones


ready for whizzing 

in go the cheeses

and whizzed till crumby or should that be crumbly?!

and patted into a 2.5cm high round

heading into a 200C oven for 20 mins.

golden and warm

slather with butter, my friends!


Belinda patting out the bread dough in our class June 2018



© Sherry M.


44 comments:

  1. Don't know who Belinda is, but these scones with aged Cheddar and Parmesan surely look to die for!

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    1. hi angie
      yes they are good. belinda is an aussie chef who runs a cooking school in northern New South Wales. she is fabulous!

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  2. Can't go wrong with vintage cheddar. Or scones, for that matter. These look great -- I suddenly have the urge to go to my kitchen and do some baking. :-)

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    1. yep you should definitely do some baking KR :)

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  3. Ive been looking for a good savoury scone recipe and this one looks delicious. Envious you attended Belinda's cookery classes. She seems very generous.

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    1. hi pauline
      yep belinda is wonderful. can't wait to go to her classes again.

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    2. Do you know if she holds any in Queensland Sherry?

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    3. not that i know of pauline. only northern rivers and occasionally tassie.

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  4. I'm glad you didn't get faint making these scones for the blog, Sherry! I absolutely love all things cheese, and these scones sound delicious. Perfect for alongside a salad or a bowl of soup!

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  5. The cheese scones sound delicious. (Any scone sounds great, and the same for cheese, so a combo? I'm in!)

    Thanks for sharing these, Sherry!

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  6. This sounds completely delectable. I am a scone fan, and I am a cheese fan. Thank you for sharing it with us.

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  7. Mark is always telling me not to wave my knife around! Maybe he’s right? These scones sound amazing, and a good aged cheese is exactly what I would use, too.

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    1. yes it was funny - kind of. i raised my hand at the same time she held her knife up and eek! blood everywhere.

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  8. Oh my goodness! These look so delicious! I am totally obsessed with scones but sadly, I'm not very good at making them. Over lockdown we've been getting scone home delivery from our favourite tearoom and the deliveries have been a lockdown highlight. There's no such thing as too many scones!

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    1. i am not great at making scones but these worked out just fine. How nice to have delivery:)

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  9. While I am not a huge fan of sweet scones, I do love plain and savoury! The addition of herbs and cheese (well especially cheese) make them so delicious to my liking.

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  10. I remember that finger cutting episode. These look very cheesy indeed. Thanks for taking part :)

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  11. I love cheese and I love scones - a win-win!

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  12. I love cheese or savoury scones too! I would eat them far more often than sweet ones. These look great Sherry!

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    1. yes indeedy i love a savoury scone - more than a sweet one.

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  13. I was first introduced to scones on a cruise ship. They were sweet and came with a large portion of cream. The savory combination with cheese sounds really good.

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    1. oh yes a sweet scone must have lashings of berry jam and freshly-whipped cream! but i do love a savoury one.

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  14. Beautiful cheese scones. I love scones with jam and coffee too. Enjoy your weekend.

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  15. Dammit! I missed International Scone Week again! These scones looks delicious! Let's hope you don't hurt yourself next time you do one of her courses!

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    1. #ISW2021 is still open Marg - till 16th august. Yes it will be fascinating to see if i get another injury in her classes :)

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  16. Wow! I must make these, thank you. pinned so i wont loose the recipe.

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  17. I've been having problems leaving comment, hopefully this one goes through as your scones look great.

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    1. darn Blogger and its mysterious carry on:) thanks for persevering.

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  18. I've been having problems leaving comment, hopefully this one goes through as your scones look great.

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  19. Yikes on your jinx! But the scones look awesome. I love savory scones and will have to give these a try.

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  20. Jinked you maybe, but those scones look awesome. Cheese scones are my absolute favourite, though I'm unlikely to say no to any of them.

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  21. Jinked you maybe, but those scones look awesome. Cheese scones are my absolute favourite, though I'm unlikely to say no to any of them.

    Choclette

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