Aunty Kath's Savoury Scones - International Scone Week 2022 (#ISW2022)

I love lighthouses!  There, I've said it.  I don't know why, but they really speak to me.  We've holidayed in the lighthouse keepers' cottages at Byron Bay a few times, and visited many more.  It's wonderful when the sun goes down, the gate is locked, and you have the whole ocean to yourselves.  There used to be goats on the cliffs, but they got rid of them due to soil erosion, and damage to the native plants.  But I liked them!  So nimble, so clever, so smelly.

Lighthouses?  But this is about scones, is't it?  Yes - yes, it is.  This recipe is from The Lighthouse Cookbook, and the recipe is by Jan Rhodes.  Profits from this book went to restoration work on Deal and Tasman Islands in Tasmania.  The compiler Shirley Baker and her husband Dallas settle(d) on Deal Island for three months every year to caretake voluntarily.  Such a wonderful project!

even Sully and Mikey want some of these!

A big thanks to Tandy from Lavender and Lime blog, for her annual hosting of #InternationalSconeWeek2022, first started by Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial.  Every year it has been a fun search to find an interesting scone recipe.  I think my fave was the one where you actually beat the bejabbers out of the dough with a rolling pin!

Makes about 17:

ingredients:

3 cups (465g./16.4 oz) self-raising flour

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 Tbs (20g./0.7 oz) butter

1 large brown onion, finely chopped - (my onion was about 185g./6.5 oz)

2 rashers bacon (around 50g./1.8 oz), finely chopped

3 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped

2 cups (250g./8.8 oz) cheese, grated

1/2-1 tsp cracked black pepper

around 250 mL/8 oz 'ish milk

Method:

Whack your oven on to 220C/430F to heat

Grab a large mixing bowl, tip in the flour and salt, and give it a stir

Rub the butter into the flour between your fingertips (or cut it in with a knife) so it ends up looking like breadcrumbs

Now stir in the onion, bacon, parsley, cheese and black pepper

Add the milk bit by bit, till you form a soft dough - you may need a bit more, or a bit less depending on your flour

Tip the dough out onto a floured surface, knead gently, then pat into a 2.5cm./1 inch round or rectangle

Use a flour-coated scone cutter or rim of a glass tumbler to cut into rounds; keep going till you run out of dough :-)

Place on a lined baking tray, and bake on a high shelf for about 12 minutes or till golden on top (mine took longer as our gas oven is sooooo moody)

Let cool on the trays for a few minutes, then put onto wire racks to cool - or eat 'em warm, as they're delish with melting butter

Notes:

I blitzed the onion in my wee food processor, which of course breaks down the water cells, so I then sat the onion in a sieve for a bit and pushed out the excess liquid with a spoon

Use other herbs (rosemary/thyme?) if you fancy - I added chives too

I used one cup of Parmesan, and one of Vintage Tasty cheese; my notes say I used only 180 grams of cheese (??) but more cheese can only be a good thing :-)

I chopped the bacon, and blitzed the herbs and onion the day before making the scones

ingredients into the bowl the next day

mixing up the dough

ready for the oven at 220C for c. 12 mins.

and out of the oven after 20 mins. (my oven is slooooow)

ready to eat

'gimme, gimme, gimme' ... 'a scone after midnight' (thanks Abba)

Deal Island Lighthouse (Wikimedia Public Domain)

Byron Bay Lighthouse (Wikimedia Commons)

                                              (Author Alistair Cunningham)

I do have photos of us at Byron Bay, but goodness knows where they are!  Thank heavens for Wikimedia Commons.

© Sherry M.