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More Scones

More Scones

The last post was all about a basic Cream Scone recipe. It is a great starting point and with sugar in the mix is a “sweeter” dough. I also love a more savory style of scone. This is another recipe that I have found works very well and it will please a crowd! Let’s face it – adding bacon and cheese to something can only make it better… This recipe is a bit different in method since we don’t want to use the food processor which would pulverize the cheese and bacon. This recipe uses a stand mixer to start and then will add the final ingredients by hand. For a great variety – make both these and the cream scones – I’ve never had any complaints! Well, enough of this, let’s get started……

Ingredients for Cheddar Bacon Scones

Measure out the ingredients before you start. Cut the butter into small chunks, about ½ inch. Have a baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking mat ready to go. If you are going to mix and bake right away, go ahead and preheat the oven. As with the other recipe, a cooling off in the fridge won’t hurt these at all.

Put the dry ingredients into the mixer and run it to mix the ingredients.

Dry Ingredients in mixing bowl

Next, slowly add the butter pieces into the mixer with the mixer running on low speed. You want to still see “pea sized” pieces of butter.

Adding the butter to the mixture

Now add the cheddar cheese and mix until combined throughout the dough.

Adding cheese to the dough

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Add the whipping cream, buttermilk and bacon and mix until well combined. Try to mix as little as possible.  Now, bacon is a favorite topic for me and my favorite bacon is the thick slices Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon.  In Huntsville, Fresh Market carries it in the meat case – they normally have it labeled as “premium applewood smoked bacon.”  If you haven’t tried this, it’s worth a trip!  This is one of the FEW things that I will make a special trip across town to pick up! (It’s hard to find, but they make a Cherrywood smoked bacon that is also incredible!)

Adding Bacon, Buttermilk and Cream
Mixing together by hand

Once the dough is made, turn it out onto a lightly floured cutting board. In the pictures, I was making smaller scones for an event, so I split the dough into two halves and formed them into disks. For standard scones, you would pat it into a circle about 8 inches in diameter.

Bringing Dough Together
Mixing disk

I prefer to brush on the egg wash on top before I cut the scones.

Using a sharp knife, cut the scones by pressing straight down. You do NOT want to “saw” back and forth to cut the dough. There are layers in the dough and if you cut back and forth, you will crush those layers and they won’t rise as much. (Check out the close up of the side of one of the scones to see this)

Cut into “scones”
Close up of side of scone – see the “layers” in the dough

Move the scones to a prepared baking sheet. To maximize the rise, you can refrigerate or freeze the dough for 10 to 15 minutes before baking. It is important that the oven be at full temperature when the scones go in to bake. The high heat and steam created from the wet dough is what makes the scones rise and makes them light and fluffy.

Bake the scones until they are “golden brown and delicious.” If you make smaller scones, start checking several minutes early. Allow to cool on the pan for about 10 minutes then move to a cooling rack. I was making about 4 recipes at once that day and taking pictures for blog posts at the same time – somehow, I managed to NOT take a picture of the finished bacon cheddar scones – but if I did, it would look fabulous and delicious!

Recipe: Cheddar and Bacon Scones

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
8 each thick-sliced bacon, cooked and chopped into small pieces
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 each egg, beaten

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut butter into small pieces – about ½ inch and keep cold
  2. Combine the dry ingredients – flour, salt and baking powder – in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Slowly add the butter pieces to the mixer (leave it running on low speed). Mix until the butter pieces are about the size of small peas. Add the grated cheese and mix until the cheese is distributed throughout the flour mixture. Remove bowl from mixer.
  3. Mixing by hand, add the bacon, cream and buttermilk until the ingredients are well combined. Mix as little as possible. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board. Press the dough together until it forms a ball or disk. Using just your hands, pat and press the dough into a circle about 8 inches in diameter.
  4. Using a knife, cut dough into wedges – generally 8, but if you want smaller scones, cut into 10 or 12. Brush the beaten egg over the top of the scones (you won’t use the whole egg).
  5. Move the scones to the baking sheet placing them about 2 inches apart. You can refrigerate at this point to firm the butter. Bake 17 to 20 minutes until golden brown and firm in the middle. If you cut them into smaller scones, you may need to check a minute or two early.
  6. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes. Move to a rack to cool or go ahead and serve.

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