This Easter, mom asked that I make some ham and cheese scones for the family dinner. Sure thing moms! Now, how the heck do you make ham and cheese sconces?
Lucky for me, the next morning Serious Eats sent out an email with an “Easy Ham and Cheese Sconces” recipe. So that worked out. As much as I respect and trust everything that comes out of Serious Eats, I had to check some more resources for a more bird’s eye view on the history of scones to be sure the end result tasted as it should.
What I came away with after my brief research is that I’ll be making more scones in the future. There are a few variations on the dough recipe, mostly on how much and what type of liquid to use, but everything else is open to interpretation. The best part is you can pull these together in under 30 minutes.
Sconces can be an anytime snack. For breakfast, add berries and brie, or bacon and cheddar. For lunch, turkey and swiss, or asparagus and peas. Dinner time scones could be steak and blue cheese, or mushrooms with spinach and feta. My mind is racing with ideas.
Ham and Cheese Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups ap flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 4 tbsp cold butter cut in to small cubes
- 1 cup diced ham
- 1/4 cup chopped scallions
- 3/4 cup shredded gruyere cheese divided in half
- 1/4 cup milk
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F
- Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in to a large mixing bowl. Add cold cubed butter and rub with your hands to break in to tiny bits. If it's too warm in your kitchen, like mine was on a freak 85° April morning, let the bowl sit in the freezer for a while to prevent the butter from melting. Add ham, scallions, and half the cheese and mix in with flour.
- Make a well in the center of the flour and add all the milk and cream. Use a fork to mix the milk and flour until it comes together in larger clumps.
- Dump dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute to fully combine all ingredients. Form in to a ball and lightly dust with flour. Using a rolling pin, shape the dough in to a flat disc about 1 inch tall.
- Cut the dough in to 3 inch rounds. Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and cover each with the remaining cheese.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
