Give me a fresh scone and I’ll show you a happy woman. I’ll cheerfully scoff down a plain scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam, but a cheese scone is by far my favourite.
These scones celebrate the season where Spring is just peeking around the corner. Just as tiny little spears of wild garlic start to appear during the first weekend of March I thieve them away to be shredded finely and added to my Spring scone mixture. And instead of a typical cheddar, I choose a hard goats cheese which is at its flavour peak just as the animals are producing milk for their kids.
-Rachel Finley
150g spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
25g butter at room temperature
75g strong hard goats cheese, finely grated
3-4 large wild garlic leaves, finely chopped
1 large egg
2-3 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to gas mk7/425F/220C
Sift all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl & then rub in the butter. Add the shredded wild garlic leaves and then mix in most of the grated cheese, leaving a tablespoon or so.
Mix the egg with two tablespoons of milk. Add to the bowl & mix with a blunt knife to make a soft dough that leaves the sides of the bowl. Add a bit more milk if the mixture is too dry.
Roll out the dough to a depth of 2cm and cut out 6 cm circles using a cutter. Place the scones on a well greased baking sheet and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly and then serve warm.
