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For a second time I have revisited my recipe for Cheddar Scones, since I've had some trial and a lot of error with my previous recipes. So far this has yielded two out of two successes, so this one gets to stay.
Recipe (makes 8-10 scones)
230g Self-Raising Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
55g Butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
120g grated Cheddar
100ml Milk, plus extra
Salt and Pepper, about 1/2tsp
Plain Flour for dusting your surface
1. Preheat your oven to 180*C. Start by whisking the Self-Raising Flour, Baking Powder, Salt and Pepper together in a large mixing bowl. Add the cubed Butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until you get a consistency similar to breadcrumbs.
2. Add all but one large handful of the grated Cheese and toss together. Then make a small well in the centre of the mix and add the milk, half at a time. Mix together with a fork until your dough has formed. It should be a little sticky but also crumbly.
3. Pull your dough out onto a floured surface and roll it out gently until it's about 1-2cm thick; then using a cookie-cutter or similar tool, cut several rounds from the dough, about 3" in diameter. Reform and reroll your dough until you have as many rounds as you can get out of it.
4. Place the rounds on a lined baking tray and brush the tops with a small amount of milk. Finally top each round with the remaining cheese and bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese has crisped on top and the bread is cooked through.
Notes
- For Scones I've found that it's important to keep my Butter and Cheese as cold as I can throughout - especially the butter - otherwise things tend to fall a bit flat. I did myself a favour and measured all my ingredients out beforehand, kept the cubed butter and grated cheese in the fridge until I needed them.
- I have found that these Scones are a little dry. I'm wondering if it's worth adding a little extra butter and seeing how things go.
Recipe (makes 8-10 scones)
230g Self-Raising Flour
1tsp Baking Powder
55g Butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
120g grated Cheddar
100ml Milk, plus extra
Salt and Pepper, about 1/2tsp
Plain Flour for dusting your surface
1. Preheat your oven to 180*C. Start by whisking the Self-Raising Flour, Baking Powder, Salt and Pepper together in a large mixing bowl. Add the cubed Butter and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until you get a consistency similar to breadcrumbs.
2. Add all but one large handful of the grated Cheese and toss together. Then make a small well in the centre of the mix and add the milk, half at a time. Mix together with a fork until your dough has formed. It should be a little sticky but also crumbly.
3. Pull your dough out onto a floured surface and roll it out gently until it's about 1-2cm thick; then using a cookie-cutter or similar tool, cut several rounds from the dough, about 3" in diameter. Reform and reroll your dough until you have as many rounds as you can get out of it.
4. Place the rounds on a lined baking tray and brush the tops with a small amount of milk. Finally top each round with the remaining cheese and bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese has crisped on top and the bread is cooked through.
Notes
- For Scones I've found that it's important to keep my Butter and Cheese as cold as I can throughout - especially the butter - otherwise things tend to fall a bit flat. I did myself a favour and measured all my ingredients out beforehand, kept the cubed butter and grated cheese in the fridge until I needed them.
- I have found that these Scones are a little dry. I'm wondering if it's worth adding a little extra butter and seeing how things go.
Category Food / Recipes / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1470 x 1106px
File Size 1.7 MB
Listed in Folders
This sounds like a very tasty recipe!
Wuffy noticed your note about the result being a little dry.
Hope you don't mind: Wuffy wanted to help, but since Vrghr is a cook, but by no means a baker, wuff consulted some online resources with greater experience. This is what they recommended:
Short Summary:
Keep everything the same, but add 30 ml extra milk (try buttermilk!) (total ~130 ml) and stop mixing earlier so the dough stays shaggier/stickier. Grate frozen butter on a box grater instead of cubing it, and keep that cold in the refrigerator before using it. Pat (don't roll) to ~3 cm thick, chill 15 min, then bake as listed.
The "Too Long, Didn't Read" Version:
Your cheddar scones sound delicious, but dryness is a common issue with this style (especially savory ones with cheese, which adds fat but no extra moisture). The good news is several small tweaks can make them noticeably more tender and moist inside while keeping that nice crumbly, cheesy character.
Here are the most effective recommendations, prioritized by biggest impact:
Increase the liquid slightly
- Your current ratio (100 ml milk for 230 g self-raising flour + 55 g butter + 120 g cheese) is on the drier side. Cheese absorbs some moisture, and self-raising flour can behave differently depending on brand/humidity.
- Try adding 20–40 ml more milk (or use buttermilk instead of regular milk for extra tenderness from the acidity).
- Aim for a softer, stickier dough — it should be quite wet and messy before you turn it out (many pro scone recipes emphasize this for moist results). Add the extra liquid gradually until the dough just comes together without being soupy.
This is usually the single biggest fix for dry scones.
Handle the dough more gently and minimally
Overworking develops gluten → tough/dry texture.
- Mix with a fork until it barely holds together (lumpy is fine).
- When turning out, pat/gently press rather than roll hard. Many people get great results by patting to 3–4 cm thick instead of rolling (less gluten activation, less extra flour needed).
- Cut sharply and avoid twisting the cutter (twisting seals edges and reduces rise/tenderness).
Use colder butter and consider technique tweaks
- Keep butter very cold (or even grate frozen butter into the flour for faster incorporation and less handling).
This creates better steam pockets → flakier, less dense crumb.
Add an egg (or egg yolk) for richness and moisture
- Many savory cheddar scone recipes include 1 egg (or just the yolk) mixed with the milk.
This adds fat/protein for a softer, more tender interior without changing flavor much.
If trying this, reduce milk by ~20–30 ml to compensate for the added liquid.
NOTE: Since we recommended increasing the liquid with 30 ml more milk, or buttermilk, if trying out the egg solution, just leave the existing liquid "as is" and use the egg for the extra liquid
Other helpful adjustments
- Chill the shaped scones for 15–20 minutes before baking — helps them rise taller and stay tender (prevents spreading).
- Check baking time/temperature — 20 min at 180°C is reasonable, but ovens vary. Pull them when just golden; overbaking dries them out fast.
- If you want to experiment later: swap ~20–30 g flour for cornstarch (or use some pastry flour if available) for extra tenderness.
Hope you don't mind wuffy providing this info. And REALY hope one of these tips helps your results!
Thanks again for posting this delightful recipe!
Wuffy noticed your note about the result being a little dry.
Hope you don't mind: Wuffy wanted to help, but since Vrghr is a cook, but by no means a baker, wuff consulted some online resources with greater experience. This is what they recommended:
Short Summary:
Keep everything the same, but add 30 ml extra milk (try buttermilk!) (total ~130 ml) and stop mixing earlier so the dough stays shaggier/stickier. Grate frozen butter on a box grater instead of cubing it, and keep that cold in the refrigerator before using it. Pat (don't roll) to ~3 cm thick, chill 15 min, then bake as listed.
The "Too Long, Didn't Read" Version:
Your cheddar scones sound delicious, but dryness is a common issue with this style (especially savory ones with cheese, which adds fat but no extra moisture). The good news is several small tweaks can make them noticeably more tender and moist inside while keeping that nice crumbly, cheesy character.
Here are the most effective recommendations, prioritized by biggest impact:
Increase the liquid slightly
- Your current ratio (100 ml milk for 230 g self-raising flour + 55 g butter + 120 g cheese) is on the drier side. Cheese absorbs some moisture, and self-raising flour can behave differently depending on brand/humidity.
- Try adding 20–40 ml more milk (or use buttermilk instead of regular milk for extra tenderness from the acidity).
- Aim for a softer, stickier dough — it should be quite wet and messy before you turn it out (many pro scone recipes emphasize this for moist results). Add the extra liquid gradually until the dough just comes together without being soupy.
This is usually the single biggest fix for dry scones.
Handle the dough more gently and minimally
Overworking develops gluten → tough/dry texture.
- Mix with a fork until it barely holds together (lumpy is fine).
- When turning out, pat/gently press rather than roll hard. Many people get great results by patting to 3–4 cm thick instead of rolling (less gluten activation, less extra flour needed).
- Cut sharply and avoid twisting the cutter (twisting seals edges and reduces rise/tenderness).
Use colder butter and consider technique tweaks
- Keep butter very cold (or even grate frozen butter into the flour for faster incorporation and less handling).
This creates better steam pockets → flakier, less dense crumb.
Add an egg (or egg yolk) for richness and moisture
- Many savory cheddar scone recipes include 1 egg (or just the yolk) mixed with the milk.
This adds fat/protein for a softer, more tender interior without changing flavor much.
If trying this, reduce milk by ~20–30 ml to compensate for the added liquid.
NOTE: Since we recommended increasing the liquid with 30 ml more milk, or buttermilk, if trying out the egg solution, just leave the existing liquid "as is" and use the egg for the extra liquid
Other helpful adjustments
- Chill the shaped scones for 15–20 minutes before baking — helps them rise taller and stay tender (prevents spreading).
- Check baking time/temperature — 20 min at 180°C is reasonable, but ovens vary. Pull them when just golden; overbaking dries them out fast.
- If you want to experiment later: swap ~20–30 g flour for cornstarch (or use some pastry flour if available) for extra tenderness.
Hope you don't mind wuffy providing this info. And REALY hope one of these tips helps your results!
Thanks again for posting this delightful recipe!
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