Nearly a month ago I posted a relatively successful and jolly good recipe for traditional British scones, doesn’t time go quickly? Following this my recipe received a number of comments specifically requesting a savoury version of my wonderful tea-time snacks. So, here is the recipe at least 3 of you have been waiting for!

These scones are actually more of a variation than a recipe in their own right, in that they use an identical base recipe to the originals; cheese and garlic have simply been added in lieu of sugar. I can report however, that they are quite delicious and that these little wonders are scone enough for anyone’s taste buds. I found that the one’s that emerged from my oven, or rather my mother’s, had a subtle yet definite flavour – perfect since no one likes being overpowered by barely cooked garlic. They also smelt divine, with the cracked black pepper adding to the aroma more than one might suppose.

Again, these are perfect served with a little salted butter, however, they probably work best as part of a lunch or as an aperitif, rather than as a tea-time snack. Actually, if one were to make both types one would be pretty much set for all circumstances of pomp – elevenses, afternoon tea, high tea… traditions which, although no longer widely adhered to, my Grandparents still more or less follow.

Cheddar Cheese and Garlic Scones

Makes 8-9 Savoury Scones

Ingredients:

• 225g self-raising flour

• 75g salted butter

• A pinch of salt

• A generous handful of mature cheddar, preferably British in origin

• 2 cloves of garlic, mashed

• 1 egg

• 2 tbsp milk

• A little cracked black pepper

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Sift the salt and flour into a large mixing bowl and then rub in the butter until the consistency is that of fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the cheese and the garlic.

2. Beat together the milk and egg in a separate bowl. Add almost all of it to the dry mixture and stir. Bring it together by hand, into a soft, but not sticky, ball of dough.

3. Gently roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until roughly an inch thick. Cut the scones out with a 5cm baking ring.

4. Place the scones onto a floured baking tray, brush with the milk and egg, sprinkle with cracked black pepper and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Cost: These are slightly more expensive than the sweet scones as they contain cheese. However, they still weigh in at a damn reasonable 90p. Not bad at all, that still works out at around 10 pence a scone!