Easy Buttermilk Cheese Scones
Light and fluffy these buttermilk cheese scones have a savory flavor that’s perfect any time of the day. With a sharp cheddar taste these scones will wow any cheese lover.
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Any time is a great time to enjoy these buttermilk cheese scones! They’re light, and flakey in texture and work just as well for breakfast with a side of eggs as they do for a mid-afternoon snack with coffee.
This cheese scone recipe is easy to make and can be varied slightly to add in extra toppings and flavors to make them unique each time you make them like I did with these Buttermilk Blackberry Scones.
What Are Scones?
Scones are a savory pastry frequently served in the United Kingdom and Ireland and usually enjoyed as a snack or on the side of a meal. In America, they’re called biscuits.
They can be made with a variety of flavors (think cheese scones or herb-based scones) and used as a meal accompaniment or sliced and made into a sandwich for a light lunch. Scones are easy to make and very versatile.
Ingredients You Need
All-purpose flour – sift the flour if possible so that no clumps remain when you’re mixing.
Granulated sugar – even though these buttermilk cheese scones have a savory flavor, you want a hint of sugar to balance out the palate.
Unsalted butter – make sure to use cold butter for the scones so that each bite is delicious.
Buttermilk – you need the active ingredients in buttermilk for the cheese scones to get their classic texture.
Sharp cheddar cheese – though any cheese will work the sharp cheddar brings with it a tasty flavor.
Baking basics – eggs, salt, and baking powder will be on your grocery list as well.
How To Make It
- Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar to a large bowl and mix well to combine.
- Grate the cold butter and add it and 1 cup of cheese to the bowl.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk the buttermilk and egg making sure to reserve 1 tablespoon.
- Mix the wet into the dry ingredients making sure that the flour is just moistened.
- Flip it around so all sides are floured before pressing it down with your hands to create a rectangle roughly 1” deep.
- Form the dough into a ball with your hands and place it on a lightly floured counter.
- Press a lightly floured cookie cutter into the dough to cup out each scone taking care not to twist. No twisting… very important! Place each piece of cut scones down on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
- Brush the tops of each cheese scone with the remaining egg mixture and top with the leftover shredded cheese.
- Bake at 425°F for about 25 minutes. Remove them from the oven and serve.
Important Teaching Tips
- Make sure not to overmix the dough when adding the wet ingredients to the dry. Otherwise, they’ll become chewy and dry.
- You need cold butter to make the best buttermilk cheese scones. This is because room-temperature butter will cause it to melt into the dough. But cold butter will melt as it cooks leaving little airy buttery pockets throughout the scone.
- Grating the butter is best because it creates small pieces of butter easily with no need to knead or cut the butter into pearl-sized pieces with a pastry cutter or your hands. Making achieving ripples of butter throughout the door much more easily. But to grate butter, again, it is essential the butter is cold.
- If you don’t want to grate your butter a pastry cutter is the next best thing simply because the butter can remain cold without getting heated and softened from the heat of your hands. This is a great option for new bakers who are nervous about overmixing the ingredients.
- Don’t twist the cookie cutter as you’re portioning them. It can cause the batter to overmix a bit and will result in scones that fall flat.
- You can vary the flavor of your buttermilk cheese scones by adding in some jalapenos, garlic powder, or even parsley depending on your preference.
Troubleshooting
If your scones are raw in the middle chances, are you didn’t cook them long enough. Oven temperatures vary but you want to cook the cheese scones until the dough has more than doubled in height and the tops and bottoms of each scone are slightly golden.
When scones don’t rise it’s normally because the batter was overmixed. This can also happen if you twist the cookie cutter when dividing them.
Crumbly scones happen when there’s not enough liquid. If your scone batter looks extremely dry, add just a touch more buttermilk to the dough.
How To Serve Scones
Scones are best served warm! If you’re not eating them right away, make sure to warm them up in the microwave before serving.
Once you do that, slice them in half and serve them with:
- A smear of butter
- Clotted cream
- Your favorite jam
Buttermilk cheese scones are delicious and served by themselves with a cup of coffee or on the side of a light salad (like this carrot and raisin salad), eggs, or carrot and cauliflower soup.
Frequently Asked Questions About Buttermilk Cheese Scones
Store your scones in an airtight container on the counter. Like this, they will last 2-3 days. Remember, scones taste best when warm so make sure to reheat them before serving.
Using cold butter allows the scones to become soft while baking. If the butter melts into the batter initially and combines with the dry ingredients, you won’t get the flaky texture with each bite which is a classic texture of homemade scones.
Yes! Store them in a freezer-safe container and separate them between pieces of parchment paper. Like this, cheese scones with buttermilk will be good for roughly 3 weeks. Make sure to let them thaw in the fridge before baking them.
More Easy, Delicious Bread Recipes
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cruffins
- Korean Cream Cheese Garlic Bread
- Cookies and Cream Cinnamon Rolls
- Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
- Lemon Poppyseed Bread
Easy Buttermilk Cheese Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour 10 oz
- 4 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter; cold
- ⅔ cup buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425° F
- In a large bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well to combine.
- Use a cheese grater to shred the cold butter.
- Add the shredded butter and 1 cup of shredded cheese to the bowl of flour and mix.
- In a small bowl whisk together the buttermilk and egg. Reserve 1 tbsp in a separate small bowl for glazing later.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients being sure to flour is all just moistened so it sticks together. Do not over mix. Press the dough with your hands to form a ball and place the ball of dough on the counter which as been lightly floured. And then flip the dough over so both sides of the dough are lightly floured.
- Press the dough down with your hands gently to form a rectangle that is about 1″ deep.
- Lightly flour a 2.5″ round cookie cutter and press the cookie cutter into the dough to cut out each scone. Do not twist the cookie cutter. Simple cut and pull the dough out.
- Continue to form the dough and cut our pieces until the majority of the dough has been cut
- Place each piece of cut dough on a non-stick cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 20 minutes or until the dough has more than doubled in height and the tops and bottoms of each scone are slightly golden.
- Brush the tops of each scone with the remaining egg mixture and top evenly with the remaining shredded cheese.
- Remove from the oven and serve warm with butter. Or let them cool and serve with butter, clotted cream and or jam.
Nutrition
Notes
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
