 | | | Photo Susie Iventosch | | | | | | These savory scones are so delicious and make a wonderful dinner roll or savory snack. Made with Kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes, feta and blue cheese, they are the perfect accompaniment to chicken or lamb dishes and fantastic in place of French bread to go with your next pasta dish.
I love the way the cheese and Kalamata olives pair in this recipe, but you can also use green Greek olives and grated cheddar cheese if you prefer those flavors. There are any number of combinations you can use when making scones whether they are sweet or savory, and it's really up to your own tastes and imagination. When it comes to savory scones, another favorite of mine is turkey bacon, sharp cheddar, and chives and they're great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Scones are a super easy to make. I use my?basic scone recipe?for these savory scones but cut back on most of sugar and all the vanilla before adding the savory ingredients: cheese, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
The key to making good scones is to have your butter really cold and to handle the dough as little as possible. I grate or cut the butter into very small pieces before even adding it to the flour mixture, and then use a pastry cutter to cut it into the dries. If you don't own a pastry cutter, don't worry, you can use your fingertips to cut the butter into the flour by rubbing it and crumbling the butter into the dries. Some people freeze the butter first and then grate it with a cheese grater to get the pieces of butter super small before cutting them into the flour. Also, chilling the cut scones for about 10-20 minutes on the baking sheet in the refrigerator before baking them makes for a nice flaky scone.?
I normally use 2% milk for our scones, but cream or half and half also work beautifully if you can handle the fat content. We have scones quite often, so we prefer to go with milk. Sometimes, we use buttermilk in our scones, too, and that offers up a slightly tangier flavor. It's really up to you as to which dairy product you prefer in your scones.?I have yet to try making them with an alternative milk like almond or oat milk. I imagine those would work well for sweet scones, but not so sure about the savory versions.
Whenever possible, I make a big batch of scones so we can eat some now and freeze some for serving later; they last for several months in the freezer. When you're ready to serve them, remove them from the freezer, and reheat them on a low oven temperature, or in the toaster oven until heated through and a little bit crispy on the top and edges. They also hold up well in the refrigerator for several days in an air-tight container. There's nothing quite like a cup of tea or coffee and a scone if a friend stops by for a visit!
INGREDIENTS
2 1/2?cups?all-purpose flour
1?tsp.?baking soda
2?tsp.?cream of tartar
1/2?tsp.?salt
1 tsp. granulated sugar
4?oz.?butter, chilled and cut into
small 1/4-inch pieces
3/4?cup?Kalamata olives, halved or quartered
1/3?cup?sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4?cup?crumbled blue cheese
1/4?cup?crumbled feta cheese
3/4 (+/-)?cup?milk, or cream, or half and half - your choice
1/4?cup?grated Parmesan cheese?(for topping)
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425F. Prepare a baking sheet with cooking spray or parchment paper.
Sift flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar into a bowl. Stir in sugar. Using a pastry cutter or cold fingertips, cut the butter pieces into the dries until the pieces of butter are like small peas.
Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, blue cheese, and feta. Mix well.?Add milk all at once and mix just until integrated. You may need slightly more milk, depending upon the flour you use, so just have a little bit handy. It's better to need to add a little more, than to have added too much. But, if you do accidentally add too much, simply sift in a little more flour until you get to a good dough consistency that is not too wet or too dry.
Turn dough onto floured cloth or board and gather into a ball. You may need to absorb a little of the extra flour for this step, but be careful to not over handle your dough -- use a light touch.?Roll the dough ball out to about 1 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut dough into 8 triangles for large scones, or 12 triangles for smaller scones. Or, you can also use a biscuit cutter dipped in flour if you prefer round scones.?
Place scones on prepared baking sheet and evenly distribute the Parmesan cheese over the tops of each scone. Refrigerate the scones for 10-20 minutes before baking. This lets the butter firm up, resulting in a flakier pastry.
Remove scones from the refrigerator and bake for approximately 12-14 minutes, or until the tops begin to turn golden-brown and Parmesan is beginning to brown.?Remove from oven and eat hot, or at room temperature, or store in an airtight container. You can also freeze the scones in a baggie or airtight container for serving later. |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA