Happy Sunday everyone! Today is the Feast Day of Santa Fina - one of the local San Gimignanese saints. Although I'm not there at the moment, I must have been channeling my adoptive San Gimignanese state this morning because I'm wearing yellow. They say that one of the miracles of Santa Fina is that on her Feast Day every year, yellow violets will appear on the walls around San Gimignano.
A couple of days ago, I was thinking about scones. My mind was filled with all kinds of different flavours of scones; sweet, savoury and a combination of both! I love a good scone. I don't think there is anything more indulgent than a perfectly baked sweet scone, fresh from the oven, with a generous helping of clotted cream and strawberry jam. I'm salivating just thinking about it. Incidentally, I was catching up with a friend over the phone and, not even knowing about my craving, she said she was going to bake blueberry and white chocolate scones for some friends coming round. I must get her recipe.
So it's Sunday. Sunday is a typical brunch day. But the Mr. was coming back from a stag do in London this morning and I went to church - sadly, no time for brunch. But when I got home I thought about my scones again and really, they do not take long to make. Savoury scones are an amazing brunch "dish". Who says you can't do brunch at lunchtime. Ok, technically it is lunch but with brunch food-ish.
I ended up making stilton and walnut scones. The great thing about making cheese scones is they still go well with jam (I confess, I haven't tried it with the clotted cream - you never know...). We broke out the jam and Christmas chutney and melted butter on the fresh, warm, delicious scones, we had a pot of Turkish coffee and some fruit to go with it all. Beat that, brunch!
Stilton and Walnut Scones
450g self raising flour
1 cup whole milk
50g cold butter
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
120g stilton cheese, crumbled
25g walnuts, finely chopped
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. In a bowl, mix the flour and salt and rub in the butter. When the butter is well combined, make a well in the middle of the mixtures. Add the milk and one of the eggs. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together by gathering the dry ingredients in from the sides.
When the dough just comes together, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it down gently and sprinkle the cheese and walnuts on top. Fold the sides over the "filling" and knead it all in. Try and do this for as little time as possible but still have everything evenly mixed. The more you work the dough, the less it will rise.
Roll out the dough until it's even and about 2 inches thick. Cut it into the shape you like. I like savoury scones in triangles but you can also use a round cutter if you prefer. Flour a baking tray and lay the scones on it, giving them room to rise. Mix the other egg with a teaspoon of cold water and brush it over the top of the scones. Bake for 12 minutes.
You can eat these straight from the oven (just don't burn yourself) or they will keep in a sealed tin for 4 days. If you're not eating them immediately, leave them to cool on a wire rack and store them when cooled.