Comte, Spring Onion and Sesame Scones
Ingredients
- 400g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tbsp caster sugar
- 2½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 180g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- a small bunch of spring onions, thinly sliced
- 200g natural yoghurt
- 1 egg, plus another beaten to use as egg wash
- 200g Comte, cubed (or your favourite sharp hard cheese, such as a mature Cheddar)
- 50g white sesame seeds
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, caster sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, sea salt, black pepper and the cubed butter, and mix on a slow speed with the paddle attachment. You can easily rub the butter in by hand in a large mixing bowl if you don’t have a stand mixer - it will just require a little more time and energy.
- Once the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, add the spring onions, yoghurt and egg. Mix again until the dough has just come together.
- Add the cubed Comté and mix for the briefest of moments until combined.
- Turn the dough out on to a floured work surface and pat into a rough rectangle.
- Roll the dough with a rolling pin into a long rectangle, then fold into thirds like a letter and roll out again. Repeat this step once more.
- Line a 20cm x 30cm baking tray with cling film and press the dough into the tin, until you have a flat rectangle that fills the tray. Wrap tightly in cling film and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas mark 4 and line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Take the dough out of the freezer and turn it out on to a board. With a sharp knife, cut it into 12 equal rectangular pieces. At this stage, you can store any scones you don’t want to bake in a sealed container in the freezer.
- Brush each scone with a little egg wash and roll in the sesame seeds.
- Place on the prepared tray and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp on the base. If baking from frozen, add 7 minutes to the cooking time.
My serving suggestion for these, to get the full experience, is to eat them while they are still warm, cut in half and slathered in salted butter and a healthy amount of Marmite. It’s always worth making the full batch and freezing any that you don’t want to bake immediately. They cook very well from frozen and it’s such a treat to have them ready to bake in the freezer, for those days when you don’t have time to make the full recipe from scratch.