Cheese Scones

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 225c fan bake. Grease or flour a baking tray.

Ingredients

3 cups flour 
4.5 tsp baking powder 
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
¼ tsp cayenne pepper [optional]
75g butter
1 1/2 cups milk

Grated cheese on top

Method

Sift the flour, baking powder into a bowl. Add cheese, cayenne pepper to the mixture. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. 

Add the milk and quickly mix with a round-bladed table knife to a soft dough. For light and tender scones the mixture should be quite soft and a little sticky. Scrape the dough onto the floured baking tray and flour the top. 

Working quickly, pat the dough out to 2cm thickness. With a floured knife, cut it into 12 even-sized pieces or stamp out using a cookie cutter.

Before baking, top each scone with a little more grated cheese. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool, wrapped in a clean tea towel to keep them soft.