THE BEST CHEESE SCONES IN THE WORLD...YES THE WORLD !

These are undoubtedly the most light, flakey melt in your mouth rich cheese, scones made with double cream and gorgeous cheeses, using a light but not too light hand and a puff pastry folding technique leave these scones super light, full of scone and cheese flavour, absolutely decadent on their own but even better loaded with fresh butter, brie and fresh of the bone ham, divine just divine!

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 15-20 minutes

Ingredients 

(makes 12)

160g cold salted butter

400g supreme light flour

30g sugar

40g baking powder

200g double cream

220g full cream milk

350g aged cheddar (Montgomery) grated

1 egg beaten for wash

Pre heat your oven 220 C / 440 F

Place your baking sheet in the oven, if you have a stone baking sheet even better.

In a large bowl gently rub the butter in to the flour to a small rubble but not quite breadcrumb consistency, stir in the sugar and baking powder, mix in 80% of the cheese reserving the rest to sprinkle on top of the scones, then whisk the milk and cream together and stir gently to combine, at this point I turn the rubble mix out on to the work top and bring together by gently pushing the dough together but keeping my actions light, once you have a large flattish mound fold the dough in half, turn 90 degrees and press out to the same thickness as when you started, repeat this 3 more times pressing out a little less each time, this action is folding the layers of dough and fat which will give your scones the most unbelievable crumbly light melt in your mouth texture, not dissimilar to a really good home made puff pastry, cover with a tea towel and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Press out the dough to approximately 2” thick and either cut squares and triangles with a knife or using a circle cutter cut out the scones in a straight down and up action, do not be tempted to twist the cutter as this suppresses the rise of the scone while baking.  Remove the hot baking sheet from the oven place your scones on, don’t over crowd, cook in two batches if necessary.  Brush the tops with egg wash, never the sides as this prevents the rise, place a sprinkling of cheese on the tops of the scones, turn the oven down to 200 C / 400 F and bake the scones in the oven for 15-20 minutes until light golden brown and a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom.

Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack to cool for a few minutes, these are at their very very best served warm, if serving later wrap in a tea towel until needed and enjoy.

EASTER HOT CROSS BUNS

Glorious spiced fragrant hot cross buns, lightly toasted and topped with lashings of Cornish creamy butter, a wonderful way to celebrate Easter.  I have never made hot cross buns before but was surprised how easy and un-complicated these were, I love working with dough and I knew these were going to be good as the dough was gorgeous and light to handle.  These only take 10 minutes to make and 3 x 1hr proves I followed/tweaked a little from Paul Hollywood's good food recipe

10 minutes hands on / 3 x 1 hour proves / Baking 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

(makes 15)

500g 00 flour

10g yeast

1 tsp salt

100g caster sugar

300ml warm milk

80g butter melted

1 egg beaten

1 apple grated

Zest of one orange

1 tsp heaped ground cinnamon

100g dried fruit

25g mixed peel

100g plain flour

water

1 tbsp apricot jam

Place the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl, warm the milk and butter together until the butter has melted.  Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the warm milk and the beaten egg, using a wooden spoon bring the mixture together to form a dough and knead for 5 minutes.  Place in a oiled bowl and cover the top with oiled clingfilm, not touching the dough, place in a warm place to prove for 1 hour.  Take the dried fruit and place in a bowl, add a fragrant teabag and pour over some hot water to soften the fruit.

Once 1 hour up mix in the cinnamon, apple, orange zest, mixed peel and dried fruit, (drain off the tea) and leave to prove again for another hour, the dough will be slightly wet and sticky that is good.

After this second prove, dust your worktop with flour and tip out your dough, divide the dough into 15 equal ish size balls and place on a greased baking tray with space around each bun to allow room for expansion, cover with oiled clingfilm loosely and again prove for another hour.

Now to apply your cross, mix the flour with some water to make a thick paste, fill a pipping bag and pipe on the cross.  Now they are ready to bake, 200 degrees for 18-20 minutes.  Once cooked glaze the top with some warm apricot jam, saw in half and pop under the grill to toast, load with way to much butter and I like to pop back under the grill for 30 seconds again to get the mound of butter melting from the top as the bottom will have soaked into the bun making these the best ever hot cross buns, eat immediately.

RED TEXAS BEER CHILLI AND CHEESE TOSTADA BASKET WITH ALL THE FIXINGS

One of the best chilli’s I have ever made, I have always been a chilli girl but I recently learnt about Texas chilli, a chilli that originally walked a fine line just this side of indigestible, daring the mouth that eats it and defying the stomach to digest it!  Dubbed in 1977 The Lone Stars State Food and to a Texan anything else just isn’t chilli, now I was the spicy, chipotle smokey, ground chuck and hint of tomato chilli girl and this recipe changed that and the addition a cheddar beer sauce layer sealed the deal!  I still love my non Texas chilli beef and enjoy that in a more versatile way with tacos, burritos, nachos etc, whereas if I want a bowl of chilli it just has to be red Texas beer chilli.

Prep time 30-45 minutes / Slow cooking time 2 hours

Ingredients 

(serves 6-8 people)

Red Texas Beer Chilli

2 dried ancho chillies

2 dried de arbol chillies

2 dried guajillo chillies

2 tbsp olive oil or beef drippings

1 large white onion diced

1 large red pepper diced

2 fresh Fresno chillies

2 Anaheim peppers diced

3 tbsp masa harina 

1 kg ground chuck steak

1 kg chuck steak diced

4 cloves of garlic finely diced

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp paprika (smoked optional)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt (to taste)

1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

2 bottles amber beer like blue moon

2 ltrs beef stock

Cheddar Beer Cheese Sauce

50g butter

50g plain flour

1 bottle amber beer

250ml single cream

250g mature cheddar cheese

150g cream cheese

5 shakes of Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp paprika

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

Fixings

Flour tortillas

Corn tacos

Pickled jalapeños 

1 large pot sour cream

8 scallion spring onions finely chopped

4 large tomatoes deseed and finely chopped

4 tbsp fresh coriander chopped

1 red onion finely diced

1 bag salted crackers 1/2 the bag crushed

Heat the beef drippings or olive oil medium hot in a deep saucepan, brown the diced chuck steak, remove then add the garlic to the pan along with the chuck steak mince and brown off, remove from the pan, while the chuck is browning in a dry pan toast the ancho, de arbol and guajillo chillies then take off the heat and cover with 250ml of boiling water and leave to soften for 10 minutes, add to a blender and blitz to a smooth sauce, next add some olive oil or beef drippings to the pan, add the diced onion, pepper, fresno and Anaheim peppers to the saucepan and soften for 10 minutes then add the paprika, cayenne, oregano, cumin and masa harina to the softened onions and cook for a further five minutes, add the browned off chuck steak and mince to the pan along with the blitzed chillies, stock and beer, season with the salt and pepper.

Place in the oven in lidded casserole dish or cook on the stove over a medium low heat for 2-3 hours until the diced chuck steak is fall apart tender, season with salt and pepper to taste at this point.

Meanwhile while the chilli is cooking make the cheddar cheese beer sauce, on a medium heat, melt the butter for a couple of minutes so it slightly changes colour to a light brown, add the flour and stir until smooth, cook the roux for 5 minutes on a low heat, stirring regularly, add the beer and whisk to a smooth consistency, bring to a simmer and add the rest of the ingredients stir until combined and you have a velvet sauce, season with salt and pepper to taste.

To make crispy baked tortilla tostada baskets to serve the chilli in, place the tortilla in a deep oversized muffin or pie tin and place a piece of baking paper inside and fill with baking beads or dried beans to weight it down, bake for 10-15minutes, pile high for everyone to help them selves.

I like to make my chilli the day before as the flavours develop much deeper for the next day.  I like to serve this family style, big ole’ bowl’s of Texas red, cheddar sauce and all the fixings for everyone to load and layer up their bowl just how they like it, enjoy.

CHICKEN POT PIE CHOWDER

A wonderful comforting hug in a mug, rich creamy roasted chicken pot pie with country vegetables, sweet corn and potatoes, this is a warming hearty dinner with love on a spoon.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

1 roasted chicken all meat removed and chopped or 4 raw breasts diced)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1 onion finely diced

1 carrot finely diced

1 clove garlic chopped

1 rib celery finely diced

2 large potatoes peeled and diced

1 corn on the cob corn off the cob!

1 bay leaf

1 tsp fresh thyme

150ml dry white wine (or milk)

2 tbsp flour

1.5 ltr chicken stock

300ml double cream

1 cup petit pois peas

1/2 tsp fresh grated turmeric (1/4 if dried)

1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Heat the olive oil and butter medium hot, add the onions, garlic, celery, carrots, potatoes, sweet corn, bay leaf and thyme, gently soften for around 10 minutes, if your using raw diced chicken add now, if your using cooked or left over chicken add once the sauce is made.  Next make the roux by adding the flour to the mix well, add the wine and stir in until smooth, bring to a simmer add half the chicken stock and cream and whisk until smooth, bring back to a gentle simmer and assess how thick your sauce is adding more chicken stock until your pot pie chowder is the consistency you like, nows the time to add the roast chicken if using then add the peas, turmeric and season with salt and pepper and serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley.