FLOWER POT KITCHEN: THE BEST CHEESE SCONES IN THE WORLD...YES THE WORLD !

23 Mar 2021

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.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.