Cheese Scone Recipe

This is the recipe for the cheese scones on my Facebook page.

I've looked up the US cup equivalents but it's tricky since nothing is equivalent.

Apparently 2 cups of flour are about 10oz so if you increase the other ingredients slightly it should work. Apart from not getting the dough too wet this is not a recipe that requires precision!

Anyway, here goes -

225 gms (8 oz) of self raising flour

pinch salt

1 level teaspoon baking powder

1 level teaspoon of mustard powder

optional sprinkle of cayenne chili pepper (this is very much to taste but don't overdo it the first time - I used about a pinch)

50 grams (2 oz) of butter or hard margarine chopped into small pieces

150 ml (5 fl ozs) or a quarter of an Imperial pint(which is 20 fl ozs and not 16 like the US one)

100 gms (4 ozs) grated cheese (strong English cheddar is best but something with a bit of a bite)

Sift dry ingredients together, rub in fat until breadcrumby, mix in grated cheese, add milk. The amount of liquid depends on the flour, the humidity, annoying stuff that takes no account of recipes. You may need a touch more but be careful.

Bring together using a folk, knead very lightly (as little as possible) to make a ball, roll or flatten out to about an inch thick. Cut into rounds (or any shape that takes your fancy) and place on baking tray.

Bake in hot oven 220 C (425 F - gas mark 7) for about ten minutes. They will be coloured on the bottom and sound a bit hollow if tapped. Eat fresh. (They freeze well but they're so quick to make it's only a good idea to save yourself from eating them all at once.)

Variations

You can leave out the mustard/chili/cheese and make plain ones to have with jam and cream or butter. Lots of recipes have sugar but I make these the way my mother did. No sugar. They don't need it.

You can add 100 grams of sultanas to make fruity ones. (I think they're called raisins in the US; sultanas are the white grapes, raisins are the dark ones)