Parmesan and Gruyère Scones (or Biscuits)

The basic recipe for these cheese scones comes from a recipe book that has been in print since 1923. The iconic Be-Ro Cookbook. It is as good today as it's always been....

...except, perhaps a little better, since I've replaced the margarine with butter, and swapped out good old cheddar for a combination of parmesan and gruyère.

If you are not British, feel free to call these biscuits. I'm British, so I call them scones. And just for the record I'm also Northern, so the 'o' sound in the middle is a short one. There. Now I feel better.

These are celebratory scones. You see my little blog has made it into a magazine! Fancy magazine, to be precise. Check out their sparkly website - there are some brilliant recipes and tips to be found.

This time I made tiny little scones with my smallest fluted cutter. I really like them small. Small is good because they get lots of crusty crunchy cheesy edges, and small is also good because it doesn't matter if you inhale three at once (by accident, of course). Unless you forgot to spread them with butter first. That would be disrespectful.

So here we are. Scones, biscuits, whatever they are. They take minutes to make and are jolly tasty. I challenge you to make a batch and still have some left by the end of the day.


Parmesan and Gruyère Scones or Biscuits

Recipe adapted from Be-Ro Home Recipes, 40th Edition

Makes 8 scones, or many more if you use a small cutter
175 g self-raising flour follow the link if you can't buy it - you can make your own
a pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp mustard powder I used Colmans
25 g butter
40 g parmesan, grated
40 g gruyère, grated
1 egg
2 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 220°C / 425F. Grease a baking tray.

Sift the flour, salt, mustard powder and pepper into a bowl. Rub in the butter.

Stir in both types of cheese, retaining a little of each to sprinkle on top of the scones.

Mix in the egg and then add just enough milk to make a soft dough - you won't need much. save the rest of the milk to glaze the tops with.

Roll out to the desired thickness, at least 2 cm thick, but for larger scones, 3 cm thick, and cut into rounds.

Place on the baking tray and brush with milk. Mix the remaining cheese together and sprinkle a little onto each scone.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.

Done!

Split one open, slather with butter, grab a magazine and enjoy! The warmer the better.