Cheese Scones

Looking for an amazing cheese scone recipe? You’ve come to the right place! These scones are light, fluffy and packed with lots of mature cheddar cheese and fresh chives for a mild onion flavour.

I’ve loved cheese scones since I was a little girl.  In my opinion, eating a still warm, generously buttered cheesy scone is one of the most divine simple pleasures in the world. 

The best cheese scones I’ve ever eaten locally is from a lovely place called Brodie CountryFare.  They have a lovely family restaurant where they serve all kinds of delicious food and their home baking is pretty amazing.  They also have a huge selection of gorgeous cakes, traybakes and very tempting looking desserts which are pretty hard to resist.

I’ve been trying to replicate their cheese scone recipe for a very long time, and I think I’ve finally cracked it.  These scones are very similar in flavour and texture.

I add my own little twist to the classic scone recipe by adding freshly snipped chives.  I love the mild onion flavour, but you can leave them out if you wish.  

what do you eat cheese scones with?

I believe the best way to eat a cheese scone is with butter, spread as thickly as you dare while the scone is still warm so the butter melts all the way through to the fluffy middle of the scone.  That’s pretty hard to beat.

They are also delicious with onion chutney, ham or if you are a fan, marmite!

I’ve also recently discovered that wild garlic butter is absolutely the best with cheese scones.

how long will cheese scones keep?

All scones are best eaten on the same day of baking.  However, the scones will be ok to eat a day or two after making. They do tend to stale quite quickly though so I warm them in the microwave for 15 seconds or so before eating.  

my tips for making the best cheese scones ever 

The number one rule for making the best scones is handle the dough with care. If you knead the dough, you’ll end up with tough scones. 

I’ve found the best way to bring the dough is by hand.  I don’t roll the dough out with a rolling pin either – I just pat the dough out lightly using my hands. 

Just like this Best fluffy scone recipe, this recipe uses strong white bread flour. You can use normal plain flour, but for some reason the scones always turn out better using the bread flour.

Please don’t be alarmed by the amount of baking powder in this recipe.  I know 6 teaspoons seems like an awful lot, but you need it to get the scones to rise properly. 

I’ve tested scone recipes using bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar, but I’ve found using just baking powder is the most effective way of getting that rise.  

I like my cheese scones with lots of cheese.  The more cheese the better!  I use a mixture of mature cheddar cheese and a red cheese such as red leicester.  The red cheese adds a great colour to the scones. 

The magic ingredient that makes all the difference to these scones are dried mustard powder – but don’t worry, your scones won’t end up tasting like mustard! It adds colour to the baked scones and amplifies the cheese flavour, which is definitely not a bad thing.

I also glaze the top of the scones with a beaten egg yolk or milk and sprinkle the top of the scones with more cheese.  The egg yolk glaze will give you a shiny, golden, slightly crisp top and using the milk will help brown the top of the scones.  

wait, no buttermilk?

I’ve tested this recipe using both buttermilk and normal whole milk and I found that the scones made with buttermilk turned out flatter than the ones made with whole milk.  I’m no scientist, but I’m assuming it’s got something to do with the high acid content of buttermilk and the large volume of baking powder.  

Want to see more scone recipes?……

Date and Walnut Scones

Salted Caramel Apple Cinnamon Scones

Did you make this recipe? Leave a comment/rating and let me know what you thought, Or follow me on Instagram and leave me a comment. I’m here to help!

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5 from 8 votes

Cheese Scones

Tall, light and fluffy cheese scones filled with lots of mature cheddar cheese.  These are the best cheese scones I've ever had! 

Course Snack, Teatime Treats

Cuisine British

Keyword Cheese scones

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 10 Large Scones

Calories 363kcal

Author Nickki Thompson

Ingredients

• 500 G Strong White Flour OR Plain (All-purpose) Flour
• 6 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tbsp Dried English Mustard Powder
• 1 Tsp Salt
• 2 Tbsp Fresh chives finely chopped
• 80 g Cold Butter Diced
• 300 ml Full Fat Milk
• 250 G Mature Cheddar Cheese, or a mixture of a mature cheddar & red Leicester Grated
• 1 Beaten Egg Yolk OR 1 Tbsp Milk For glazing the scones
• 25 G Mature Cheddar Cheese For sprinkling over the top of the scones

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 220C/200Fan/400F.  

  Grease and line two large baking trays. 
• Place the flour, baking powder, mustard powder and salt in a large bowl.  Add the diced butter and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the grated cheese and fresh chives and lightly stir with your hands to combine.  

  Pour in most of the milk (you might not need it all so keep about 25ml back) and using your hands, lightly mix until you have a soft, moist dough and no dry crumbs remain on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough seems a little dry, add the remaining milk.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Lightly pat out to a rough square, no less than 1 Inch thick.  Using a large cutter, cut out rounds.  Don't twist the cutter when cutting the scones or your scones will rise unevenly. 

  Repeat cutting out the scones until all the dough is used up.  You don't need to knead the dough when re-rolling - just simply push it back together lightly with your hands.  Bear in mind that the less you handle the dough, the lighter your scones will be.
• Place the scones on the baking trays, brush with the beaten egg yolk or milk (try not to let the liquid run down the sides or it could affect the rise) and sprinkle over the 25g grated cheese.  Immediately place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until well risen and golden on top.  The smell of the scones baking will make you ravenous! 
• Delicious served warm with lots of butter, ham, or chutney.