Cheese Scones (Gluten Free)

Melissa here. I recently hosted Book Club! The main character of the book, “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: A Novel” by Gail Honeymoon, lives life by a strict routine, and often eats and drinks the same things every day. Channeling Eleanor, I decided to create a themed evening. One of Eleanor’s favorite, repeated lunches is a cheese scone from a nearby Mediterranean restaurant. Despite the lack of cheese scone recipes in the American metric system, I converted a couple different UK recipes, and came up with these amazingly dense cheese and herb scones. With one of the Book Club members having to eat gluten free (She has Celiac Disease you guys, don’t judge.), I adjusted the recipe to use gluten free flour and baking powder.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gluten free flour
• 2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder
• 4 tablespoons butter, salted, softened, cubed
• 2 teaspoon of dry herbs
• 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 cup milk, divided
• Variety of additional seasonings to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, and line baking pan with parchment.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and mustard powder and whisk together in medium bowl.
3. Add softened and cubed butter to mixture and use hands to combine. Mix until mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
4. Add dry herbs to mixture (I used oregano and parsley).
5. Mix in 1 cup of cheese, reserving the rest to top scones with.
6. Slowly mix in 3/4 cup of milk (1/4 cup at a time) until mixture becomes doughy. Reserve last 1/4 cup for brushing on top.
7. Once you have a doughy mix, spread out on counter top. Cut into squares or circles OR spread out into a large 1/3 inch thick circle and cut into pizza-like slices (which is what I did).
8. Lay on lined baking pan, brush with remaining milk, and top with remaining cheese.
9. For additional flavor sprinkle with onion flakes, garlic powder, cracked pepper, and more dry herbs. (Or a variety of seasonings of your choosing!)
10. Bake for 18-22 minutes until golden.
11. Enjoy!

These were a huge hit at Book Club! Fortunately, there were plenty of leftovers, so Joey and I decided to take these Cheese Scones one step further. We made:

Cheese Scone B.L.A.T. Sandwiches

B.L.A.T. = Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, and Tomato

The picture below speaks for itself, and our tummies were quite happy! Especially since instead of using mayo, we used Thunderbird Whitebird Sauce from Wassi’s Meat Market, which you can and should put on everything. To make these delicious sandwiches, all you have to do is slice the scone in half, fry a little on the cast iron, and top with all the delicious B.L.A.T. ingredients. IT WAS SO GOOD!

So next time you want to impress your Book Club who has just finished reading “Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: A Novel” by Gail Honeymoon or want an excuse to make a delicious Cheese Scone B.L.AT., look no further than right here.