Cheese Scones, or Cheese Biscuits

Apparently it was cheese day at The Southern Districts Advocate. Today's installment of "In the Kitchen" uses it in five recipes: cheese pie, cheese and ham pie, cheese rice, cheese savoury, and today's cheese scones.

Cheese Scones 4 oz (about 1 cup) shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar) 2 oz (4 tbsp) each: butter, and lard or shortening 4 cups (16 oz) self-raising flour* Salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste Milk to make a dough Heat oven to 375° (gas mark 5, 190°C). Line a pan with either parchment paper or foil. For this recipe, you don't usually need to grease the pan after lining it. But if you're worried, a bit of cooking spray won't hurt a thing. Sift flour into a large bowl. Mix in the cheese and seasonings. Rub in the butter and shortening with your fingertips. Gradually add enough milk to make a firm dough. You want it firm, but not sticky or crumbly. Knead for about 30 seconds. Roll out ¼ to ½ inch thick, then cut using the biscuit cutter of your choice (or just use a knife to cut it into squares). When rerolling the scraps, stack them on each other instead of smushing them together. This helps keep the second- and third-reroll scones from being tough. Brush or finger-paint the tops with milk. (This isn't necessary, but it does make the tops come out just a bit nicer.) Bake about 20 minutes (12 hectoseconds), or until golden on top. Serve hot with butter. Recipe makes about 4 dozen, but is easily halved or quartered. To substitute plain all-purpose flour: Using a measuring cup: Put 6 teaspoons of baking powder and 2 teaspoons salt in a measuring cup, then spoon in flour until it comes up to four cups. Using a scale: Tare it out, add 6 teaspoons of baking powder and 2 teaspoons salt, then add flour until it all adds up to 16 ounces. "In the Kitchen," The Southern Districts Advocate; Katanning, Western Australia; 8 July 1935; page 3

The Southern Districts Advocate; Katanning, Western Australia; 8 July 1935

Our ingredients include a properly generous spill of cayenne. Moving down the list, I like that the recipe calls for half butter and half lard. When we did that for the Kimbell biscuits, they were delicious-- and they didn't have the benefit of cheese.

And here we get to the reason we're here: cheese! I went out of my way to get sharp cheddar for this. The package label called it "New York Style," which I think is utterly meaningless. Is New York famous for its sharp cheddar? 

All of our ingredients rubbed together very nicely. I like that the cheese shreds broke up little bit, but didn't quite mix in with everything else. 

The instructions don't mention kneading, but these are scones (or biscuits in American English). Kneading would have been obvious. Just like if a pancake recipe only had the ingredient list and mixing directions-- you'd know that you will need a griddle and a spatula. Perhaps the writers at the Southern Districts Advocate were trying to save space.

I like that these get baked in a "moderate" oven. Which means that 1) we can bake them even in the summertime (the Kimbell biscuits demand a fearsomely hot oven) and 2) they can share the oven with other foods. Of course, given how good these are, ease of baking may prove a mixed blessing.

I made a snake out of the last scrap of rerolled dough. The cheese puffed out while baking and turned it into a warty worm.

These were exactly what I hoped. They were crunchy on the outside with that perfect, soft interior that soaked up butter as soon as you split one to spread it. I can't decide if I should have used more cheese, or if the amount was just right. But really, the empty platter should answer that for me.