Garlic, Chive & Cheese Scones

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Whether you have them for breakfast, with a bowl of soup or on a picnic, scones are delicious, easy to reheat and there’s so many ways to enjoy them. They’re a versatile bake that can be enjoyed over a couple of days if they’re not all devoured within the first hour.

Save the clotted cream and jam for another time… Garlic, Chive & Cheese Scones are savoury and they need a different treatment. I love these beauties with nothing more than a smear of salty butter, but they’re also amazing to use for little ham & cheese sandwiches. The flavour is powerful, so this scones recipe is not for the faint of heart. My husband immediately proclaimed them too garlicky for his taste and I wasn’t surprised, but that meant they were just right for my own preference. If you don’t like garlic much, perhaps skip this recipe altogether and try my Red Leicester & Sour Cream Scones, Easy 3 Ingredient Scones or Easy Homemade Biscuits instead!

It’s important to note that before you make the scones, you need to allow time to roast the garlic. It makes all the difference to the flavour, so definitely do not skip this step or your result won’t be the same. Also, the recipe calls for garlic butter – Lurpak makes a nice one – but if you can’t find that, don’t worry. Regular unsalted butter will work perfectly.

If you are brave enough to try this supercharged garlicky recipe, then you’re in for a treat. I personally think these scones are just perfect for the warmer months for bringing to garden parties, potlucks, picnics and barbecues, but I wouldn’t judge you if you kept them all to yourself. Let’s get started!

Makes 9-12 scones depending on diameter & thickness

Ingredients

• 1 whole bulb of garlic
• Olive oil
• 70g garlic butter (or regular butter works too), cold
• 75g mature cheddar cheese, coursely grated
• 300g self-raising flour, plus more for dusting
• 2 teaspoons white caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
• A generous grinding of black pepper
• 100g buttermilk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 10g chives, finely chopped

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C / 180° Fan / 400°F and prepare a large baking tray lined with baking paper or parchment. Set aside to bake your scones on later.
2. Slice off the top of the garlic bulb so that the cloves become visible. Put a good-sized piece of foil under the garlic bulb and drizzle some olive oil over the whole top to coat the cloves. Loosely wrap up the garlic in the foil, sealing it but not too tightly and roast it on a small baking tray for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.
3. Cut the butter into cubes and place them in the fridge to stay chilled.
4. When the garlic is done, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool for about 15 to 20 minutes. Once cool enough to touch, gently work the soft roasted garlic out of its skins and place the cloves in a bowl. Discard the skins and mash the garlic cloves with a fork as best you can. Set aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl use a wire whisk to mix together the flour, sugar, salt & pepper. Take the butter cubes from the fridge and pop them into the bowl along with the cheese. Use a hand-held pastry blender if you have one to cut the butter & cheese into the flour mixture until it resembles a crumbly sand texture. If you don’t have a pastry blender, you can just use your fingers to rub the butter & cheese into the flour.
6. In a separate bowl add the buttermilk, about 2/3 of the beaten egg and whisk them together. Add in the mashed garlic and the chives and whisk again.
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones along with two tablespoons of water and mix together until you have a dough. You can use your hands for this, but I find a dough scraper really useful for mixing a dough like this together and scraping every last bit out of the bowl. It will also be useful when you roll out the dough as well. They don’t cost much, but I use them for everything so it’s worth investing in a couple.
8. Sprinkle some flour on a clean work surface and tip your dough out onto it. Pat the dough down with your hands and use round cutter or a glass (I used a drinking glass) to cut out your scones. Place the scones on the lined baking tray and then reform your dough, pat it out and cut again until all the dough is used. You can use the very last lump of dough to make a wonky drop scone – no need to waste it.
9. Brush the scones with the remaining egg using a silicone pastry brush and bake for 15 minutes until golden on top.

• The scones can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
• You can reheat them wrapped in foil in the oven, but my favourite way to reheat leftover scones is to slice them in half and pop them into the toaster.