Cheddar Jalapeno Scones

I’m going to start this off by saying I’ve never been a good bread baker.  I’m just too impatient, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before.

I have this huge prejudice against baking bread.  It recalls to me memories of flouring a surface, rolling out bread, and repeating.  A cycle that seemed to go on and on and on and on For Hours.  And then there is my lack of an upright mixer, and thus a bread hook, which most bread recipes call for.  I’m not a muscular person, I’ve felt tired after poking bread dough, and I can’t imagine trying to do the kneading by hand.  Shudder.

My sister in law though.  Man she can bake some bread.  She’s great at it; she really puts me to shame.  I spent a week at her house and we had fresh bread every day, which of course had nothing to do with how we would eat all of it by the end of the day.  And of course, like someone who’s just enjoying a good thing, I never thought to pay attention to her while she worked.  So, for now at least, her bread secrets are safe.

Until then, I’ve managed to find a bread that has limited kneading and no rolling out with flour.  And you mix it with your hands, so as a bonus, you get to play with your food and eat it too!  I’m thinking this is a win win.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

If you use salted butter, leave out the additional salt

1 cup Cheddar Cheese

2 green onions

2 tablespoons diced jalapenos, or other green chilies

You can also use 2 fresh jalapenos finely chopped

2-3 tablespoons minced garlic

Or 6 cloves fresh garlic finely chopped

1 egg

½ cup whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 425^OF

In a large bowl, and I mean one with tall sides because this is going to be messy, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Mix that once or twice, and then take the butter and cut it into the smallest pieces you can manage.  Mixing in the butter is the hardest part of this recipe.

You can either, take a knife in both hands and pretend you are an automaton by cutting the flour/butter mixture repeatedly.  The aim is to continuously cut the butter into smaller and smaller pieces, which is best achieved by just cutting the butter against the walls of the bowl.  Takes about 15 minutes.

Or you can get a hand mixer and make a mess by just beating it for the 15 minutes.  A small amount of flour will fly everywhere, but you don’t have to do the robot.

Either way, the result is the same and it takes about the same amount of time.  Will look like ground graham crackers.

Yah, the hard part’s over!

Finely dice your green onions and add them and the remaining ingredients (the egg, cheese, green onions, jalapenos, garlic, and heavy cream).  Now put away your knives or your hand mixer, and mix this by hand.  Yes it will be sticky and slimy and flour will get under your nails, but isn’t it also fun!  And trust me; it’s easier than trying to mix it with the hand mixer or a spoon because, yes, I tried.

By hand, it takes about 5 minutes to fully mix everything together and you should have a pretty sticky  dough that’s a lot more like chocolate chip cookie dough than bread dough.  I guess that’s the power of scones.

Pull off a section of the bread dough and roll it around in your palms until it makes a smooth ball, poking in any stray pieces of green onion or jalapeno.  You’re ball should be about the size of a ping pong ball, so add or subtract as necessary.  Repeat with the rest of the dough.

If you end up with the last ball being smaller than all the others, instead of trying to bake it too, pull it apart and add a little bit to all of the other balls.  Try to keep them all about the same size.

Take a baking sheet and line it with a piece of wax or parchment paper.  This is to prevent the scones from burning on the bottom before they cook completely.  Place your bread balls on the baking sheet so that they are evenly spaced and there is space between all of them.

Using the palm of your hand, press down gently on each bread ball until they just spread out a little, but do not squash them.  If necessary, readjust the placement so there is still space between them.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Be careful with these, they burn pretty quickly.  As soon as they come out of the oven, pull the wax paper off of the baking sheet.  This will keep the scones from continuing to cook.

Start to finish, takes about 30-45 minutes and is a great addition to any dinner.  They taste a little reminiscent of Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits, and yes, unfortunately that means they’re not that good for you.  It’s okay, you bought that wii for a reason, or use milk instead of whipping cream for a significantly healthier but not as moist (and much more prone to burning) scone.

I served them drizzled with a little bit of oil instead of butter.  I hat to cut the calories down somewhere.

Enjoy!