Friday, September 24, 2010

Jalapeño-Cheddar Scones

This weekend is our big camping trip and we've been assigned breakfast. I've been dying to test out these savory scones that I saw online a while back (http://nymag.com/listings/recipe/jalapeno-cheddar-scones/). Finally I'll get to use up some of those jalapeno's that are collecting on my plant out back. Here is the recipe with some notes in paren from my trial.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
8 tbs. cold butter, diced (separated)
½ cup heavy cream (I used half and half)
2 eggs
¼ lb. sharp Cheddar cheese, diced
2 small jalapeño pepper, minced (could have used more)
Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400. Sauté jalapeños in a skillet on v. low heat w/.5 T butter until soft, 2 minutes. Place in a bowl w/Cheddar cheese and coat with 1 T of flour. In another bowl, combine the rest of the flour with baking powder & salt. Cut in remaining butter with a fork until the butter is pea-size.

Lightly whip eggs and cream (put them in a bowl &whisk until they're pretty bubbly on top) and add to the flour-and-butter mixture. Fold into flour mixture until it begins to come together. Add Cheddar-and-jalapeño mixture to the dough & mix until everything is incorporated. Turn out the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead gently for less than one minute. Roll dough ¾-1-inch thick and cut into 8 triangles. Brush w/egg wash & place on well-oiled baking sheet (I used parchment).
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. (I made mine smaller and baked for only 15 minutes.)