Simple Savour: Cheesy Bacon Scones

Cheesy Bacon Breakfast Scones

Scones are the most scrumptious of all the world's pastries, in my humble opinion. Flaky and buttery, they are delicious without any cloying sweetness. About a year ago I started experimenting with savory scones, and I've used this recipe for Parmesean Rosemary Black Pepper Scones with much success. This morning I thought I'd try my hand a similar savory scone, though I wanted to make something distinctly breakfast-y. They turned out great, and therefore blog-worthy.

The trick to making good flaky scones is cold butter. If your butter is warm or melted, your scones will turn out more biscuit-like. Biscuits are not the end of the world, but they are also not scones. I freeze my butter and then shred it with a cheese grater. For this recipe I also froze the cheddar cheese for a few minutes before adding it to the dough. In an effort to keep my butter cold until it hits the oven, I also use a food processor or a pastry cutter to do all of the mixing. In fact, I only touch the dough with my hands when I put it on the baking sheet.

One more trick I picked up is to double stack baking sheets AND line the with parchment paper in order to avoid blackened bottoms. This is truly key to scone success. If you don't, your scone bottoms will be charred while the innards are still doughy. I learned this little nugget from the amazing book A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman. If you are looking for a good baking recipe book, this is it!

From Olive Bread to Cheesecake, this book has it all

And, in reference to my Simple Food qualifications, I am willing to make allowances for baking, since the only non-simple ingredient is baking powder. Call me a hypocrite, but I just love scones that much.

And now to the main event...

Cheesy-Bacon Scones

Yields 10-12

3 cups Flour

1/3 cup Sugar

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

¾ cup unsalted Butter, frozen then shredded

1 cup Sharp Cheddar, shedded

¼ cup Bacon bits (4 strips bacon chopped and fried up crispy)

3 tablespoons Chives, finely chopped

¾ cup whole Milk

1 tablespoon White Vinegar

1 large Egg

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Add shredded cheese to shredded butter and put them in the freezer for a few minutes.

Add Flour, Sugar, Salt, and Baking Powder to the food processor and pulse a few time to combine, add Bacon bits and Chives and pulse a couple more times.

Add Butter and Cheese to the food processor and pulse until the mixture is a bit coarse and grainy. Then turn it out into a mixing bowl.

Whisk together Milk, Vinegar and Egg thoroughly.

Make a well in the middle of the Flour Butter mixture and pour in the Milk and Egg mixture. Combine with a pastry cutter (or 2 butter knives) until the mixture clumps together. Marcy Goldman describes the ideal dough texture as “shaggy” and I think that's as good a word for it as any.

Stack 2 baking sheets and line with parchment paper. With your hands, form a scant ½ cup of dough at a time into a loose ball and place on the baking sheet. Some of the dough will not stick, and that is fine, just pat it on to the top of one of the scones.