Best Ever Cheese Scones

These Cheese Scones are crunchy on the outside, incredibly soft and fluffy on the inside and filled with savoury cheddar cheese. Enjoy them fresh from the oven with a little butter!

Light and Fluffy Cheese Scones

This easy Cheese Scone recipe makes such light and fluffy scones while also being crunchy on the outside. The perfect scone structure is very important and this recipe ticks all the boxes! There’s a few important tips and tricks that take these to the next level.

I’ve been making this Cheese Scone Recipe for years so when I say it’s fool proof I really do mean it! You make the whole recipe all in one bowl, it only takes 5-10 minutes then throw them in the oven and you’ll have the perfect afternoon tea or side to soup in 20 minutes.

What is the Secret to Making Good Scones?

• Cold Butter – The cold butter gets worked into the flour, creating a kind of barrier around it so when the scones bake in the oven the butter melts, creating the perfect light flaky texture.
• Cold Milk – Cheese Scones are kind of similar to pastry or pie dough and what do you do when you make pie dough? Use ice water and keep everything as cold as possible, the same goes for these cheese scones.
• Folding the Cheese Scone Dough – When you mix dough or knead it you create gluten in the flour which turns it chewy like bread. Being careful to not over mix and folding the cheese scone dough over itself creates all these beautiful layers, kind of like laminating pastry while also giving the ingredients a bit more of a mix together.
• Hot Oven – These cheese scones are baked in a really hot oven making them puff up super quickly so they get all the soft pockets of air created by the cold butter.

Savoury Scones

These Cheese Scones are different from my English Scone Recipe simply by the fact they are savoury. The sugar has been removed and a few extra ingredients added. If you would like to make these Cheese Scones super Savoury Scones here are a few more ideas of ingredients that can be added.

• 1/2 Cup Bacon Pieces – Cook bacon in a frypan until crispy. Leave to cool before adding to the scone dough at the same time as the cheese.
• 1/4 Cup of Sliced Olives, Jalapenos or Sundried Tomatoes – Add to the scone dough at the same times as the cheese.
• 1/4 Cup Feta Cheese – Create a large rectangle with the scone dough and add the feta cheese to one side, fold over the other side to create a ‘sandwich’ with the feta cheese through the middle.
• 1/2 Cup Caramelized Onions – Create a large rectangle with the scone dough and add the caramelized onions to one side, fold over the other side to create a ‘sandwich’ with the feta cheese through the middle.

Cheese Scone Ingredients

3 Cups / 375g Flour – All purpose or standard flour

2 Tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper – The cayenne doesn’t make scones spicy, it adds a real depth of flavour. If you would like some heat to the scones add about 1 tsp.

60g / 1/4 Cup / 1/2 Stick Butter – Make sure your butter is cold straight out of the fridge so it doesn’t start to melt for this recipe.

1 1/2 Cups / 150g Cheddar Cheese – Use a really good quality strong cheddar cheese for this recipe. Don’t use pre shredded as it is coated in starch to stop it sticking together and doesn’t incorporate well into the scones.

1 Cup / 250ml Milk – Whole milk is best for this recipe but other milk alternatives can be used. Keep your milk in the fridge until you’re ready to use it so it’s super cold for this recipe.

Extra Milk + Cheese – For adding on top of the scones

How to Make Cheese Scones

In a large mixing bowl add the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Use a wooden spoon to mix the ingredients together.

Cut your cold butter into small cubes. Add it to the dry ingredients and use your finger tips to work the butter into the flour. Alternately you can use a pastry cutter or a dough cutter but it’s just as effective with your hands.

What we’re doing here is getting all of the flour coated in the butter, this creates the kind of fluffiness and flakiness that makes a really good scone. It also slows down the flour from forming gluten as we don’t want a chewy bread like texture to them.

When the butter has been combined well add your cheese to the mixture and mix it through with a wooden spoon. Pour in the milk and fold the scone dough together gently with a wooden spoon.

Pour the scone dough out onto your work surface and fold it over itself a few times, this is really easy with a dough scraper, incorporating any of the dry bits. We don’t want to knead it as that will make the scones tough.

Roughly shape the dough into a rectangle, about 20cm or 8″ long and 10cm or 4″ wide. It doesn’t need to be exact.

Use a dough scraper or a knife to cut the dough into 6 or 8 scones.

Transfer the scones to a lined baking sheet. Use a pastry brush to brush milk over the tops of the scones and top with a little extra cheese.

Place the scones into a 220C / 420F oven for 20-25 minutes or until the scones have puffed up and turned a deep golden brown.

Let the scones cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

They will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days but nothing beats a freshly baked cheese scone, still warm from the oven!

How to Serve Cheese Scones

• Deliciously simple with a little butter
• As a side to hot soup on a cold winters night
• Swap out bread in a sandwich for a cheese scone
• For breakfast with egg and bacon in the middle

Common Questions about this Cheese Scone Recipe

Can I use buttermilk in these Cheese Scones?

If you would like to make cheese scones with buttermilk you can do a straight swap with the milk. Buttermilk will make the scones a little more tangy but I will usually only use buttermilk if I have some in the fridge to use up from making Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwiches.

How do I get my Scones to rise and be fluffy?

See my tips and tricks to the secret to making good scones. Basically make sure your ingredients are cold and don’t over work the dough. Make sure you put the scones into a really hot preheat oven and they should turn out perfectly light and fluffy!

Can I use Self Raising Flour to make these Cheese Scones?

You can but I would recommend to make the Cheese Scones with plain flour as if you use self raising flour you will still need to add extra baking powder. To swap with self raising flour use the same amount and use 1 Tbsp of baking powder instead of 2 Tbsp.

Check out these other Scone Recipes

English Scones with Jam and Cream

Date Scones

Spinach and Feta Muffins