Since discovering that scones don’t have to be boring and dry, I’ve been making a lot of them. But, these apple cheddar scones have received the distinct honour of being Daragh’s favourite.

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In January I was gifted a box of locally grown winter apples, called Red Prince. I had free reign of what to do with them, and just had to share on Instagram. I went for comfort foods, pork chops with apples and these scones. I had never made apple scones, but they turned out really great. I reduced the butter by a 1/4 cup and replaced it with grated white cheddar cheese. I left the apples pretty chunky so you get that kind of warm, sweet, soft apple pie feeling in every bite. I make mini scones so that you don’t have to make the commitment to a giant pastry, unless you want to….Just have 3!

Scones are easy to whip up on a weekend morning, and I love them because they are a blank canvas for flavour. Red Prince apples worked out great, but any crisp flavourful apple would work too. They are best eaten within 1-3 days. We warm them up in the toaster oven on days 2 and 3, if they last that long.

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

1/4 cup grated sharp white cheddar cheese

3/4 to 1 cup chopped apples

1 cup + 1 tablespoon chilled buttermilk*

Approximately 2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar

*Make your own buttermilk! Pour just over 1 cup of whole milk into a measuring cup. Add an overflowing 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the milk. You’ll use 1 cup for the dough, and the rest to brush on the scones before baking.

Apple Cheddar Scones

Servings 12 mini scones Time 40 minutes

Recipe modified from a Bon Appétit Recipe

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F and gather your ingredients.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into large bowl.

Add butter and grated cheese and rub in with fingertips until mixture resembles parmesan and peas.

Mix in apple chunks. Gradually add buttermilk, tossing with fork.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface and knead briefly to bind dough together into a mound. Cut the mound in half and form into two 1-inch-thick rounds. Cut each round into 6 wedges.

Transfer wedges to baking sheets lined with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches between scones. Using a pastry brush, top each scone with buttermilk, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake until tops of scones are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let stand on baking sheet for 10 minutes.