Ingredients:
½ cup cold buttermilk
¼ cup cold apple cider or unsweetened apple juice
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stone ground
1 ¾ cups flour
2 T sugar
1 T baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 stick (125 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup finely chopped dried apple (I have also used dried apricots instead of dried apples)
Preparation:
Whisk egg, buttermilk and juice in small bowl. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
In large mixing bowl, sift together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, soda, sugar and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender or rub in using fingers to create coarse meal. Pour cold liquid over dry ingredients and stir with fork until a soft dough just comes together. (Flour will not be fully incorporated). Stir in cheddar and apples. Dough will be very sticky. Sprinkle with additional flour and knead carefully or turn with spatula several times in bowl.
Turn dough out onto a floured board. With floured hands, pat into a square about a ½ inch thick. Cut into 12 to 16 equal pieces. Brush tops with melted butter, if desired. Bake scones on parchment paper lined baking sheet 15 – 20 minutes at 400°F until puffed and golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack and serve at room temperature.
Scones can be frozen before baking no need to defrost before baking, just add additional baking time.
Makes 12-16 scones
To make savory scones, omit sugar and replace juice with additional buttermilk.
To make ginger scones, add ½ tsp ground ginger, replace dried apples with crystalized ginger. Omit sugar, apple juice and cheese.
To make pepper scones, add ¼ tsp each black pepper, cayenne and paprika. Replace cheddar with Parmesan cheese or Gruyere. omit sugar and juice.
