Cheddar Herb Scones #BreadBakers

These fluffy cheddar herb scones have the most wonderful flavor, not just from the cheese and herbs but also from the yeast used as the rising agent.

Most scones, at least in my experience, are raised with baking powder and/or baking soda but this month our Bread Bakers host, Sue of Palatable Pastime challenged us to bake them (or their American counterpart, biscuits) with yeast instead.

I’m here to tell you that yeast can make a lovely light scone as well and almost as quickly, with just one 30-minute rise of the dough before baking. The cheese and herbs are subtle in these scones but that just makes them more versatile.

Cheddar Herb Scones

My recipe is adapted from one on Kitchen Stories. My family ate a few for breakfast but I also served them with pork and bacon patties as a sort of alternative burger for dinner. Delicious!

Ingredients
2 teaspoons dry active yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 cup or 240ml warm water
2 cups or 250g bread flour
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
Black pepper
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus a little extra for the bowl
3 1/2 oz or 100g extra sharp cheddar cheese, plus extra for topping, if desired
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method
Grate your cheese and set aside.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the yeast and sugar into the warm water. It should get nice and bubbly if your yeast is healthy.

Sift the flours and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add in a few generous grinds of black pepper, the grated cheddar, and herbs and mix well.

Add the olive oil to the yeast mixture then add the wet mixture to the dry ingredient bowl.

Stir with a wooden spoon until it’s too stiff to stir. Tip the shaggy dough out onto a clean surface and knead until all the ingredients come together in a tidy ball.

Put a little olive oil in the bowl and turn the dough ball over to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it proof for 30 minutes, in a warm dark place.

When your dough is almost through proofing, preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C and prepare your baking pan by lining it with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly dusted work surface lightly knead. Pat it into a disc that is about 1 in or 2.5 cm thick. Use a floured cookie or biscuit cutter to cut the dough into 3 inch or 7.6cm circles. Depending on the thickness of your dough, you should get seven or eight scones.

Transfer the dough circles to your lined baking pan. Brush with the beaten egg.

Sprinkle on a little cheddar, if desired.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden brown and well risen. Remove from the oven and serve with butter while still warm.

Enjoy!

If you are a fan of scones or biscuits, this is the Bread Baker recipe list for you! Many thanks to Sue from Palatable Pastime for hosting this month!

• Angel Biscuits from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Buttery Jeera Biscuits from Sneha's Recipe
• Cheddar Herb Scones from Food Lust People Love
• Cheddar and Chive Blossom Scones from Palatable Pastime
• Cheese and Herbs Scones from Ambrosia
• Chocolate Scones from Passion Kneaded
• Freeze and Bake Yeasted Mini Ginger Scones from A Messy Kitchen
• Laminated Biscuits from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Herbed Angel Biscuits from The Schizo Chef
• Sourdough Orange Biscuits from Zesty South Indian
• Sourdough Sandwich Biscuits from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Yeast-Raised Angel Biscuits from Making Miracles

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Cheddar Herb Scones! 

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Shortbread Peach Jam Squares

Make Shortbread Peach Jam Squares by surrounding bright sweet peach jam with crumbly buttery shortbread and baking it all to golden perfection!

When sweet peaches are in season, I can’t help myself; I have to make peach jam. While we also eat plenty and I freeze some, jam seems like the best way to make sure we can enjoy the flavorful juicy peaches for months to come.

Is it just me or does anyone else get an inordinate amount of satisfaction from seeing rows of homemade jams, chutneys and preserves in the pantry?

I get a little giddy as my stock grows although I also like to give some away. I have one rule though, if possible, wash my jars and give them back once they are empty! You’ll be much more likely to be a future recipient if you do.

Shortbread Peach Jam Squares

This recipe is adapted from one on Tasty for blackberry jam squares. As long as it’s nice and thick, you can use your favorite jam. I popped one cup of my homemade peach jam on the scale and it weighed 290g. I’ve added the correct measure below, for those of you who weigh ingredients.

Ingredients
2/3 cup or 158g butter, plus extra for greasing pan
1/8 cup or 25g sugar
1/8 cup or 25g dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups or 312g plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups or 363g peach jam

Method
Preheat the oven to 350˚F or 180˚C and prepare an 9x9 in or 23x23cm pan by greasing it lightly and lining it with baking parchment.

Note: If you don’t mind cutting the squares in your pan, you can skip the baking parchment step but I find that I end up damaging my pan if I can’t remove the baked goods before cutting. The parchment makes lifting out easy.

Melt two tablespoons of the butter and set aside to cool.

In a bowl, beat together the rest of the butter and the two sugars until fluffy.

Add in the egg, melted butter, and vanilla extract and beat again.

Sift 2 cups or 250g of the flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

 

Bring the mixture together using your clean hands to make a dough and divide it into two equal pieces.

Use your clean hands to spread out half of the dough in the baking pan. Prick the dough with a fork to prevent bubbles from forming while baking.

Spread the peach jam on top.

Mix in the remaining flour into the dough and use a fork to make a knobbly crumble.

Sprinkle the crumble on top of the jam.

Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Leave to cool completely then lift it out with the parchment paper. Cut into squares.

Enjoy!

This month my fellow Baking Bloggers are featuring peaches in all of our recipes, some savory, some sweet! Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime for all her behind-the-scenes work. Check out all the peachy deliciousness below:

• Uruguayan Peach Chaja Cake from Pandemonium Noshery
• Peach BBQ Chicken Legs from Making Miracles
• Mini Peach Cobblers from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Roasted Flank Steak with Fresh Peach Pico de Gallo from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Single Serving Baked Peach Crisp from Sneha's Recipe
• Shortbread Peach Jam Squares from Food Lust People Love
• Peach Clafoutis from Cookaholic Wife
• Fresh Peach Shortcake from Palatable Pastime
• Gluten Free Peach Crisp from Cook with Renu
• Peach Glazed Chicken Wings from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Baking Bloggers is a friendly group of food bloggers who vote on a shared theme and then post recipes to fit that theme one the second Monday of each month. If you are a food blogger interested in joining in, inquire at our Baking Bloggers Facebook group. We'd be honored if you would join us in our baking adventures.

Pin these Shortbread Peach Jam Squares!

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Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins #MuffinMonday

The bananas are very subtle in these chocolate banana mini muffins. What they don’t add in flavor though, they make up for in texture. These little guys are soft, tender and light. And oh, so chocolatey, with both cocoa and chocolate chips.

There are advantages and disadvantages to cooking and blogging as a hobby during this pandemic. The good part is that I can keep the family well fed and happy with home-cooked meals and treats. The bad part is that now I can’t have friends and extended family coming over for meals and that means leftovers that might get wasted.

I’m here to tell you that I’ve found a solution! About a week ago, I posted a notice on the neighborhood social site NextDoor, saying:

“Paying it forward with baked goods. Hi, neighbors! I am an avid baker with a food blog. The fun for me is creating recipes which my family and friends enjoy but because my mom has various autoimmune issues, we've been trying to stay to ourselves these past few months. This means that I have more baked goods than we can eat from time to time. I'd love to share with people in the neighborhood who could use a treat. Please pm me if you know someone in our neighborhood that would appreciate it and/or deserves it, with their name and address. I will drop fresh cookies, cake or muffins, etc. off whenever I bake, right on their front porch. Bonus points if you tell me why you think they need/deserve a treat and I'll try to get around to everyone in time. (I'll add a note saying which neighbor nominated them to receive baked goods. Please say if you don't want me to mention you by name and I'll just say, "a neighbor.") Please let me know if there are any dietary restrictions as well. Many thanks in advance!”

So far, I have dropped off treats to two very deserving neighbors: shortbread peach jam squares and these mini muffins. I am baking some super rich brownies today for a third!

Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins

Even if you aren’t typically a fan of bananas, I encourage you to give these muffins a try. They don’t really taste very much like banana but they are completely delicious. This recipe is adapted from one at All Recipes.

Ingredients 
1 1/2 cups or 187g all-purpose flour
1/2 cup, firmly packed, or 100g dark brown sugar
1/4 cup or 30g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large ripe bananas (about 1 cup or 250g)
1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil
1 egg
1/4 cup or 61g Greek yogurt
1/4 cup or 45g semisweet chocolate chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 375°F or 190°C. Prepare your 24-cup mini muffin pan by greasing it or line it with paper liners.

Mash your bananas with a fork.

Whisk the mashed bananas, oil, egg and yogurt together in a mixing bowl.

Lightly whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in another mixing bowl to combine.




Add the chocolate chips to the dry ingredients bowl, using the tip below.

Tip: Tired of your chocolate chips falling to the bottom of your muffins? Try this trick: drizzle just the tiniest bit of the oil onto the chocolate chips and stir until they are shiny. Add these to the dry ingredients and stir well to coat.

Fold the wet ingredients into flour mixture until just moistened.

Divide batter among the muffin cups. I love my little scoop for this job but if you don’t have one, a spoon will do.

Bake the muffins in your preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 12-15 minutes.

Cool in the pan for a few minutes then remove the muffins from the pan and continue to cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Check out all of the great muffins my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today!

• Berry Oatmeal Muffin from Passion Kneaded
• Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Cinnamon Applesauce Muffins from Making Miracles
• Easy Chocolate Chip Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Jalapeño Corn Bread Muffins with Cheddar Butter from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Red, White & Blue Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Sour Cream Lemon Muffins with a Rosemary Glaze from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Sourdough Corn Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins!

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