Scones are and always will be, a favourite with us all but what way do you lean when it comes to choosing a scone? For me, I almost always choose a savoury scone. I just love the combination of flavours and they work so well with soup or a salad for lunch. If I’m on the run, I feel they are a better choice when I don’t have time to sit and eat breakfast but that’s probably all in my head.

I wanted to take my hugely successful Fluffiest Gluten Free Scone recipe and adapt it to make a delicious and really tasty savoury scone and had lots of flavour combinations running through my head. Then it hit me! How I love a sandwich full of rich, mature cheddar cheese and a caramelised onion relish and this would work so well in a scone version. Even though most shop bought jars of relish are probably gluten free due to their ingredients, unfortunately it’s not really worth taking a chance so it’s safer to make your own and my recipe is very quick and simple and you’ll have some leftover to use in a toasted sandwich!

I added some poppy seeds to top these scones but you could add some walnuts to the mix which would add a lovely crunch and walnuts are so good for you too.

So start by making your caramelised onion relish…

Ingredients for Caramelised Onions

• 1kg onions
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 25g butter
• 1 tbsp brown sugar

Method:

1. Peel and slice the onions.
2. Put the oil and butter into a frying pan, add the onions, cover and cook over a medium high heat, stirring occasionally, for 25–35 minutes. The onions will soften and become brown.
3. Remove the lid, stir in the sugar and cook for a further 2 minutes then remove from the heat, cover and set aside.

You will have enough made for the scones and to keep in a sterilised jar, in the fridge for other uses.

Scone Ingredients:

• 115g gluten free self raising flour
• 115g rice flour
• 2 tsp gluten free baking powder
• 1  1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 75g cold butter, cubed
• 200ml buttermilk 
• 150g mature cheddar cheese, grated
• 4 tablespoons of caramelised onion relish
• 1 egg, beaten

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C Fan and line a baking tray with parchment.

In a large bowl, sift the two flours, baking powder and xanthan gum.

Add the cubes of cold butter into the flour mixture and using the tips of your fingertips, or a pastry cutter, blend until you have what resembles large breadcrumbs. I like to see small pieces of butter throughout the dough as they help to create really soft scones when baking. Add in the grated cheddar cheese and mix it through.

Pour the buttermilk in small quantities into the flour and butter mixture and mix well. I use a palette knife to bring it together. When it’s almost all together and just about to form a dough, add the caramelised onion relish and mix it through. Continue until you can bring it together into a dough. You should use almost all the buttermilk but have a little left. The dough will be a little sticky because of the caramelised onion.

Lightly flour your worktop and turn out the dough. Knead gently just until smooth. Don’t overwork the dough or your scones will be tough. Shape the dough with your hands into a circle with a good height and cut out with your chosen cutter. Gather the off cuts and bring together. Keep cutting out till it’s all used up. You should get 6/7 good sized scones.

Place the scones on a lined baking tray with a bit of space between them. Brush the tops well with beaten egg to get a lovely golden colour and sprinkle some poppy seeds over the top of each scone.

Bake in the centre of the oven for between 17 – 20 minutes depending on the size of your scones. Just check with a skewer inserted into the centre as these have added moisture due to the ingredients. You should see a little bit of a residue on the skewer and that’s fine as the scones will continue to bake when removed from the oven and they will firm up.

The smell is just so good when you make these scones! Enjoy them on their own, with soup or a salad. They will freeze very well in a freezer bag and let them defrost at room temperature. You can give them a blast in the microwave if you like to heat them up a bit.

Bake with love

Soraya x