There are no fewer than 5 different kinds of cheeses in our refrigerator as I write this. Not to mention milk, buttermilk, yogurt and ice cream in the freezer.
I'm originally from Minnesota but having spent the majority of my adult life in Wisconsin, it's safe to say that "The Dairy State" was not lost on me.
That being said, we were lucky enough to spend some time in our beloved Wisconsin last weekend.
That's my, "you're far too close with that camera" face.
K was a groomsman in the wedding of one of his high school buddies.
They are such a cute couple.
And they are so fun to see together. I wish them a wonderful, long and happy life as husband and wife.
The wedding was a blast, to say the least
I got to spend the weekend celebrating the start of wonderful couple's marriage with a group of our amazing friends, see the changing fall leaves, play with K's baby niece, experienced a little bit of a thunder storm and I did it all with my most favorite person.
Extreme weekend bliss!
After returning from the lovely fall weekend in Wisconsin, I found myself at the end of October and realized I hadn't done a lick of fall baking.
And what's more fall than a rosy ripe apple?
And there's not a whole lot that goes together better than a crispy tart apple and an extra sharp cheddar.
The trick to making a scone with a tender crumb is cold butter and very little fuss. I don't know if you could ask much more from a recipe.
The quicker you work the butter into the flour and the less you handle the dough, the lighter and fluffy your scone will be.
This recipe is about as close as you can get to baking instant gratification.
And I really don't think there is such a thing as too much cheese
And that is absolute contentment.
Cheddar and Apple Scones
Adapted from allrecipes.com
Makes 6 large or 8 medium scones
Preheat Oven to 450 degrees
1 3/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/3 Cup Cold Butter Cubed
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese with extra for sprinkling
3/4 Cup Peeled and Diced Apples
Sift together first 5 ingredients into a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until there are small pea sized pieces of butter. You can do this with a fork, pastry blender or your fingers.
With a wooden spoon, stir in buttermilk, just until moistened. There might be little bits of unincorporated flour in the bottom of the bowl. That's okay, just don't over work the dough.
Gently fold in the cheese and apples. The moisture from the apples will pick of the remaining bits of flour in the bottom of the bowl.
Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and pat into a round about 12 inches in diameter.
There's no need to be exact or perfect at this point. Just whack it out into 6 to 8 rough triangle shapes. It will taste better the less handling you do.
Gently transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with a little extra cheese.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 15-18 mins or until light golden brown.
Cool on a rack for 10 mins. Best if served warm slathered with butter. Because of the moisture in the apples these don't keep their just baked texture very long but you can store them up to 2 days in a sealed container.
Depending on the sweetness of your apples and your sweet tooth preferences you can add more or less sugar to the dough. Because the apples I used were quite tart I used 3 tablespoons and instead of plain white sure I used raw turbinado sugar.
I would suggest a very tart baking apple that will hold up well to baking. A gala or granny smith would work just lovely for this recipe.
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