Cheddar Dill Scones

Here at the Barefoot Kitchen, we like to bake. This is because we love baked goods. We feel that the world would be a happier place if people baked a little more.

Our executive officers, in particular, highly endorse the creation of scones. This endorsement is based solely on the word's entertaining pronunciation.

I say, "skohn"
You say, "skon"
Skohn- [skohn!]
Skon- [skon!]
Let's call the whole thing off!

The Barefoot Contessa cookbooks have several recipes for scones. I decided to start with a recipe for Cheddar Dill Scones. Now, I'm not particularly fond of dill. I really don't use it very much in my cooking and know nothing about it. Well, I know its really aromatic and is used to flavor things I don't care for; like pickles. I do like cheddar however, so I figured that any sort of cheese-tasting biscuit had to be decent and a little dill could be overlooked.

Here are the ingredients. The original recipe makes 16 scones. I don't need that many scones, so I cut the recipe in half.

Yes, that is a bag of shredded cheese that you see in the picture. I confess that I Semi-Ho'd it instead of grating my own cheese. I was too lazy to grate 1/2 lb. of cheese and it was on sale. Will do better next time, I promise.

The first step is to make the dough which is basically flour and butter.


And, here it is:

The dough is very sticky, but you can see the chunks of butter in it. Hopefully this will make the scones light instead of dense, heavy bricks.

Add the cheese and the dill to the dough:


Roll out the dough and shape the scones. Ina likes to make triangles. I am following suit. Here they are, glistening with egg wash and ready to be baked golden-brown:


20 minutes later the apartment is filled with the heavenly scent of cheese and bread. Seriously, I think cookies baking are the only smell that trumps the smell of baking bread. My first observation of the scones were that they looked wonderfully crusty and flaky. Now, I've never had flaky scones, but I'm not going to turn them away either.


Cheddar Dill Scones:


The Review
I set them out to cool, but Joel found them. He tottered into the bedroom, where I was folding laundry, mouth full, saying, "This is pretty good." Like myself, he had been wary of dill-related flavors. I took a bite of the scone he had on his plate. It was lighter than most of the scones I've previously had. More fluffy and biscuit-like than usual. I think this is because there was less cream and more butter in the recipe. Still, it was very good. Since I usually have fruit scones, it was different to have a savory one. The dill itself was not overpowering, but definitely had a strong presence. I smelled it more than I tasted it. The cheese part was delicious as I expected it. Over all, I liked the scones but am not in a hurry to make them again. They did not convert me to dill and honestly, I'd prefer it without the herb. However, if you like dill, feel free to partake as this recipe was easy to make and quite tasty.