Comfort food on a cold day - Cheesy Scones

 I've been enjoying my roses around the house.   All too soon they will be past their best...

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 I treated myself to Ree's 3rd book - it is stuffed full of good food, some recipes I hope to use over Christmas.  Her recipes are naughty though - imagine whipped mashed potatoes which have cream cheese, cream and butter in them!  Heart attack city!

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 I've been married for 27 years and have never owned or used a pastry blender.  Such a good tool - no more rubbing in butter and getting it all under my fingernails.   It was all blended in no time...

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 We are back to cold weather today - 15C - so I thought I'd knock up some little savoury scones at lunch time.  This is actually the recipe I used to make dumplings to go on top of a casserle I made a while back.

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 Cheesey Scones/Dumplings

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1 cup SR flour

1/2 tspn baking powder

25 gms butter, softened

salt and pepper to taste

25gms parmesan cheese, grated

sprinkle of dried parsley or chives (or use fresh)

not quite 1/2 cup milk to make the dough

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Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder, add in the cheese and parsley, s & p then make a dough, cutting through the mixture with a knife until it comes together.  Turn out onto a floured surface and gentry form into a ball.  Press down with your fingers until it is about 1/2 inch thick and cut into rounds or what ever shape you like.  Brush with milk.

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This does only make a small batch (eg. enough to top a casserole) so you might like to double the batch if you are doing scones.
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Bake in a 190C oven for about 12 minutes, rotating half way through cooking.

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I didn't have fresh bread at lunch time, so these hit the spot nicely and they were really good as dumplings covering a casserole.  Quick and easy and satisfying...

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