Cheese and Chive Scones

I've been hooked on watching The Great Comic Relief Bake Off, and when I saw Kirsty Wark making some cheese & chive scones I just had to give them a go. My Grandmother was the best at making cheese scones so I dedicate these to her.

Ingredients

510g/1lb 2oz plain flour, plus extra for flouring

                                                 Generous pinch salt

2¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp English mustard powder

65g/2½oz unsalted butter, plus extra for serving

380g/13oz strong cheddar

4½ tbsp fresh snipped chives

300ml/10fl oz milk

1 free-range egg, beaten with a little milk for glazing

4 russet apples

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly flour a baking tray.

2. Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and mustard into a bowl.

3. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

4. Grate half of the cheese very finely, and roughly chop the other half. Stir into the flour mixture with the chopped chives.

5. Gradually add milk to make a soft but not sticky dough (you may not need all the milk).

6. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly, then roll the dough out into a thickness of just less than 2.5cm/1in. Use a 6cm/2½in cutter to cut the scones, re-rolling the off-cuts as necessary. Handle the dough as little as possible to keep it light.

7. Put the scones onto the floured baking tray, allowing at least 2.5cm/1in between them and glaze with the egg and milk mixture.

8. Bake for 10 minutes or until risen and golden brown.

9. To serve, finely slice the russet apples and fan half a dozen slices on the plate with the cheese scone and a small pat of butter.

And there you have it, so who is your favourite contestant on the The Great Comic Relief Bake Off? For me it's definitely Warwick Davies!

Chloe xo