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Ingredients
- 220g self-raising flour
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 60g chilled butter, diced
- 130g smoked cheese, grated
- 2 tbsp chopped jalapeños
- 90ml milk
- For the bacon butter:
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 bacon strips, cooked and chopped
- 2 tbsp room temperature salted butter
- Heat the oven to 180 degrees with a large baking tray inside. Sift the flour, salt, pepper and baking powder into a bowl, then sift again to make sure the ingredients are combined.
- Add the butter to the bowl and rub with your fingertips to make breadcrumbs. Sprinkle 100g of the cheese into the breadcrumb mixture and rub together until evenly distributed. Add the chopped jalapeños and mix. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in enough milk to give a soft but firm dough. Do not pour in all the milk at once as you may not need it all to get the right consistency.
- Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough to about 3cm thick. Cut out the scones with a medium (about 8cm) cutter, then put on a sheet of baking parchment, glaze with a little milk and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Slide on to the hot oven tray. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
- While the scones are baking, make the bacon and brown butter. In a small saucepan, melt the unsalted butter over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan occasionally, until it turns a golden brown colour and has a nutty aroma. This should take about five minutes. Be careful not to burn it. Remove the brown butter from the heat and stir in the crumbled bacon. Season with salt and black pepper to taste. Once cooled, whip it in a bowl with equal amounts of softened unsalted butter.
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