Cheddar Dill Scones

These scones are an Ina recipe which is obvious because they start with an obscene amount of butter. All scones do apparently. I didn't know this when I was in high school, working at Starbucks, wondering why I was gaining weight exponentially while maintaining a daily maple oat scone habit. This means that they are totally delicious and a great breakfast treat. Ina's recipe makes enough for 16 scones, which was way too many. I cut it in thirds so that it now ends up making 8 slightly smaller scones, which is perfect for me. Also, I am such an early riser, much to Mark's chagrin. I am not allowed back into the bedroom once I get up on Saturday mornings because then I wake Mark up 47 times and he needs his beauty sleep. While I was padding around the living room and kitchen last Saturday morning, I realized that I had a bunch of dill and a block of cheddar cheese so I knew I had to take this recipe out for a spin. I'm glad I did and I hope you give it a try if you are having friends for brunch in the near future.

Cheddar Dill Scones adapted from Ina Garten
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 Tbs. baking powder
1 stick cold butter
3 eggs (2 for batter, one for egg wash)
2 Tbs. skim milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped dill
salt and pepper

1. Chop the cold butter into cubes.
2. Dump flour, baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper into the bowl of your food processor or mixer. Pulse a few seconds to combine. Then add the butter cubes and pulse or mix until the mixture resembles cornmeal or slightly damp sand. The butter will be distributed throughout the flour.
3. Add the eggs and milk and pulse until just combined.
4. Take your grated cheese and chopped dill and add to the mixture. Plus or mix for only a few seconds. You will distribute these more evenly when you knead the dough.
5. Dump out dough onto a well floured surface and knead for 30 seconds until everything is well distributed and the dough is not too sticky. If it is too sticky, you can use more flour to knead it, until it becomes manageable.
6. Roll dough into a rough square about 1/2 inch thick and slice into 8 wedges. 7. Place the scones onto a lined baking sheet.
8. Beat an egg with 2 Tbs. milk or water to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash generously over the scones and sprinkle the tops lightly with salt and pepper.
9. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until the scones are only beginning to brown on the edges and they are cooked through. They need about 4-5 minutes to cool (so that you aren't eating molten cheese).
The shelf life on these scones is limited and I think they are really best that day. We ate some the next day (I reheated them for 5 minutes in a hot toaster oven) and they were good, but not as good as the first day. I would make these the same morning that I wanted to serve them for the best results.