Easy Ham and Cheese Scones

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A few weeks ago I was making our apple pie scones and suddenly had the brilliant idea of making a savory version, easy ham and cheese scones!

The only way I could ever convince our family to ditch the amazingly wonderful sweet version of a scone was clearly to add cheese. Cheese makes everything better. And bacon. Shoot, I need to try a bacon version. Can you use bacon grease in a scone? Or just the bacon? So many things to look into.

How Long Do Scones Last?

Scones are one of my favorite things to make because they have that tender, flaky quality to them and they really are much easier to make than one might think.

But mostly I love them because while they are obviously best enjoyed fresh, scones can be kept in a zip top bag for up to a week annnnnnd up to 2 months in the freezer!

It’s so easy to make a double batch and freeze half for later. Can you freeze scone dough? Why yes you can! Just bake them straight from the freezer and allow 2-4 more minutes in the oven.

How are Scones Different From Biscuits?

Most of the time I don’t really see scones as similar enough to biscuits to think about it but the truth is they are very similar.

A scone often has an egg or two in it while biscuits don’t.

That’s honestly the only difference.

Both have a fat cut in to the flour and a liquid, both can be cooked in the oven on a pan or in a skillet.

Both can be fluffy, tender and wonderful.

How to Make Scones

Let’s get in to the important part of this, how to make scones so you can devour them. We usually make this easy ham and cheese scones recipe for breakfast for dinner nights, served with a little fresh fruit and fluffy scrambled eggs, but you can do them any ol’ time. They are especially lovely during the spring for Mother’s Day, wedding and baby showers etc.

A good scone needs only a few ingredients, butter (or shortening if you must), buttermilk, salt, and baking powder. Everything else is just to adjust the flavor.

Butter gives you those tender, flaker layers and margarine just wont cut it in this case. As the steam rises so does that beautiful hunk of dough, creating a pillow of bread once cooked.

Buttermilk for savory while cream is great for a sweet scone. This allows for the dough to come together but still have enough fat to keep it a tender dough.

Baking Powder is the true leavening agent that adds the real height you’re looking for. Do not use a substitute.

Salt is necessary in both sweet and savory dishes as it provides the flavor. Yes, cheese and ham are in there, but everything needs seasoning. I love that salt not only flavors a dish but it also makes the other ingredients stand out even more.

Pizza Wheel – This is a MUST in our house. The Dexas pizza wheel isn’t a steel blade, but a plastic blade and if you watch our videos you’ll notice I use a plastic pizza wheel all the time to cut dough. It is so much easier than a knife and wont harm any pans or counter tops. This particular wheel is extra cheap and it has prime shipping on Amazon. Totally worth it.

Silicone Mat You’ll often hear us say that we prefer to bake on a silicone mat because it promotes evenly cooked food that doesn’t stick to the pan. You wont have extra brown bottoms. 🙂 Scones are a perfect example of why this is a good investment and the one we linked to has so far proven to be the best as far as durability and performance. Kneading the dough and rolling it out on a mat keeps you from over flouring as the dough wont stick, thus you wont end up with dry, crumbly scones. Just place it on the cookie sheet, knead, shape and cut the dough then it’s less cleanup, just brush off any excess crumbs before baking.

Pastry Cutter A pastry cutter is something we use for things like crisps, crumbles, streusels, pie, scones, biscuits and on and on. It’s just easier than busting out two awkward knives or forks or trying to use your fingers which often makes the butter too warm and smashes it into the flour too much, thus creating a messed up dough.

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