These delicious one bowl savory Gluten Free Cheese Scones are light and fluffy and loaded with extra sharp cheddar cheese and black pepper.
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I'm not much of a scone person. Well, actually, let me clarify that. I'm not much of an American scone person. Don't get me wrong. If I was given one such scone, I'm sure I'd be thankful and enjoy it. But if I were given a choice between an American scone and, say, a biscuit or something savory, I'd always choose the savory variety. Not because I don't like sweets. We all know that's not even a possibility. Just peruse this blog and you'll find so much evidence to the contrary. But for breakfast, the meal that a scone might be served at, savory is always my favorite. Give me all the eggs and bacon, hashbrowns, sausage gravy and biscuits, over anything sugary.
I've made English scones and they are incredible. I love the way they're not quite a biscuit, but not like an American scone either. They're the perfect in between. So when I saw a recipe for cheese scones, I just HAD to try it! Cheese in a scone? I am THERE! Adding a savory element to an English style scone is my idea of heaven. These gluten free savory scones do NOT disappoint! They're cheesy, peppery, soft, and tender, and they're everything I've been missing in my life.
The Ingredients You'll Need
- Kim's gluten free all purpose flour blend - an all purpose store bought blend may be substituted, but has not been tested.
- Butter - similar to an American biscuit, butter is cut into the flour mixture, but not near as much as a biscuit would contain.
- Baking powder - most scones have some form of leavener and in this case it's baking powder.
- Buttermilk - the fat content will make a difference. If you use anything but whole fat, you'll need to cut back on the amount of buttermilk you add to the dough.
- Cheese - not just any cheese, a mature cheddar cheese (aged) is best. It really gives a sharp bite to these scones that would otherwise be lost in the baking.
Making Cheddar Scones
- Step 1: Add baking powder, salt, and pepper to flour in a large mixing bowl; whisk until well combined.
- Step 2: Add shredded cheddar cheese and butter and cut butter into flour mixture until the consistency of breadcrumbs.
- Step 3: Pour in the buttermilk and stir until a wet dough forms.
- Step 4: Roll or pat dough out onto a floured surface to ¾ of an inch thick. Cut out rounds and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Step 5: Brush each scone with an egg wash.
- Step 6: Sprinkle the rest of the shredded cheddar on top and bake for 12-14 minutes.
rather watch?
gluten free cheese scones FAQs
While I'm sure any hard cheese would work great, there's no match to the flavor of an aged extra sharp cheddar.
While I love them just on their own, cheese scones are wonderful with soups, as the bread in a breakfast sandwich (with bacon or sausage), or as a light meal stuffed with ham, just to name a few.
The secret to making taller cheese scones is to roll or pat the dough to an inch thick and place the scones beside each other on the baking sheet so that they're touching. As they bake, they'll support each other to rise higher.
more gluten free quick breads
- gluten free soda bread
- gluten free yeast free naan bread
- gluten free buttermilk biscuits
- gluten free bakery style blueberry muffins
- soft and fluffy gluten free cream biscuits
- gluten free basil cream biscuits
- gluten free english scones
- gluten free banana bread (with dairy free option)
- gluten free cinnamon swirl bread
Y'all, I hope you are just as enamored of these Gluten Free Cheese Scones as I am. I honestly can't stop thinking about them and crave them on a daily basis!
Gluten Free Cheese Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups (280g) Kim's all purpose gluten free flour blend (a store bought blend may be substituted, but has not been tested)
- 5 ounces (142g) aged extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 5 tbsp (71g) cold butter, cubed
- 1¼ cups (330g) whole fat buttermilk
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Add all but about 2-3 tablespoon of shredded cheddar and toss to combine.
- Cut cold butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the buttermilk, stirring just until it comes together into a wet dough.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Roll or pat dough into ¾-1 inch thickness. Cut out rounds with a floured 2-inch round cutter, rerolling scraps as necessary. Place scones on prepared baking sheet.
- Whisk together egg and heavy cream in a small bowl and brush the tops of each scone with the egg wash. Sprinkle the scones with the remaining cheddar cheese.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until scones are well risen, light golden brown around the edges, and bounce back when gently pressed. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Sherri says
They are fabulous, but change the cook time to 12 minutes rather than 12 hours! lol
Kim says
OMG!! I am sooooo sorry about that, and thank you so much for finding my mistake! I can't believe I didn't realize that myself.
Jana Shehan says
These are the absolute best! My husband even liked them! Thank you for sharing your flour recipe so I can make good food again!
Kim says
Awe, that's awesome!!! So glad you both liked them 🙂
Pamela says
Kim you said we can freeze these. I want to freeze for a month. I made them today, awesome, but now I want to save them, cuz this batch is perfect. Then it’s one thing I don’t have to make on the day of my Tea Party. So do I take them out of the freezer and bake, or do they thaw first? And what temp would I get them warm enough to make them seem fresh. .
Kim says
Bake them from frozen and just add some time to the bake. Start checking around the 20 minute mark, but you may need even more time.
Meghan says
I added ground sausage to these to make sausage cheddar scones, I cooled the sausage completely and add it in at the same time as the cheddar cheese. For this recipe 1/2 lb sausage worked great!
Kim says
Sounds so good!!! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Ashley Dicks says
Dang these are out of this world! So fluffy, the flavour was so good. It’s a “I can’t believe it’s gluten free” kind of recipe. It was such a fun treat on my holiday yesterday!
I keep seeing recipies for Cheddar Bay Chicken Cobbler- basically a chicken pot pie filling with the red lobster cheddar biscuits on top- I feel like these would be perfect for this- have you tried anything similar with this recipe? Or any tips for baking them on top of the saucy chicken filling?
I love finding gluten recipe's and feeling like “ya we can make this gluten free no problem”.
Kim says
These scones have become my family's favorite thing ever! They are so cheesy and fluffy, we just adore them.
I love the idea of the chicken pot pie, but unfortunately I'm not much of a fan of chicken pot pie. I think these would work perfectly, though, as a topping. If you try it, please let me know how it goes 🙂
Morgane says
I can hardly wait to try these! I don't suppose this kind of dough can be made in advance? Probably a dumb question. I just discovered the concept of freezing pie dough which changed my life, but I imagine it's only a thing for doughs that don't rise...