Wild Garlic & Cheddar Cheese Scones

For just a few months every year the instantly recognisable scent of wild garlic fills the air of forests, gardens and woodlands around UK. Wonderfully versatile and particularly pungent, these distinct flowering plants can cover woodland floors like a blanket for a few months each year. 

From pesto to pasta dough, served raw or cooked into dishes, wild garlic is an incredibly versatile ingredients and a great way of instantly adding flavour to your food. I love to use wild garlic in my savoury scones. It has a wonderful, subtle flavour. 

Ingredients:

• 500g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 125g cheddar cheese, grated
• 50g wild garlic leaves, finely chopped
• 1 tsp English mustard powder
• 250ml milk, plus extra for brushing
• 2 large eggs
• wild garlic flowers, to garnish, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 220ºC/200ºC for fan assist oven, dust a large baking sheet with flour.

Combine the flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl and using your fingertips, rub in the butter until the  mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs.

Add 100g of the cheese, wild garlic leaves and English mustard to the bowl and mix it through the crumbs.

In a measuring jug, whisk together the milk and egg until combined. Pour this into the crumb mixture (leaving about 1 tbsp of the mixing the jug) and mix through with a  butter knife until a rough dough forms. Use your hands to push the dough together, making sure to include any mixture that's stuck on the sides of the bowl.

Dust a clean work surface with a little flour, turn the dough out of the bowl and press into a round shape. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to a thickness of 1 inch.

Using a 3 inches circular pastry cutter, cut out the scones and place on the baking sheet. Press the trimming together, roll out and repeat the process until you have used all the dough. Place the scones on the prepared baking sheet.

Brush each scones with the reserved egg and milk mix, sprinkle with 25g of cheese and press wild garlic flowers in the centre to garnish.

Place in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for 12-14 minutes until they have risen and turned a lovey golden brown colour on top. Transfer to a wire rack to cook slightly before serving warm with butter.