Cheese and Chive Scones

I'm doing some data collection in a school for my dissertation. The children cook something each week, and last week it was these cheese and chive scones. It filled the school with a wonderful smell and made us all very hungry! One of the teachers gave me the recipe so that I could make them at home. I went straight to the shops to buy the ingredients, and made them that evening!

Recipe:

- 230g plain flour

- Pinch of salt

- 50 butter

- 100g cheddar cheese, grated

- 1 tbsp chives

- 140ml milk

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees.

2. Put the flour and salt into a bowl.

3. Chop the butter into small pieces, and add to the flour. Either using your fingers or a fork, break the butter up and rub it into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs.

4. Add half of the chives and cheese.

5. Add the milk, and form it into a ball.

6. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until it is smooth.

7. Roll the dough out until it is about 1 inch (2.5cm) thick, then cut out circles with a pastry cutter. Or something round, a glass will even do.

8. Put them onto a greased baking tray, lightly brush them with milk and bake them for 10 minutes.

9. When they come out of the oven, sprinkle the rest of the cheese and chives over the top, then place back in the over for 1-2 minutes, so the cheese can melt.

These are best served warm, cut in half with butter. I put chilli jam in the middle of mine and they were fantastic. You can also eat these cold.

Zoe x

Chilli Jam - Third time lucky?

It took me about 3 years to perfect this recipe, but I think I have finally cracked it!
Chilli and red pepper jam is the perfect accompaniment to cheese and biscuits, and excellent in a toasted cheese sandwich.

Recipe:

- 100g long fresh red chillies

- 200g roasted red peppers (these normally come in a jar with oil)

- 1kg jam sugar

- 600ml cider vinegar

- 6 x 250ml sealable jars (I used old jam jars, which can fit about 300ml in)

1. Sterilise the jars. I did this by washing the jars up, leaving them to air dry, then heating up the oven to 180 degrees, lay all of the jars and lids on a baking tray or roasting tray, and put them in the oven for 20 minutes, but try to make sure none of the jars are touching! Be really careful not to move the jars as you take them out, because they can break really easily when hot! The sealant on the jar lids may also melt a bit and go dark, it is nothing to worry about,

2. Drain and roughly chop the peppers. Core, de-seed and roughly chop the chillies. 

Roughly chopped chilli

3. Put the chillies and peppers into a food processor and blitz them - you might want to do this in 2 parts. If you don't have a food processor, you will just have to chop them really finely!

4. In a saucepan (a big one), heat the cider vinegar and dissolve the sugar into it.

5. When all the sugar has dissolved, add the chilli and peppers. Bring to a fierce boil, for 10-15 minutes. I will warn you again, be careful and watch the pan! I think that I have spilled some every time! The jam will be ready when you dip a spoon into the jam, leave it to cool for one minute, then can drag your finger through the jam and everything should stay still (the jam shouldn't run onto where your finger was) and then it should be set. Remember it will thicken more as it cools.

Think I need a bigger pan next time!

6. Leave it to cool in the pan

7. While its still warm, put the jam into the jars. I poured it into a jug, then into the jars. Put the lids on, then leave them to cool in a cupboard (not the fridge!)

WARNING!! Only pour hot/warm jam into warm jars or cool jam into cool jars! The temperature change may make them crack!

This was probably my best batch, the roasted red peppers definitely make it taste better!

I think my hunt for the perfect chilli jam recipe may be over, but I would still like to experiment and add tomatoes and maybe garlic. I won't be altering the type of vinegar or red peppers though.