Very Cheesy Cheese and Spring Onion Scones

A good cheese scone is hard to beat and sometimes hard to come by. 
Sprinkling a bit of grated cheese on top of a plain scone just doesn’t do it for me. Use an aged cheddar for the best flavour.

• 3 cups plain flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 100 grams cold butter, diced
• 150 grams cheddar cheese, finely diced (I used Mainland Epicure)
• 2 spring onions, very finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme leaves, optional
• 1¼ cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 200˚C.

Sift the flour, baking powder and mustard into a large bowl and add the salt. Add the butter and rub into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. You want the mixture to have small pea sized pieces of butter to ensure shortness when baked.  Add the cheese, spring onions and thyme and toss to coat in the flour.
Add the buttermilk and mix with a fork to make a soft dough that is just holding together. Tip onto a lightly floured bench, the dough will be soft and shaggy looking and gently bring the dough together and shape into a rectangle about 3 cm thick. Use a sharp knife to cut the dough into 12-14 pieces depending on what size scones you want.
Transfer them to a lined baking tray and brush the tops with milk then sprinkle with extra grated cheese.
Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes until golden and risen. Serve warm with lashings butter. Makes 12-14