I’m still cooking in a practically unequipped temporary kitchen. It’s a bit better than the last one where the dishwasher wasn’t actually attached to anything useful but I’ve only got one mixing bowl and one enormous Pyrex thing that goes in the oven. When the baking urge took hold, there was only one real option: scones! No rolling, no precise measuring and no special gadgets required, just a bit of modging together.
I got the idea for this cheese and Marmite version from the BBC website (good ol’ Beeb). I’ve jazzed them up though to include not only Marmite with the wet ingredients of the dough, but also as a sticky glaze for the tops before baking. This gives them a lovely brown exterior and an extra tang. Wholemeal scones are always a bit more bolstering than the plain kind so you might as well go the whole hog and add some cheese in there too. They don’t seem to rise well whether you use yoghurt and bicarb or milk and baking powder, so although a metal baking sheet would have been better, the glass dish wasn’t too much of an issue. They’re definitely quite Delia, these scones – wholesome 70′s cooking tarted up with a bit of 80′s kitsch from the Marmite. And they’re also phenomenally unphotogenic, so my apologies. They’re very tasty though, promise.
N.B. My favourite sandwich ever is Marmite and marmalade. Together. Wholemeal bread, butter, lashings of Marmite and thick-cut marmalade. I suppose it’s a much more old school version of trendy salty/sweet combinations like salted caramels but it is utter storecupboard bliss. I strongly suggest you try marmalade on these savoury scones – you might just get my point.
Cheese and marmite scones
Makes 9 small scones
- 90g or 3/4 cups wholemeal flour (I used strong wholemeal bread flour)
- 90g or 3/4 cups white, pastry or AP flour (I used “00″ because that’s all I had)
- 1/4 stick cold butter
- 2 rounded tsps baking powder
- 1 egg
- About 120ml or 1/2 cup milk
- About 100g or 1 1/4 cups grated cheese, the stronger the better (I used ricotta salata and parmesan)
- 2 heaped tsps Marmite
Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Prepare a baking sheet by greasing with butter and dusting with flour.
Measure the flours and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small dice and rub it into the flour, using fingertips and holding the flour up high in order to not overwork or overheat the mixture. Once the fat has been evenly dispersed, stir in about 3/4 of the cheese, reserving the remainder for sprinkling on top.
Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk 1 tsp of the Marmite into this until pretty well blended. Add 2 tbsps of the milk to this, and then add to the dry ingredients. Using a metal spoon combine the ingredients quickly, using the minimum work possible until the dough starts to come together. Add a little more milk if necessary, but the dough doesn’t have to be smooth – as long as it’s just sticking together, even if craggy and cracked, that’s fine.
Tip out onto a lightly floured worksurface and bring together with your hands if needed, but avoid the temptation to knead. Either pat out or lightly roll out to about 1 inch thick. Cut into small triangles with a knife or use a small round cutter to make about 9 small scones.
Place scones on the baking sheet. Make a paste with the Marmite and a little milk until it’s a good brushing consistency. Glaze the top of each scone with a pastry brush or fingers and sprinkle with the leftover cheese. Bake for 18-20 minutes until browned and as risen as they’re ever gonna be. Serve warm, with butter and extra Marmite, a chunk of Cheddar, alongside a soup or (see above) with thick-cut marmalade. They don’t really keep until the next day, so just suck it up and eat the lot.
2 Comments on "Cheese and Marmite scones"
Those sound and look delicious.
They weren’t half bad Wendy :0)