A few months ago, we had some coworkers in from London and on their last day, after plenty of meetings, we finally all went out for lunch. I know that as Americans, everything is bigger and better here, i.e. the Friendly’s Grilled Cheese Burgermelt or the KFC Double Down. However, you don’t really realize how big portions are EVERYWHERE until you have a Brit sitting next to you in a cheap Thai restaurant commenting on how his curry could be eaten over four lunches and you are actually thinking they stiffed him. The continuous quote from the 1960′s of a parent telling you “You must clean your plate” is a constant memory of restaurants during my youth, knowing that I could never truly finish my plate. Being on my bacon kick lately, I wanted to finally try to make scones, but after some research I discovered that scones have an incredible number of calories and an insane fat content. Yet, when I realized what the size of a normal scone is, I was almost as horrified as my London cousin dining in the Thai restaurant. You can make this recipe however you want. The scones are deliciously flaky and bacony and even taste good the next day if you nuke them for 5-10 seconds, but I strongly suggest cutting these babies into 16 wedges, not 8. If you decide to go all out and make scones the size of your face, 20 minutes in the oven will do you. Remember ladies and gents, scones do puff in the oven.
Stolen from here: http://sugarcrafter.net/2010/06/04/bacon-swiss-scones/
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup half and half
2 eggs
3 ounces shredded Swiss cheese
6 strips bacon
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cook the bacon until crispy. Leave the oven on! After the bacon cools, crumble it into small pieces. Toss the bacon crumbles together with the cheese. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender until well-combined. (I did quick pulsing in a food processor here instead, DON’T OVER MIX!) In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and half-and-half together. Pour both the egg mixture and the bacon mixture into the flour mixture. Stir gently until the dough comes together. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently for 2-3 minutes. Roll the dough into a circle about 1-inch thick. Place on prepared baking sheet. Cut dough into 8 wedges, then cut each wedge in half so that you have 16. Pull each wedge out slightly so that they have room to bake. Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.
The original recipe made 8 scones, but they were just too huge for me so I cut them into 16. Darn Americans and their huge delights.
