Gluten Free Cheese Scones

Makes 6 large scones. Takes 20 minutes.

The humble cheese scone. Found in every single New Zealand bakery and significantly more famous than the plain or date kinds - and that’s a fact. My first job was at Shirley bakery in Christchurch, and we sold both cheese and plain scones. Every single day we would have nearly all of the plain scones left over. And fair enough, we didn’t even serve them with jam and cream like in the U.K. which I discovered was the norm after moving to London.

Anyway, cheese scones were one of those weekly bakes in my household. This recipe is adapted from my family recipe, and you know it's good because no one had actually written down the ingredients yet, these scones come from the soul. What I love about it is that it doesn’t contain any milk, and so can very easily be made dairy free and vegan by using vegan cheese.

I N G R E D I E N T S

• 290 grams gluten free self raising flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

• 3 cups grated cheddar (swap for vegan cheese if you'd like to make dairy free)

• 270-300ml water

• 1/2 tsp pepper

• 1/2 tsp salt

M E T H O D

1. Preheat the oven to 200° celsius bake. Line a tray with baking paper.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum and 2 and a half cups of cheese until combined. Reserve half a cup of cheese for sprinkling on top.

3. Add in half a cup of water at a time, mix with you hands until you have a sticky dough.

4. Divide the dough into 6 large balls and place onto the lined tray, leaving about 5cm between them.

5. Sprinkle each scone with a little bit of grated cheese and put in the oven for 15 minutes and the cheese on top is golden.

6. Enjoy - best serve fresh from the oven with a bit of butter. Keep in a sealed container and warm up before eating if not having them fresh!