Rosemary-Buttermilk Scones

I love rosemary and I like using it as an ingredient in baking recipes, and not just with meat - as it is traditionally/mostly used. (You can see the unusual recipe for Rosemary Cookies which I published on my blog a year ago over here).

This recipe for Rosemary-Buttermilk Scones is delicious and we enjoyed these for breakfast over the weekend, split in half and filled with thinly sliced ham. They would also work well served with soup .... or for late afternoon tea !

I substituted the buttermilk for skim milk mixed with a tablespoon of lemon juice (which thickens it nicely) and as I had no chives, I left them out.

If you don?t have self raising flour, you can use plain flour instead, adding 7,5 ml?s (1 ½ teaspoons) of baking powder per 250 ml?s (1 cup) of flour.

Rosemary-Buttermilk Scones (from the South African book ?Return To Corriebush? by Lynn Bedford-Hall)

500 ml (2 cups) Self Raising Flour*
1 ml (1/4 tsp) Salt
15 ml (1 tbsp) Castor Sugar (very fine sugar, with the texture of salt)
15 ml (1 tbsp) finely chopped fresh Rosemary leaves
15 ml (1 tbsp) snipped Chives
1 XL Free Range Egg
60 ml (1/4 cup) Oil
Buttermilk
Finely grated Cheddar cheese for topping

Sift the flour, salt & castor sugar and mix in the herbs. Break the egg into a measuring jug, add the oil & enough buttermilk to reach the 200ml (4/5 cup) mark ? about 125 ml (1/2 cup) of buttermilk should just do it. Whisk these together, then add to the dry ingredients. Using a fork, mix quickly until the dough holds together, then use your hands to form a ball. Pat out, 2 cm thick, on a lightly floured surface & use a 5 cm scone cutter to cut into rounds ? don?t twist when cutting. Place, almost touching, on a baking tray lined with baking paper, brush the tops lightly with milk and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 220?C/425'F/Gas Mark 7 just above the centre of the oven for about 14 minutes until the scones have ballooned beautifully, are golden in colour and the cheese has melted. Makes 10.

*For a more wholesome scone, substitute bran-rich self-raising flour in any ratio preferred, remembering that the bran will require slightly more liquid.