Wholewheat Cheesy Jalapeno Breakfast Scones

Since I’ve been travelling, breakfast has become my favourite part of the day.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always loved waking up in the morning knowing that a hot cup of coffee and some PB on toast was waiting for me. But somehow, when you’re rushing to get ready for work, you just can’t savour it. Usually, you don’t even have the energy or time to savour it.

As I’ve been on my own schedule the last year and a half, I’ve made it a priority to enjoy and savour breakfast. And that usually means making a big meal to set me up for the rest of the day.

That’s where these breakfast scones came in.

They started off as an idea to make cheesy jalapeno biscuits. But I wanted to make something healthier, with wholewheat flour. What I discovered was that when you combine the basic ingredients of a biscuit with wholewheat flour, cheese and jalapeno, you get these amazing crumbly and delicious scone-like biscuits.

Smothered with butter, I enjoyed them with some eggs and turkey chorizo.

They aren’t really biscuits and they aren’t really scones. Somehow they are a wonderfully diverse creation of their own. But to simplify things, I decided to call them scones.

The key thing to remember is that the “dough” you will achieve with this mixture won’t be firm and dense; it will be sticky and wet. Don’t worry about that – this consistency will bake into a lovely crumbly, airy deliciousness.

My favourite part about these? Every time you bite into one and get the sharp tangy taste of jalapeno. They even taste great the next day when re-heated, which is always the true test of something baked. I usually just re-heat them for ten minutes or so, on a low heat, so that they get warmed but not cooked.

Just promise me one thing? If you make these, please take time to enjoy them. Pour yourself a cup of coffee, turn on some coffee house-style music and savour them.

Wholewheat Cheesy Jalapeno Breakfast Scones

Recipe by Julia

Servings

9

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

15

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups wholewheat flour

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 3/4 tsp salt

• 10 tbsp cold butter, cut into pieces

• 1 cup buttermilk

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1/4 cup chopped jalapenos (if using tinned, drain and pat dry)

• 1/3 cup grated cheese

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
• Place the wholewheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl and combine together with a wooden spoon.
• Tip in the butter pieces and work them into the flour mixture with your hands, much like you would if you were making pastry. Rub all of the butter into the flour, until you have a crumbly consistency.
• Add the buttermilk, egg, jalapeno and cheese. Stir it all together with a spoon. The mixture will be quite wet and sticky – this is normal.
• Grease a baking sheet or cover with a piece of baking paper to stop your scones from sticking to the bottom. Using a large spoon, drop big dollops of your dough onto the baking sheet.
• Bake for around 15 minutes, or until the scones are browned and firm on top.
• Serve as an accompaniment to breakfast / brunch or simply slathered with plenty of butter.