the details
These little guys are rustic, savory, herbacious, and most importantly, cheesy. I thought for a while about how I wanted to showcase one of my favorite flavor combinations: rosemary and gruyere. I love scones like this because they come together quickly and easily. You can eat them for breakfast or snack throughout the day. Somehow, every time I make these Rosemary-Gruyere Buttermilk Scones, Hudson ends up with one in his hands and toddles around the house proclaiming “scone! cheesy!” while our dog, Dallas, scampers behind him gobbling up the crumbs. It’s all part of the fun. They get richness and body from an extra egg yolk, buttermilk, and salted butter. I like to use salted European butter in this recipe since it has a higher fat content, greater richness, and is made from pasture-raised cows. In some recipes, the butter quality makes a difference, and this is one of them.
A quick note on scones
After some trials and lots of research, here are the most important things for a successful scone:
- Keep all ingredients as cold as you can throughout the process! This means using frozen butter, and eggs and milk straight out of the fridge. Whenever you’re not working with a component of the dough, stick it back in the fridge. At the end, 20-30 minutes in the freezer gets everything chilly one more time before baking. This helps the scone stay tender and rise nicely during the bake.
- Don’t overmix your dough. As soon as you begin combining wet and dry ingredients, we want to mix just until the dough comes together, and that’s all. Fold is probably a better word than mix. This recipe requires no fancy mixer, just bowls and a wooden spoon or spatula. As soon as streaks of dry ingredients are no longer visible, your dough is done!
- Brush the scones with cream for the best browning. Milk works in a pinch, but I have personally had better results with heavy cream. Flaked sea salt on top is not optional for these! It makes all the flavors sing.
Bake to this music
Rosemary-Gruyere Buttermilk Scones
These scones perfectly salty, savory, and rustic. They are a flavorful addition to your brunch table or a salty treat to snack on throughout the day. Gruyere for the win!
- Yield: 16 small scones. 1x
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup salted butter, frozen and grated
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 cup freshly grated gruyere cheese
- 2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
- 3 tbsp heavy cream
- flaked salt for topping
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add cold grated butter and mix with your hands until butter pieces are pea-sized. Do not overmix. Put bowl in fridge.
- Whisk together cold eggs and buttermilk. Add to a medium mixing bowl with cheese and rosemary and mix with a spatula to combine.
- Add wet mixture to dry flour mixture. Fold with a spoon or spatula until just combined.
- Flour a parchment lined baking sheet. Make 2 equal-sized balls and flatten into disks on the parchment. Using a dough cutter, cut each disk into 8 triangles. Shift the cut wedges away from each other so they have room to rise while baking. Brush each wedge with heavy cream and sprinkle with flaked salt. Put in whole pan in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Once scones are chilled, bake in the oven on the middle rack for 15-20 minutes. Scones are done when they are lightly browned on top. Allow to cool for a couple minutes on the pan, and dig in! Scones are best served warm.
Notes
- I liked to use whole fat buttermilk and European salted butter in this recipe. It makes all the difference!
- Be sure to keep all ingredients as cold as possible throughout the dough assembly. This helps the scones rise optimally.
- Scones are best enjoyed the day they are made. Store at room temp for 3-4 days.
- If you prefer, one disk can be made from all the dough and cut into 8 wedges. Plan to increase oven time if you want to go this route, yielding 8 big ol’ scones.