Scones generally come in two different varieties: savory and sweet. While most people love a sweet scone, the savory version comes in handy when you need some sort of bread to go with your dinner. Savory scones use herbs to add a delicious twist to these popular breads. Additionally, it is very common for savory scones to include some sort of cheese in the dough.
Many savory scones use a sharp cheddar cheese to add cheesy goodness to the bread, but our recipe uses feta. While you could substitute cheddar, we think that the salty, sweet tang of feta adds a bit of unexpected drama that will tickle your taste buds. If you are not a fan of feta cheese, you can substitute another kind of cheese.
Dill and Feta Scones Recipe
Savory scones make the perfect accompaniment to a soup or stew for dinner. This recipe for Dill and Feta Scones combines the fresh taste of dill with the creamy tang of feta cheese. They are perfect for a light spring dinner served out on the patio.
- Large Baking Sheet
- Large bowl
- Pastry blender
- Small Dish
- Wire whisk
- Pastry Brush
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tbsp Sugar
- 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Onion Powder
- 2 tbsp Dried Dill
- ½ cup Butter (cold)
- ½ cup Crumbled Feta Cheese
- 1¼ cups Heavy Cream
Egg Wash Ingredients
- 1 pc Large Egg
- 2 tbsp Cream or Milk
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, onion powder, and the black pepper. Add the dried dill, stirring to combine it with the other dry ingredients.
Cut the butter into cubes on a plate or cutting board and then scrape the butter into the bowl with the dried ingredients. Using a pastry blender, cut the cold butter into the dry mixture. Continue cutting it with the pastry blender until the butter is in tiny bits. The entire mixture should have the texture of cornmeal.
Stir in the crumbled feta, breaking any large bits of the cheese into smaller pieces. Continue stirring until the cheese is fully incorporated into the mixture.
Pour half of the heavy cream into the dry ingredients and gently stir, just enough to incorporate the cream. Add half of what is left, stirring again. Continue adding half of the mixture until the dry ingredients are moistened and the mixture will stick together in a dough. Do not beat or whip the mixture. Scones become tough when the dough is handled roughly. You may not use all the heavy cream.
Using your hands, press the dough together in a ball and lift it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Press the dough, kneading it lightly, into a disk that is 8 inches across.
Cut the dough circle into halves, cut those halves into fourths, and then divide the fourths into eighths.
Place the eight wedges onto your parchment lined pan, spacing them about an inch apart. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the scones chill for roughly 20 minutes. When you put the tray in the fridge, go ahead and preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
In a small dish, whisk the egg and heavy cream together to make the egg wash for the scones.
Remove the scone tray from the refrigerator after the time is up, and working quickly with a pastry brush, brush the egg wash over the scones. Be sure to get both the tops of the scones and the sides. You probably will have some egg wash left.
Bake the scones in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Allow the scones to cool on the pan for about 5 minutes before placing them in a basket and serving them. To store the scones, put them in a container with an airtight lid, or you can put them in a zip top bag. They will stay fresh for about 3 days.
You can use the standard sharp cheddar, but something like ricotta or Parmesan cheese will work too. If you use ricotta, you may need to reduce the amount of heavy cream that you use in the recipe, since the ricotta adds more moisture to the recipe.
Most people think of pickles when they think of the herb dill, but dill has a much wider usage than simply flavoring dill pickles. Experienced chefs use it to flavor foods like fish, and this recipe is a good start to learning to use it in the kitchen. Dill is one plant in which all of its parts can be used in cooking.
Dill seeds are used to give pickles their strong, tangy flavor, but the feathery foliage also gives foods a light, springy, herbal flavor. The leaves of the dill plant are called dill weed, and it is generally used chopped in recipes.
Did you know that dill has been used for centuries? Even the ancient Greeks and Romans used dill both for flavoring and as a medicine. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used dill in a mixture used for cleaning the mouth and teeth. Roman soldiers also used the seeds of the plant to help treat their wounds and promote healing.
Our recipe for Dill and Feta Scones are delicious, fragrant, and beautiful. If you have never cooked with dill before, this is a good recipe to get you started.
Related: Scone Recipes | Cheese Scone Recipes | Types of Scones
