Low Fat Savoury Scones: Feta Cheese, Ham & Sun-Dried Tomato

It’s time for scones at Bake-Along #27 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Lena of Frozen Wings and Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids.

Scones are a small British quick bread, traditionally hailing from Scotland. They are usually made of wheat, barley or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent. Traditionally scones are usually eaten sweet with jam and clotted cream for tea. In the book 500 Bakes and Cakes, I came across several savoury scones which I thought would be great to try out since I have been making a lot of desserts lately. Here are the two savoury scones I made for this blog hop: Feta cheese scones and Ham & sun-dried tomato scones. The ham scones is a low-fat recipe and I modified the feta-cheese ones to become low fat – so I can eat more without guilt.

The feta cheese scones uses cheese rather than butter and has a distinctive sourish taste that comes from the cheese. It reminds me somewhat of sourdough bread. The ham & sun-dried tomato scones are a lovely combination of sun-dried tomatoes, ham and rosemary. I made these for a Sunday family dinner and served them alongside roasted chicken and a bowl of hearty vegetable lentil soup.  Overall, I like the  ham & sun-dried tomato scones better because of the interesting blend of textures and tastes drawn from the various ingredients.

Low fat feta cheese scones (makes 6)

Ingredients

• 67 g all purpose flour
• 75 g wholemeal flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 55 g low fat feta cheese
• 115 ml low fat milk
• Chives (optional)
• Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Method

• Preheat the oven 200ºC. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Crumble the feta cheese and rub into the dry ingredients till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the chopped chives, if using.
• Add milk till it forms a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead lightly till it forms a smooth lump.
• Roll out into 2 cm thickness and cut out using a 6 cm cookie cutter.
• Transfer the scones to a non-stick baking sheet and brush with milk and sprinkle with cayenne pepper. Bake for 15 minutes till golden brown. Cool before serving.

Ham & sun-dried tomato scones (makes 8)

Ingredients

• 150 g all purpose flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 18 g low fat spread
• 140 g of ham
• 1 tbsp chopped rosemary or basil
• 35 g sundried tomatoes, chopped
• 100 ml milk
• Pinch of mustard (optional)
• Pinch of paprika (optional)

Method

• Preheat the oven 200ºC. Sift the flour, baking powder, paprika and salt.
• Stir in the ham, rosemary and sun-dried tomatoes  and mix lightly. Pour in the milk till it forms a soft dough.
• Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly. Roll out into a 2 cm thick rectangle. Cut into squares and arrange onto a baking sheet.
• Brush with milk and sprinkle with paprika and bake for 12-15 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.