Savoury Apple and Cheddar Cheese Scones.

I made those for our lunch today, to go with a carrot and roasted pepper soup. This recipe makes approximately 15 scones ,so we still have a few left. I will use them tomorrow morning, they will be served alongside sausages and eggs for breakfast.These scones go nicely with caramelized onion marmalade and ham, too.Very easy and quick to make. So if you have 30 minutes to spare, here is a recipe!
225 gr self-raising flour, plus some more for dusting
1 apple , peeled and diced
50 gr butter, slightly softened
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of sea salt
100 gr of cheddar cheese, finely grated
1 tsp of grated nutmeg
125 ml of milk, and a bit more for glazing
Preheat your oven gas mark 7/220C.
Put all flower, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and the butter into a large mixing bowl. Rub in butter with the dry ingredients, using the tips of your fingers. The mix will look like crumbs.

Stir in apple and cheese.

Pour the milk in, mix well.Fold the dough over several times. Sprinkle some flour on the table, place the dough on the flour and pat into a round about 1" thick. Use a cookie cutter or a glass to cut out scones.

Repeat the process until all dough is used up.

Glaze the scones with a little milk and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden. Allow to cool in the oven.

Enjoy!

Russian Pies/ Pirozhki

This particular recipe has been long coming.It has been passed on from my grandmother to my mother and then to myself, and has a long history before that.It is a family recipe, we used to get together with our grandmother and she would do the mixing by hand and we would pass the ingredients to her. After the dough was tripled in its size (some 3 hours later), we would get busy making the pies and sweet rolls. Every family will have their own interpretation of pie making, in essence, this is a kind of a bread dough, so I would recommend to have plenty of time and patience. When I was little , I remember the joy of playing with the dough and then watching my creations (not very attractive) bake. The recipe is enough to feed the family of 10, so please feel free to half or even quarter it! This was the first time I used Kitchen Aid making this recipe, and it is a totally different experience, made my life much easier! However , if you would like to be authentic, use your hands, it will take a bit longer , but you could count it as a workout!

We will need:

1 kg of plain flour and about 200 gr more for dusting

yeast (prepare according to the instructions on the packet)

250 gr unsalted butter, melted

½ ltr of milk, warm

3 eggs

3 tbsp of sugar

1 tbsp of salt

·       Whisk the eggs with sugar and salt

·       Add the 1/3 of the flour, yeast and milk, mix together

·       Add 1/3 of the flour and the butter, carry on mixing

·   Slowly add the remaining flour , the dough should get smooth and elastic .

·       Cover with warm wet kitchen towel and leave to raise for 3 hrs.

·       Knead the dough by hand or use a dough attachment on your mixer.

Get creative, make pastries or small rolls with different fillings.

This time I used a very traditional Russian filling Cabbage and Eggs, you might also try: Potato and Mushrooms, Chicken and Mushrooms, Various Jams, Apples and Raisins,Chocolate Spread.

For the filling we will need:

a small green cabbage

3 hard boiled eggs

1 onion 

a pinch of salt

a pinch of pepper

a pinch of nutmeg

2 bay leaves

a splash of olive oil

Chop all the ingredients, add them to the pan and slow cook, until the cabbage is soft. Season to taste.

Next step: divide the dough into several pieces.

Make a long "sausage" with the dough and cut it into medium size slices.

Take each piece of dough one by one , flatten it , put a bit of the filling in the middle, close and shape into a small bread bun.

When the pies are ready , allow them to stand at the room temperature for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven gas mark 4/180 C, glaze the pies with some milk and bake in the oven for 30 minutes , or until golden.

Melt a little butter and glaze the pies as soon as they are out of the oven.

Enjoy!