The secret to these ultra-fluffy scones? Cream cheese. In a fit of inspiration (I was thinking about rugelach at the time), I replaced almost all the butter with it to great success. These scones are a hit with children, too: my three-year-old quite competently helped make them, from fetching rosemary from the garden to stamping out the dough and brushing on the egg wash. A nice kitchen activity for any resident children, even if your dog turns up for the cheese tax at the last stage.
Mini parmesan, apple and rosemary scones
Prep 15 min
Cook 15 min
Makes 30 mini scones
25g cold butter, cubed
100g cold full-fat cream cheese
100g parmesan, roughly broken
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
2 scant tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
2 rosemary sprigs, needles stripped and finely chopped
1 medium-sized apple, grated
1 egg
50ml milk
For the topping
1 egg, beaten
50g parmesan, finely grated
A few small rosemary sprigs (optional)
To serve
Cold salted butter or Boursin
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Tip the cubed butter, cream cheese, parmesan, flour, baking powder, salt and rosemary into a food processor, and blitz until sandy. In a bowl, combine the apple, egg and milk, then pour into the butter mix and blitz briefly, just until everything comes together into a dough.
Tip out on to a floured surface, and then pat down until even and 2cm-thick (you can use a rolling pin, but this is such a malleable dough that just your hands will work fine). Use a mini round cutter to stamp out circles, and transfer these to a lined baking sheet. Bring together the offcuts, pat back down and cut out more circles until you’ve used up all the dough (I got 30 mini scones in total).
Brush each scone with beaten egg, top with a scattering of parmesan and a tiny sprig of rosemary, if you wish, then bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. (If you used a larger cutter, check on the scones after 18 minutes.)
Transfer to a wire rack to cool a little, then serve warm with cold salted butter, or at room temperature with butter or more cream cheese.