Apple Cheddar Scones
These apple cheddar scones are buttery and layered with apple chunks and sharp cheddar. Full of both sweet and savory flavors and no dryness to be found.
One of my favorite sandwiches/paninis to make at home is turkey, apple and cheddar. It’s so good, especially when it’s grilled like a grilled cheese and add a little arugula and maybe onion. The sweetness of the apple with the cheddar is just so good. I also know, in New England, people love serving apple pie with cheddar cheese.
When it comes to scones, through and through I am a sweet scone person. I feel like savory scones are basically biscuits. Which, I love and enjoy but its a different thing. So usually, I develop sweet scones and savory biscuit recipes. These apple cheddar scones are somewhere in between the two. Apple cheddar for a biscuit didn’t sound right, but for a scone? I thought “I can make that work”.
Baking Notes & Tips
As always, with scones you want to work quickly and keep your ingredients cold. If you’ve never made scones before I’d recommend checking out my Best Vanilla Cream Scones recipe which has quite a bit of information, tips and tricks on how to make the best scones. It translates to pretty much all of my scone recipes including these apple cheddar scones. If you love apple, I’d also recommend my Apple Cider Scones which are apple heaven.
You can chop your apples as big or small as you’d like. With smaller pieces, because the apple softens while it bakes you won’t really feel like you’re getting big pieces of apple in some bites, it will sort of just be bites with more apple flavor than others. However, some people enjoy having chunks of apple in things so it’s truly your preference.
Please don’t use pre-shredded cheese. I buy it and use it for certain things, but not for anything where cheese is a star ingredient. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in an anti-caking agent – which while it’s perfectly fine for you to eat it, it’s not the most conducive to melting.
Apple Cheddar Scones Key Ingredients
- Apple – All apples are great (actually, most.. I’m looking at you red delicious. Did you get worse over the years??) but some are better for cooking and baking with. I tested these with Granny smith, but I think Honeycrisp, Braeburn, and Pink Lady apples would all work just as well.
- Cheddar – You can use mild, medium, sharp, white or regular. Any cheese, but please shred it yourself. It will melt better, it will taste better. Personally, I prefer to use sharp cheddar from either Tillamook or Cabot.
- Heavy Cream – Heavy cream, the higher the fat percentage the better. Basically, the best you can buy. Bonus points for local farm varieties.
Ingredients
- 285 g AP Flour 2½ cups
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 36 g Granulated Sugar 3 tbsp
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- 113 g Sharp Cheddar cheese 4 oz, shredded
- 113 g Unsalted butter ½ cup, cold/semi-frozen
- 125 g Apple peeled, diced
- 1 large Egg cold, beaten
- 155 g Heavy Whipping Cream cold, ~â…” cup
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment, set aside. Place your butter in the freezer for about 20 minutes to help firm up.
- In a medium-large bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and mix until combined.285 g AP Flour | 1 tsp Sea Salt | 36 g Granulated Sugar | 2 tsp Baking Powder | ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- Grate your butter into the flour mix. Fluff the butter into the dry ingredients.113 g Unsalted butter
- Added your grated cheddar cheese and mix/fluff into the dry ingredients similarly to the butter.113 g Sharp Cheddar cheese
- Create a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour your egg and heavy cream into the center. I always start with the minimum amount of liquid for the cream and add more if necessary. Start with the â…” cup, and if there is too much dry flour add small tsp amounts in the dry spots and mix in. Your dough should still be pretty dry, it shouldn't be wet so add only if necessary.1 large Egg | 155 g Heavy Whipping Cream
- When dough is rough, add your diced apple and mix throughout the dough. Then use your hands to bring the dough more into a mass in the center of the bowl. Press it into a disc like shape, and fold the dough over onto itself. Repeat 2-3 more times.125 g Apple
- Move dough to your lined baking sheet and press into a disc that's about 1-1½ inch thick.
- Using a bench scraper or a knife, cut straight down (don't use a sawing motion) and cut your dough into 8 wedges.
- Separate the dough leaving 1-2 inches space between the scones.
- Place your scones into the freezer (or fridge if you don't have space in your freezer) and preheat your oven to 425°F.
- When your oven has come to temperature, remove scones from freezer. Brush the tops with heavy cream before they go into the oven.
- Place your scones on the middle rack of your oven and reduce the temperature to 375 immediately. Bake for 19-22 minutes. Scones will be well browned on top and bottom, remove to a wire cooling rack.
- Let scones cool for about 15-20 minutes before enjoying. Scones are best the day of baking but can be stored in an airtight container for 2-3 days and reheated in the oven in foil.
