TWD: Apple Cheddar Scones

I have always been a fan of scones but I have never made them from scratch. I had been eyeing a cranberry orange scone recipe from Ina Garten (it looks similar to the one I enjoy at Starbucks). When it was announced that this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was going to be her Apple Cheddar scones, I was excited to try this tasty treat before moving on to the cranberry orange. This was one of the first recipes that I noticed in Dorie's Baking but I obviously have not had a chance to make them.

Apples and cheese has long been a favorite combination for me. There is just something so delicious about the taste of a juicy fuji apple and the bite of a nice super sharp cheddar. yuuum! Some at TWD mentioned they had never had the combo before and it seemed odd to them...man...in my opinion...they are missing out! I love it! Its great for a snack or even lunch! Dorie made me one happy baker when she put the two together!

I don't have a scone pan and honestly didn't feel like investing in one at the moment. Dorie mentions you can roll the dough out and cut it or drop it spoonfuls on the pan. Rustic seems to be a running them for many of Dorie's recipes and this scone seemed to be no exception. I went with the dropping method and ended up with 12 big somewhat rounded scones. Nope...I've got no problem with rustic when they look so good coming out of the oven!

When I went to the grocery store to get my weekly supplies, I had not looked at the recipe in awhile so I was shopping somewhat blindly. I was sure that there wasn't anything that I didn't have beyond the apples and cheddar so I just purchased a few fresh apples and some pre-shredded cheddar. Well...it turns out that this recipe called for dried apples and not fresh. hmmm...what to do. I wasn't going to go back to the store so I was about to use the fresh anyway when I had one of those doh! moments. It turns out that I had a few individual size serving bags of dried Fuji apples left from a few months ago. They were in the back of my pantry so I didn't see them on first glance. I checked the dates and they look fine.

These were a little big so I chopped them up slightly so they wouldn't be too big when you bit into them. Of course, I snagged a couple to snack on. I had forgotten how tasty these dried Fuji's were!

The batter came together nicely and was very quickly dropped on the sheet pan then on there way to yummy goodness. Dorie recommends eating them 3 minutes after baking while the cheese is still melty.

I went with a simple pat of butter for my first try instead of a jam. Let me tell ya...it was so good and simple. The apples were warm and flavorful as was the cheddar. I actually added about 1 cup of cheddar instead of the listed 3/4 of a cup because I am a cheeseoholic. I felt they could have used more cheesy goodness but it was still very tasty...so tasty that I had another one. I put away a few to take to work for breakfast. They will make a nice breakfast this week! The rest were wrapped up individually and frozen for later.

This recipe was chosen by Karina of The Floured Apron. Next weeks recipe will be Double Crusted Blueberry Pie chosen by Amy of South in Your Mouth. Please check out the other TWD Bakers here for more tasty scones!

For this weeks recipe, don't forget to visit Karina at The Floured Apron. Or you could just but Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours at turn to page 32!