Day 101: Bacon Cheddar Scones

I got to spend the day at the IDOS Spring Convention in Farmington. It was a lot of fun! After I finally found the convention center (I'm seriously directionally challenged), I got to set up and cook between Jack Wallace who is the Director of Education for IDOS and Omar Alvarez who competed in the World Championship Cook-offs this year. Talk about good company. I also finally got to meet Mark from Mark's Black Pot. He was there cooking with his son. There was a lot of good food to be had. It is amazing how you can eat yourself sick when you are only having a little sample cup of everything (I had 2 little cups of the chocolate cheesecake, but don't tell anyone).

The most impressive part of the day was the youth cook off. Those kids were amazing. Honestly, any adult dutch oven cook would love to produce the kinds of dishes those kids made. It made me feel like a total amateur. I aspire to cook like those kids. Their presentation was beautiful, and the food delicious.

Today, I cooked the Upside down Tomato Cornbread, a Broccoli Ham Ring (both are on my blog already), and some Bacon Cheddar Scones. The corn bread turned out beautifully! I used a sheet of parchment paper on the bottom so it didn't stick to the pan. I love that it came out of the pan perfectly. It got some "ooohs and ahaaas" and a lot of "mmmmms" and "that's goods". It was a real hit! The Broccoli Ham Ring also went over well. I had a line of people waiting for a taste when it came off the coals. By the time the scones were ready, the crowd had thinned a bit, so I got to bring a few of them home for the kiddos to try. And speaking of the scones....

Bacon and Cheddar Scones10" dutch oven

3 cups flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

8 Tbs. cold butter, cut into small pieces

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

4 green onions, thinly sliced

10 slices bacon, cook and crumbled into pieces

1 cup buttermilk (plus up to 1/2 cup extra, if needed)

In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper, mix well. Add the cubes of butter and use a pastry blender or 2 knives to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Add in the grated cheese and mix.

Mix in the green onions, bacon and 1 cup of buttermilk into the flour mixture. Stir by hand just until all the ingredients are incorporated. If the dough is too dry to come together, mix in the remaining buttermilk a tablespoon at a time until the dough can be formed into a ball. Press the dough into your DO and slice into 8-10 wedges. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes. I used 17 coals on top and 8 on the bottom.

The Finished Product

The Review

These were pretty good. I think they were a little salty. I personally think you could leave out the 1 tsp. of salt because the bacon takes care of that nicely. I would also cut back on the onion a bit. I used 4 green onions, tops and all, and it may have been just a bit too much. The seemed to go over well at the convention, but everyone liked the cornbread and broccoli ring better. My kids ate the leftovers when I got home and they liked them. I like that they are a change from the regular breads I serve with meals. It is nice to mix things up a bit. I will be making these again with the changes I noted above. I'll give them a B.