Bacon Cheddar Cheese Scones

Scones do not tend to inspire much excitement. You would think a pretty breakfast item so often served on silver platters would dazzle you with deliciousness. But 90% of the scones I've tried have been dry, bland and crumbly. The best ones are sweet and always dripping in glaze, so when I discovered the concept of a savory scone, I was intrigued.

These babies are hands down the greatest scones I've ever had. Loaded with bacon, cheddar, green onions, and black pepper, they are reminiscent of big, hearty biscuits. They're jam packed with flavor! Every bite is a party in your mouth. Serve them alongside fried eggs or a breakfast hash for a seriously stick-to-your-ribs meal!

For another take on savory scones, check out these Roasted Tomato and Feta Scones made with whole wheat flour.

 Bacon Cheddar Cheese Scones

Adapted from Annie Eats

Ingredients:

Scones:

• 3 cups AP flour
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 1-2 t freshly ground pepper
• 8 T cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
• 1.5 cups grated cheddar cheese (for best results, buy the block and grate yourself)
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1-1.5 cups buttermilk 

Egg Wash

• 1 large egg
•  2 T water

Grate the cheese, slice the green onions, and cook and crumble the bacon. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Fit your stand mixer with a paddle attachment and combine the flour, baking powder, salt and black pepper. Mix briefly to combine. Add the cold butter cubes and mix on low for a couple of minutes until the mixture is crumbly. (the butter pieces should be the size of small peas) If you don't have a standing mixer, feel free to do this by hand using a pastry blender. Add the grated cheese and mix until just combined.

Mix in the green onions, bacon and 1 cup of the buttermilk. Stir by hand until just combined. If the dough is too try to come together, mix the remaining buttermilk one tablespoon at a time until the dough can be formed into a ball. I used almost a cup and a half.

Lightly flour a surface and pat the dough into a disk, approximately 8 inches in diameter. (Just eyeball it) Slice the dough with a cookie cutter into 8 wedges. 

In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water. Brush the dough lightly with egg wash and transfer scones to an ungreased pizza stone. (You can use any baking sheet as well) Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. These won't brown up a ton, so they may look under baked, but they will be ready!

Gradon and I had been weighed down by the woes of the boards, AKA "step 1" of his big scary medical licensing exam, for weeks until finally the big test day arrived. He tackled that thing with all his might and shortly after we sailed off into the deep blue sea, leaving all of our worries behind!

Yes, we took our first ever cruise! And what an amazing vacation it was. I never imagined I would be such a fan of cruising, but we are completely sold. We both thought it was the perfect balance between fun and relaxation imaginable.

I'll share more of our adventures on board and ashore for excursions, but here are some photos from our long drive down to Florida where we set sail. We thought about flying, but decided to just jump in the car instead. It turned out to be a great decision because it gave us more down time. We had such a nice time just chatting, singing along to country songs and hitting up fast food joint along the way. Plus, we got to see Savannah, Georgia, home of Paula Dean's Lady & Songs Restaurant and overall one of the cutest cities I've ever seen.

 We skipped around the historic squares at the City Market, enjoyed live music, ate the hugest most fantastic slices of pizza at Vinnie Van Go Go's, explored their quaint candy stores and art galleries, and ate waffles at a little local motel before finishing the rest of our drive the following morning.

My hair is sopping wet in some of these because my sweet husband pushed me in the water fountain. Yes, on purpose. I never thought he would do such a thing, but dragged me kicking and screaming! It was like being thrown in a pool. Probably one of the funniest memories of the trip. But it's a lot easier to laugh now that I'm dry! He bought me pizza shortly after, which certainly helped matters.