These bacon Cheddar scones from Cheryl Day are tender, flaky, and incredibly satisfying. They’re easily made with flour, sugar, egg, buttermilk, plenty of extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, and crispy bacon. Perfect for breakfast on the go or for a snack any time of the day.
Adapted from Cheryl Day | Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking | Artisan, 2021
To get the delicate texture of a Southern buttermilk biscuit in a rich, buttery English scone, use this one-bowl, no-roll technique. It saves time, and, more important, the result is tender, flaky pastry—what you might call a biscone.—Cheryl Day
☞ Contents
Cheryl Day’s Bacon Cheddar Scones FAQ
How do you avoid flat scones?
Make sure your ingredients are cold and avoid overworking or kneading the dough. Gently fold the dough only enough to bring everything together, then pat it into a square and cut it into scones.
Why are my scones rubbery?
Starting with room-temperature ingredients or overworking the dough can make your scones dense. Also, don’t be tempted to swap in all-purpose flour for cake flour. A mixture of flours, including ones with less protein content, such as cake or pastry flour, is key to lofty, tender scones.
In This Recipe
Cheryl Day’s Bacon Cheddar Scones
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
- 2 tablespoons baking powder preferably aluminum-free
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 2 sticks (8 oz) cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2-inch (1.5 cm) cubes
- 10 slices bacon cooked and roughly chopped
- 8 ounces (2 cups) extra-sharp or sharp Cheddar cheese grated
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk preferably full-fat, plus more if needed
- 1 large egg beaten with a pinch of fine sea salt, for egg wash
Directions
- Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine both flours, the baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and pepper and whisk until completely blended.
- Add the butter and, working quickly so that the butter doesn’t become warm, cut it in with a pastry blender. You should have various-sized pieces of butter ranging from coarse sandy patches to flat shaggy pieces to pea-sized chunks, with some larger bits as well. Add the bacon and cheese and toss to distribute evenly.
- Gradually pour in the buttermilk and gently fold the ingredients together until you have a soft dough with no bits of flour on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough seems dry, you may need to add a little more buttermilk. You should still see bits of butter in the dough; these will give you light and flaky scones.The dough will be moist and slightly sticky.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll or pat it into a 12-inch (30 cm) square about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) thick. Cut into 12 squares and arrange about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheet, so the scones have room to puff up and rise. Brush the tops of the scones liberally with the egg wash.
- Bake, rotating the baking sheet halfway through for even baking, until the scones are lightly golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.
- Cool the scones on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then serve warm or at room temperature. The scones are best eaten the day they are made.
Show Nutrition
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We’d love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
These bacon Cheddar scones were buttery and delicious. The bacon and cheese ratio was right on! I strongly suggest eating them with a high-quality apple butter. My family and I will be adding these scones into our regular rotation!
Scones and biscuits are not in my skill set so I am always a little intimidated by such recipes, however, this one-bowl recipe turned out perfectly! The scones were beyond delicious — crispy at the edges from the cheese, flavorful and moist on the inside. The bacon stayed crisp as well. My whole family loved them!
All I can say is YUM. These bacon Cheddar scones are delicate, moist, and flavorful with crispy, buttery bottoms, so no toppings are really needed for these. They are reminiscent of the garlic cheese biscuits at the nationwide seafood restaurant chain, and nothing like the dry, crumbly lumps sometimes passed off as a scone. The best part is these are easy to make and would be easy to customize to your own taste.
Scones are most often thought to be dry; this one is not. The scones are moist with great flavor and a little bit of a crunchy exterior. The recipe comes together easily. The only issue might be in the patting out. Make sure the surface is floured or there will be sticking. You can also lightly flour your hands. I served these with some nice crisp pears; the pears provided a sweet and crisp contrast to the savory, salty scones.
A snowy day in New England, coupled with a renovation project brought some hungry recruits to the table. I had already planned to serve our crew a lunch of these bacony-Cheddary delights with homemade tomato bisque and salad. it proved to be a tasty combination of flavors.
Any recipe with bacon in the title draws me in, so I was happy when these turned out wonderfully and required relatively little time to throw together. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to photograph the result because they were so quickly decimated, only crumbs remained.
They were truly flaky, tender, cheesy and buttery, and of course, the bacon put them over the top.
The flavors of these bacon Cheddar scones from Cheryl Day are excellent and the dough is super easy. The amount of bacon is perfect and the black pepper gives a nice bit of zing. For the second batch I made drop scones using about 1/2 cup of dough for each and I made 16 scones. I used a large serving spoon and wet hands to form the scones, the dough is very sticky! They do need room on the baking sheet to expand.
One word: FABULOUS! Easy to follow instructions with the bonus of using one bowl. Cutting the butter in with the pastry blender allowed for various sizes of butter and produced a phenomenally light scone that was flaky and buttery and delicious. The bacon adds interest (who doesn’t like bacon) and the sharp Cheddar added richness and additional flavor.
These bacon Cheddar scones are beautiful and delicious. I served mine with hot honey. They would be pretty amazing cut in half horizontally with an over medium egg. I would also consider using Gruyére.
These bacon Cheddar scones came out of the oven a beautiful golden brown but they were a little thinner than they should have been. The edges were really crispy, as were the bottoms. The generous amount of bacon lends a wonderful smokey flavor to each bite and the black pepper adds a bit of heat. I was surprised at the amount of pepper called for, but it was the perfect amount.
First of all, these are definitely not on the “healthy food” list…lots of butter, bacon, and Cheddar!! But that being said you have to make these for your next brunch for a crowd. They are very tender and flavorful.
If you want to eat them for breakfast, not brunch, do all the shredding and bacon cooking the night before. I cut bacon into 1-inch pieces and then cooked it, for more completely cooked crunchy pieces.
They are very tender with crunchy tops. You want to use a full size sheet pan as mine spread together even with an inch between them.
Nice contrast with scrambled eggs and of course a big cup of joe to sip along.
Originally published March 2, 2022
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Looks delicious! I love savory scones and will try this soon! Thanks for the recipe. 🤗
You’re welcome, BillieO2. If you try it, please do let us know how they turn out.