This recipe for tender, flakey spring onion ham and ricotta scones will have you running to the store to pick up all of these ingredients!! These are so perfect as an accompaniment to a hearty bowl of soup or a fresh, crisp salad!!
These tender scones are the perfect accompaniment to any table – breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, barbecue, snack! It covers them all!!
I do love me a good scone – and I’ve shown you all my obsession for them by posting a few recipes for them here!
This recipe for inside-out peach scones (the recipe is here) is an old one that I make during peach season and they also made an appearance in my cookbook!
And, during the last royal wedding, I decided to finally talk about the difference between biscuits and scones!! You an find all of that information here:
There are these scones that I made with my sourdough discard (during the height of the pandemic when everyone – including me – was making sourdough bread!). You can find the recipe for these sourdough discard scones right here:
What You’ll Need to make these Spring Onion Ham and Ricotta Scones:
- cake and pastry (or all-purpose) flour – because cake flour contains less protein at around 7 to 9%, this means the batter will have less gluten, so the baked scones will turn out less dense and dry. They’ll be more airy and moist without falling apart into layers when you bite on them.
- baking powder – acts as a leavener
- sugar – boosts flavour of the savoury ingredients
- butter – creates pockets of moisture to make scones more tender and flakey (grated is the best way to incorporate it into the flour)..
- spring onion – flavour (you can sub in chives)
- ham – flavour (you can leave this out or even sub in bacon)
- fresh parsley – flavour (you can sub in any other fresh herb)
- ricotta cheese – adds moisture and tenderness
- milk – part of the wet ingredients
- egg – it’s what makes these scones have a beautiful brown crust!
- sea salt and black pepper – seasoning
Reasons you’ll love these Spring Onion Ham and Ricotta Scones:
- These scones would be great with my fresh asparagus and pea soup! You can find the recipe here!
- Any buffet or brunch would be elevated to the next level with these scones in place of bread or bagels.
- You can freeze these scones after they are baked but I prefer to bake them the day they are eaten – lucky for you, they can be frozen and baked from frozen (most scones benefit from being cold as they go into the oven so this is a plus!!).
- They have crisp, crumbly edges straight out of the oven.
- They are softer than traditional biscuits (with the addition of the ricotta).
- They are great served on their own with a generous pat of butter but also make a great sandwich!!
Key to Baking Successful Scones:
- Butter – make sure it is cold (and grating it creates the perfect consistency for a flakey scone). The butter coats the flour and when the butter/flour crumbs melt as the scones bake, they release steam, which creates pockets of air.
- Make sure you DO NOT over handle the dough before baking. That will almost always result in a tough scone.
- An egg wash (or a brush of heavy cream) on the top of the scones will ensure a nicely browned top and a crispy coating!
So, now that you know how easy it is to make these great scones, what are you waiting for?? These can be whipped up when you have some extra ricotta in your fridge begging to be used! Make them, freeze them and then bake them off when you want a warm biscuit…you won’t be sorry!!!
Spring Onion, Ham and Ricotta Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups cake and pastry flour, plus more for forming/rolling (you can also use all purpose flour)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/3 cup cold butter
- ½ cup spring onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup cooked ham, diced
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- ⅔ cup milk
- 1 large egg, beaten for egg wash
- sea salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Grate butter into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until the consistency of coarse meal.
- Stir in onions, ham and parsley. Add ricotta cheese, then add milk and stir until just combined.
- Turn dough out onto a heavily floured surface. Gather the dough together (it may be wet so you can add more flour to the top) and pat dough into a 9-inch rectangle. Dip knife into flour and cut dough into 12 equal pieces.
- Transfer scones to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush tops liberally with egg wash. Sprinkle tops with sea salt and pepper.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until scones are golden brown.
Notes
Loosely adapted by Girl Versus Dough
