Crisp Cheese Skirt Scones

With nduja and fennel

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The idea/technique that I use in today’s recipe is so simple I can’t believe I haven’t tried it before. But now that I have, there’s only one way I will be making cheese scones in the future - with a crisp cheese skirt!

Yes, you heard that right; these scones are baked with an incredible cheese skirt. Why this isn’t how savoury scones come as standard is beyond me!

It is so ludicrously simple, but this is like no other scone I have ever made. The unbaked scone is placed onto a baking tray, but instead of it sitting directly on top of the parchment paper, it sits on a throne of grated cheese. As the scone bakes, the cheese it sits on melts into a puddle of melted cheese. As the oven causes the scones to rise and brown, the melted cheese simultaneously starts to bubble and, by the time you pull the tray of scones from the oven, caramelises and becomes a crisp skirt on the base of the scones.

This has an obvious effect on texture, giving the soft, pillowy scones a crisp counterpoint in the cheese skirt. It also affects the flavour. As the cheese bakes, it loses the moisture in it, and not only does this make the cheese crisp, but it also has a way of concentrating the flavour. The cheese skirt adds this intensity of flavour that takes these scones truly over the top.