Za’atar Scones with Oven Dried Tomatoes

Scones are homely, versatile and super quick to make. Savoury or sweet there all delicious and recently made these za’atar scones for our cookbook book club. This time around when making them for the family, added some of my oven dried tomatoes. We love anything za’atar in our household and it’s worth shopping around to find the freshest za’atar mix available. If you’er not familiar with za’atar, it’s both a single herb (member of oregano family) and a blend. Usually the za’atar is mixed with sesame seeds, salt and sometimes sumac. And, it’s also delicious when brushed over this aubergine cheesecake.

Halved the quantity of the original recipe as I didn’t want to make so many large scones. Also, cut down on the salt (2 tablespoons) and reduced it to 1/2 teaspoon with my quantities. Before incorporating the butter, placed the butter into the freezer for about ten minutes. Using the large blade of a grater, grated the ice-cold butter into the flour mixture, stopping two or three times to mix into the flour, so the butter didn’t  end up in a big clump. Easier and faster than trying to rub in all those little cubes of butter. Well, at least for me it was. Rather than cut the dough into large wedges, used a small 2 inch/5cm metal scone cutter. Brushed over the tops of the unbaked scones with milk instead of egg and sprinkled a little extra za’atar on top.

Delicious when served warm from the oven for breakfast with scrambled eggs or split in half and slathered with labneh cheese. We also enjoyed them with a warming bowl of butternut squash soup, the weather is so cold at the moment. And, if za’atar is not your thing, you might like to try these feta cheese, dried tomato and thyme scones.