zucchini and chipotle cheese scones

I'm obsessed with making the perfect scone. I've probably had three scones in my life, and once was seventh-grade home economics, and let me assure you, they were all gross. Until this recipe, I wasn't even really sure what a good scone is supposed to taste like.

The zucchini-chipotle cheese scones were inspired by a recipe on Ciao Chow Linda's recipe blog  and was my second attempt at scones.

My first try was not quite disastarous but took a toll on my cooking mentality. The recipe I found was on was on The Foreign Kitchen blog for cheese scones, and looked really promising. The only problem was I didn't read down to the commentary to see that the recipe called for four teaspoons and not four TABLESPOONS of baking powder. Fully expecting the scones to explode, I literally ran to the oven to check on them. Surprisingly, even with the mess up, they were edible. But apparently too much baking soda can cause a little bitterness and they were extremely dry.

With a lot of butter, the Mister dubbed them digestible. But I definitely felt dejected. (The blogger from The Foreign Kitchen was kind enough to apologize for the mistake and it's been fixed.) The photos look so good, I will definitely try them again.

Zucchini and Chipotle-Cheese Scones

2 tablespoon olive oil

2 1/2 cup flour

3 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (I used mostly chives and a little oregano)

1 stick butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup cheese (I used chipotle-cheddar, but I think anything potent will work)

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, herbs. Cut and add butter, stop mixing when the butter is in small chunks. Add eggs, buttermilk, zucchini and 3/4 of the cheese. Pat into 12-inch round circle. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top and cut into 8 slices. Preheat oven to 400, bake 30 minutes.

Serve hot!

The scone is a very tasty meal and compliments a nice soup or salad. The Mister really loved these and I think he was truly shocked at how well they turned out. (The first batch was sort of atrocious in comparison to this one.) After inhaling two for dinner, he packed up some more for lunch today and just called me saying someone on his staff wants the recipe!