Like most people who love to cook, I clip out or copy down recipes I like from magazines.  I found one in my clippings for crisp cornmeal scones, so I made them.  They weren’t very good….no flavor, but they did have a good base to work from.  As we ate dinner that night, my guys and I brainstormed on what to do with this very blah recipe.  You could hardly taste the cornmeal, so I upped that, then added sharp cheddar, cumin, coriander, sun-dried tomatoes and sliced pickled jalapenos.  I also added whole wheat and increased the baking powder.  I guess you could pretty much say I changed almost everything… but hey, its the thought that counts… right?

I made these to eat with one of our favorite soups, chicken tomatillo soup, but they also would be marvelous with grilled chicken noodle soup,  tangy black bean soup, or Ian’s Incredible Chili. These scones have lots of flavor and are a perfect compliment to any of these soups or try them with your favorite.  Just try them!!

You’ll need:

3/4 cup unbleached flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups stone ground corn meal

1 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs ground coriander

2 tsp baking powder

2 Tbs raw sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (dry pack if you can find them)

6 Tbs unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

1/2 cup sliced pickled jalapenos, chopped into smaller pieces

1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

1/2 cup low fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425F.  In a medium bowl, combine flours, cornmeal, spices, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Stir to mix.  Add shredded cheese and sun-dried tomatoes and toss to mix.  Add butter pieces and work into mixture with a pastry cutter or just use your fingers, its quicker (and face it fellow bakers, you loves sticking your hands into the mix!) until the mixture looks very coarse with pea size clumps.  Then add the chopped jalapenos and mix again.

Combine buttermilk and yogurt. Whisk until smooth.  Make a depression in your cornmeal mix and add the wet ingredients.  Stir until it just starting to come together.  You’re going to think you need more liquid, you don’t, it will come together.  On a surface dusted with some cornmeal or flour, turn out your almost combined mixture.  Using your hands, finish pushing everything together and it will stick.  Turn the pile a couple of times (no more) and then use a rolling pin to roll it out into a rough square or circle about 3/4 inch thick.

Use your chef’s knife to cut into serving size pieces and slide under them with the flat edge to transfer them to an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 15-17 minutes until just golden.  Remove and serve warm.  Enjoy!