Brie scones with bacon jam

Brie and bacon: a marriage made in Heaven. These savoury scones, pairing these two wonderful flavours are so simple, so moreish and are so loudly calling out to be made!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Post updated Feb 2019: new photos

Savoury scones make a perfect snack: served warm, split and topped with salted butter they are always a treat, but with cream cheese and a great chutney, they are to die for.

The combination of bacon and Brie is a classic one, and works well in these scones, a batch of which can be made and ready to eat in under 30 minutes if you have the jam ready to go.

Bacon jam: yes please!

I stumbled across bacon jam about 10 years ago whilst on holiday and it instantly became one of my favourite ingredients: salty, smoky, spicy and sweet, it is always fantastic with cheese or just spread on hot buttered toast.

I love making bacon jam, often in large batches, and I give a very simple recipe below. You can buy good quality bacon jam, but homemade is far better and cheaper: besides, you can adjust the flavours to suit your tastes eg) with more of a chilli kick.

Gluten-free scones

I often make scones for friends who cannot have gluten, replacing the flour with a good gluten-free flour self-raising flour (and no baking powder). I add a bit more milk, just enough to give a slightly wet but shapeable dough.

I don’t bother with gums and the like as the scones handle easily enough and are always very light, while holding their shape without crumbling away.

Brie scones – makes about 16 scones

Scones:

• 225g plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 level teaspoons mustard powder
• 50g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 80g Brie, chopped or torn roughly into smallish chunks
• 1 medium egg, at room temperature, beaten
• about 130ml milk, plus a little extra for glazing
• a little grated Parmesan for topping

Bacon jam:

• 250g smoked bacon: streaky, back or even a mixed pack of smoked bacon pieces
• 1 medium onion, peeled
• 1 large clove of garlic, peeled
• 1 fresh red chilli, de-seeded or whole: go for a hot variety or a milder one….
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 60ml white wine vinegar
• 120g demerara sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup or runny honey

To make the scones:

(1) Pre-heat the oven to 190C (fan). Sift the flour, mustard powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the Brie.

(2) Add the egg and add enough milk to form a soft, wet but not too sticky dough.

(3) Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of approximately 2cm. Cut out scones using circular cutters, re-rolling trimmings gently (if you over-work the dough the scones will become tough).

(4) Place on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof, brush a little milk over the top and scatter over the Parmesan.

(5) Bake for approx. 15 minutes until well risen and lightly browned (allow approx. 15 minutes or so for larger scones). Cool on a wire rack.

(6) Split them and serve warm with cream cheese (or cream cheese mixed with Brie) and a generous dollop of bacon jam.

To make the bacon jam:

(1) Put the bacon into into a food processer and blitz until you get a coarse texture: you can chop the bacon if you prefer chunks, but I prefer it fairly well pulped.

(2) Tranfer the bacon pulp to a pan without any oil, and heat gently to allow the fat in the bacon to render down. Cook for about 20 minutes, spooning off the excess fat.

(3) Put the remaining ingredients into the food processer and blitz to give a smoothish paste. Pour over the bacon and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Leave to simmer gently over a low heat, stirring from time to time, for about 30 minutes or until there is little liquid left, and what is left is thicker and syrupy.

(4) Spoon into clean, sterilised jars and seal. Keep in the fridge and tuck into as often as you want to!