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Savory Cheddar Scones with caramelized onions, made with optional rye flour. Very easy and delicious with soups and stews!
Smokey, earthy, buttery and flaky, these Savory Cheddar Scones with caramelized onions, rye flour, caraway seeds are the perfect accompaniment to soups and stews– that is, if you can stop yourself from eating them, before the soup is made. That was my problem.
Today I’ve used rye flour, but feel free to use whole wheat. Caramelize the onions in a skillet, then add to the dough. They add such amazing depth and sweetness!
The dough comes together quickly and easily! Just cut and bake!
For a shiny finish, brush the cheddar scones with sour cream and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
When the cheddar scones come out they are flakey, golden and delicious!
Rye flour gives them a smoky earthiness that I love during the colder months.
Savory Scones with Cheddar and Caramelized Onions
- Prep Time: 45 mins
- Cook Time: 17 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 2 mins
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Baked, Bread
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: English
Description
Cheddar Scones with caramelized onions, made with optional Rye flour. Very easy and delicious, the perfect savory scone to serve with soups and stews!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds ( optional, but delicious!)
- 1 large red onion, peeled, halved through the root and thinly sliced crosswise
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Fine sea salt
- 1 cup rye flour ( or use whole wheat)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup sour cream plus more for brushing
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1 C grated smoked cheddar ( or regular cheddar)
- Flaky sea salt, like fleur de sel or Maldon, for sprinkling (optional).
Instructions
- Put the butter in the freezer until solid, at least 30-45 minutes.
- In a large, dry skillet over medium heat, toast the caraway seeds until fragrant, about 1 minute. Set Aside. Sauce the onions in skillet on medium-high heat with the oil and stir for two minutes. Turn heat down to med low, and continue cooking until tender and caramelized, about 5 minutes. Add a pinch of the fine sea salt, cool.
- Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, ½ teaspoon of the fine salt and the caraway seeds. In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream, egg and honey.
- Remove the butter from the freezer. Using the large holes of a box grater, grate ⅓ of the butter.
- Gently toss it into the flour mixture. Repeat with the remaining butter, adding about ⅓ at a time.
- Stir the wet mixture into the flour-butter mixture. Stir in the onions and grated cheddar. Stir dough until it just comes together.
- On a lightly floured surface, pat the dough into an inch-thick round. Cut into 8-10 wedges. Transfer dough to the prepared baking sheet, allowing 1 inch between each scone. Brush the tops of the scones with a little sour cream and sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
- Bake scones until the undersides are golden brown but the tops are just golden, 15 to 17 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving. They are best served warm.
Nutrition
- Calories: 289
Keywords: scones, cheddar scones, rye scones, savory scones, cheddar biscuits, best scone recipes, savory scone recipes, best scones, onion scones,
Sylvia, you may make a baker out of me yet! These turned out great even with just extra sharp cheddar. I want to try with the smoked cheddar though. I baked just two for dinner. How long can I keep the others in the fridge before baking? or should I freeze them? thanks again! your recipes do not disappoint.
★★★★★
Hi Mert- so happy you enjoyed these! I’m not sure about keeping in the fridge for too long because of the baking soda/powder? perhaps freeze?
You were right. They do NOT keep in the fridge. They got a bit watery(?) but I baked a few anyway. They didn’t rise well and were kinda oily. So I rolled out the rest super thin, like see-through and turned them into crackers. A good salvage but not great. I hate throwing food away!! There are only two of us so I was trying to find a way to bake the scones fresh each time. Next time I’ll try freezing the extras. Thanks!
Oh shoot Mert! I’m sorry. Yes whenever using baking soda/powderder, I would always bake at once, then freeze them baked. You can always toast them up after they are thawed. 🙂
Got it. Good to know. Still so much to learn. Thanks for responding!
Hi,
I was wondering if it’s also possible to use your sourdough discharge for this recipe?
Hi Juliette- I think it should work fine! You could use our sourdough biscuit recipe for an idea on proportions.
I was looking for a buckwheat cheddar scone and this recipe looked great so I got brave and did some subs: 3/4 c. buckwheat flour instead of the rye and 1T. baking powder (based on the basic buckwheat scone recipe I use). I also small-diced the onion – couldn’t get my brain around those larger sliced pieces. Then the dough wouldn’t come together (maybe because of the buckwheat?), so I took a risk and splashed in 1/4 c. 10% cream. Wow. Absolutely perfect – so great to have a delicious savoury scone to enjoy! Thanks!!
★★★★★
Great to hear your substitutions worked!
I made the cheddar scones with caramelized onions this afternoon, as I had just made some leek and potato soup. I didn’t have either rye or whole wheat flour, so I just used all purpose flour, and they still came out delicious. I would definitely make again, this time with the correct flours. YUM YUM
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this Barb!
Wow, are these good! I honestly could’ve made a meal out of just these scones. You’re right that they’re best warm, right out of the oven. But even zapped in the microwave they’re quite good. I had a bit of difficulty distributing the onions equally throughout the dough. Next time I may combine them with the sour cream/egg mixture before adding to the flour – I’m thinking that may make for a more easily accomplished distribution of onions throughout the dough without over mixing.
★★★★★
Thanks Mary!
Any tips for how to use use a rye sourdough starter here?:)
★★★★★
Hi Lana- I would refer to the sourdough biscuit recipe and see if you can use those proportions and timing here. It would totally work. Perhaps cut back the butter.
My 12 year old made these to go with your leek, lamb and cabbage soup. Although there is nothing like a good crusty bread, this was a fantastic change of pace to serve with soup.
★★★★★
Awesome, great to hear!
Yummy. I made it again the next week. Everyone I have shared with love it!
★★★★★
Yay! Glad yo uliked it!
Wow, so delicious!! Great instructions (as always) and so worth taking the extra step to caramelize the red onion. At first I didn’t think I had the liquids measured right since dough seemed dry but a few more stirs and it came together. I have been making the suggestions you send each Saturday: cabbage soup, leek bread (2x), cheddar scones and the recipes are so good. It is helping us survive staying home. Thanks for all the hard work it must take to create these wonderful recipes.
★★★★★
I made these last night to accompany beef stew, phenomenal! Can’t wait to make them thru the Winter to go with soup.
Amazing!
★★★★★
So glad you liked them!
I made those the other day and they were yummy, kids loved them too.
I left out the caraway seeds because I didn’t have any, but they were still really good!
★★★★
So glad you liked them… I really enjoy them too! Great with Soup!
Wow, what I wouldn’t give to have one of these warm in my hand right this moment. <3 <3 <3 Well done (as usual!), Sylvia!
Thanks Em. 😉
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★★★★★
This healthy recipes looks delicious…I want to try this…How much is this?
Caraway seeds and smoked cheddar?! Yum 😀
Yowzas. Now THAT is a scone!
Thanks Christina!
these scones look amazing! how much honey? it isn’t listed in the ingredients.
Thanks…I just updated the recipe!
Positively delicious! I just love cheddar scones!