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It is a quintessentially gorgeous summer day as I am writing this.
Summer has definitely taken it’s time getting here, and while I can’t really say this weather was worth waiting for, because: “Summer, where the heck have you been?”, but I am really grateful that it’s here now.
One of the things I am finding out day by day is what plants were lost in last winter’s brutal weather. You hold out hope that a favorite plant is just late in emerging, but eventually you have to accept that a couple of your favorite daylilies aren’t ever coming back, the thyme may be too ragged to carry on and that it’s possible your favorite little dwarf pine is a goner too. Bleh.
Still, I am glad to see those stalwart souls that have pulled through, and chives are definitely among that number. Year, after year, they come back bigger and better, ready to flavor any number of dishes all summer long. Right now, it is at it’s best, with vigorous green growth and lots of pretty purple flowers.
You do need to keep cutting it, in order to have it all summer. If you just leave it, it will gradually decline, and the flavor becomes less pleasing. It gets kind of tough too. If you regularly give them a trim, they will keep putting up fresh growth, which is tender and nicely mild. Cutting it isn’t a problem for me, because I love to sprinkle bits of chive over all kinds of things. From scrambled eggs in the morning, to toasted cheese for lunch to tossed salad or pasta for dinner – all benefit from a few snips of fresh chives. This Chive Lemon Vinaigrette is one of our favorite salad dressings.
And then we have these scones. Tender, flaky, beautiful and incredibly delicious. I honestly can’t say enough good things about them. 
They are super easy and fast to make, because you do the whole thing right in the food processor [instruction below, if you don’t have one]. For the flakiest texture, cut the butter and cream cheese into cubes and place on a plate in the freezer for a few minutes before you begin, though cold right out of the fridge will work fine too.
Savory Chive Cream Cheese Scones
Ingredients
- 2 & 1/2 cups all purpose
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 5 tablespoons cold butter cut in small cubes
- 4 ounces cold cream cheese cut in small cubes
- 1 cup cold buttermilk
- 1/3 cup snipped fresh chives
- extra buttermilk for brushing.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400º and line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Measure the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse 10 times or so to completely combine the dry ingredients. *see notes if you don't have a food processor.
- Add the butter and cream cheese cubes to the processor and pulse another 10 times or so. You want the butter and cream cheese to be in small pieces, about the size of a lentil - pick up a pinch of the mixture and rub lightly between your fingers to see how it looks. If the pieces seem too big, pulse a few more times and check again. How many pulses will vary from machine to machine, so go by how the mixture looks.
- Add the chives, distributed fairly evenly over the surface of the flour mixture and then pour the buttermilk over, fairly evenly as well.
- Hold down the pulse button for a few seconds at a time, turning on and off 5 to 7 times probably, until a dough forms.
- Flour the counter, and dump the contents of the food processor out on top.
- Sprinkle the top lightly, and flour your hands as well.
- Knead gently a few times until you have a fairly smooth ball.
- Pat or roll the dough into a circle, about an inch or so thick.
- Cut into whatever shape you like - I used a 2 inch biscuit cutter, but you can just cut them into 2 inch squares, or use a slightly bigger round cutter.
- Space the scones evenly on the baking sheet, leaving an inch and half or so around each one. Brush the top of each scone with buttermilk - this will give you a nice shiny top.
- Bake for about 18 minutes, until nicely browned across the top. You can check to make sure they are done, by splitting one in half to make sure they are cooked through - if not, return to the oven for another couple minutes.
- Cool slightly on a rack, and serve warm with plenty of butter.
Notes
I did mention that they are good with lots of butter, right?
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Thyme will surprise you. Cut it back and see what happens. Love these savory scones.
That is true Debra – this is pretty old though, with lots of dead branches in there – I started new stuff to replace it, but for now I am picking out what is still good in there. And thanks!
Your blog is a delightful discovery! Especially with Savory Cream Cheese Scones to capture my undivided attention! And yes, melting butter is a requirement, LOL.
Hi Deb and I am glad to meet you – I enjoyed your blog as well!
They look wonderful Donna! Chives add so much flavour to baked goods and these look like they’ve got a good amount of them 🙂
Thanks Lorraine – glad that you like them!
These look so yummy. Perfect with a nice summer salad. Love it!
I agree Bonnie – they are great with a salad 🙂
Wonderful scones! They look perfect and must taste fantastic.
Cheers,
Rosa
Thank you Rosa – hope you get a chance to try them.
Your savory scones sound great! I always have lots of chives in our garden in Maine so I appreciate a new way to use some of them.
I seem to keep finding new patches of them Karen – I think they must be coming up from seed – not a bad thing at all, because we love them!
Hi Donalyn, I just discovered your blog and already found some great recipes like your bread and butter pickles . I used to make them years ago and loved them. I love your garden, all I have here in California is a tiny little spot for my compost, some herbs and a few other plants. Blogging is fun because you meet people from all over the world.
I agree Gerlinde – I love meeting people from all over and seeing what they are cooking. We are fortunate to have plenty of room for growing, though sometimes we think we are just making more work for ourselves – it’s worth it though! And the pickles are great – one of my favorite things.
Thanks for the information on chives Donalyn! I planted chives this year for the first time and wasn’t sure as to when to start picking if and how often. Looks like I’ll be able to pick some for eggs in the morning. 🙂 You scones look delicious and would go perfect with my eggs in the morning. Perfect rise and I be the flavor is quite awesome with all of those chives. Great post!
Thanks MJ – I love learning about new plants, so I know you will enjoy your chives. There are endless ways to use them – and I agree they are so good on eggs.
Wow, look at the rise on your scones! I love the savory twist…perfect with summer soups and salads 🙂
Thanks Liz – I think I can attribute the rise to the buttermilk, which is like a magic potion for great baked stuff.
I bought some beautiful chives from the local,farm, snipped them myself and everything and the flowers are so beautiful. Much like these beauties! What gorgeous scones! I think I found what I’m going to use my chives in!
Nazneen
Hi Nazneen – the flowers are also edible and have an even more subtle flavor than the greens. I hope you love these scones 😉
My scones never rise like yours — they are perfect! Love the flavours and photos. Thanks for sharing Donalyn and glad to hear your summer has finally arrived.:)
Thanks Nancy – it is nice to finally have some warm weather!
I have 7 pots of chives outside the kitchen door and sometimes I use so many that all the pots have had a haircut. Your scones look amazing! I can’t wait to try them.
Thanks Maureen – I sometimes plant them in a pot close to the house, so that they are easy to get to. Hope you love the scones!
I love savoury scones and the chives and cream cheese sound like a great idea.
Thank you Carolyn!
I’ve let my chives get out of hand! They’re a good foot tall, maybe more, and their stalks are getting a bit wide. They really need a major haircut (I just hope I haven’t let them go too long). Anyway, these scones look wonderful — thanks.
So long as you cut them back, they will reward you with a fresh crop – it is just letting them go all summer that makes them tough and strong tasting.
Thanks for sharing your harvest secrets about chives. I did not know they need to be cut back periodically. I love garlic chives too and we use them in so many dishes too. I love the look of your savoury scones and just look at those layers in your delicious scones. Pass me the butter! Just shared!
Thanks Bam – for some reason I don’t have as good luck with getting garlic chives started – I think I’ll have to look for some started plants to get them going. And thanks so much for sharing!
Hi,
just wanted to thank you for those wonderfully delicious cream cheese and chive biscuits. A great hit with family and friends.
Would it be possible to freeze the dough? and if so, can I bake them straight from the freezer?
Thanks again 🙂
Hi Nayla & so glad to hear that you enjoyed these! I am pretty sure they could be frozen with no problem, though they may not rise as much. I think when you buy store bought frozen biscuits, they need to be thawed, so I would think the same would work best for these too, though I can’t be certain because I have never tried it. let me know how it works for you, ok?