Sometimes I miss England. So I thought I decided to combine a little Cyprus flavour with an English tradition. The end result: Halloumopitas meet English scones. Essentially, these are a savoury version of an English scone. The combination makes a wonderful breakfast, light lunch or snack food. The scones are particularly yummy when they first come out of the oven: warm and fluffy on the inside, and flaky on the outside. They are great on their own, or even with a little quince jam.
Level of Difficulty: 3/5Cooking Time: 20 to 25 minutes
Makes about 6 to 8 scones
ingredients
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 a cup of cold butter
2/3 of buttermilk (if you do not have buttermilk,combine 1/2 a cup of milk with 1/4 cup unstrained plain yogurt)
1 large egg slightly beaten
1 cup of cubed halloumi
3 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint
recipe
2. Prepare your ingredients, chopping your mint and your halloumi into cubes like this:
3. In a large bowl combine flour and baking powder. Add the cold butter and rub the flour and butter between your fingers. Add the cubed halloumi and chopped mint.
5. I could not find buttermilk in Cyprus so I made a substitute. Buttermilk is traditionally the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. It is a bit thicker than milk and has more acid in it and is a little more sour in taste than milk. It is important in cooking because the acidity of the buttermilk combines with the baking soda so that it whatever you are cooking will actually rise and lighten more. My attempt to find buttermilk was not successful this time, but fortunately this is one ingredient where you can make your own decent substitute. All you do is mix 1/2 cup of milk with 1/4 cup of unstrained (the unstrained part is important!) plain yogurt.
