Spicy Scones

This has been a rather momentous week for me- I have successfully maneuvered my way through my first week of classes while simultaneously playing suite mother and chef.  It is quite a balancing act, between cooking and studying, but one that I am happy to take on.  For the fall, I have signed up for a farmer's vegetable share system, where I pick up a bunch of farm-fresh veggies each week.  The veggies are whatever the farm has produced that week, so they are always fresh, and it is always a surprise.

This week, among many other things, I received a bag of eight jalapeño peppers.  I have actually never cooked with jalapeños before, so it was quite an adventure.  First, my roommate and I attempted salsa.  We followed the recipe, we though, but the salsa was incredibly spicy!  We added some roasted tomatoes to try to reduce the spice, which actually made it pretty tasty, but it was still very hot.  One of my friends pointed out that since the jalapeños are fresh, they have a bit more spice to them.

So this afternoon, between studying, I decided to give the jalapeños another chance, but this time I made scones.  I have made countless sweet scones, but this was my first batch of savory.  I found a wonderful recipe from Smitten Kitten, and went with it.  I made sure to remove most of the seeds from my extra spicy peppers, and counted on the cheese to counteract some of the spice.

And I have to say, they turned out magnificently!  They do have a bit of a kick to them, but nothing like the mouth-on-fire salsa.  The scone is a rich, buttery, cheesy, deliciously savory bite with a bit of spice from the jalapeños.  They were a perfect afternoon snack today, and luckily there are a few left to snack on tomorrow!

Bon Appétit,
Margaret