With summer in full swing I am always looking for something different and tasty to eat durning these hot summer days. After digging around through some old recipes I found and modified an old scone recipe that I had into this healthy and tasty treat!

Ham, blue cheese and quinoa (say keen-wah) scones offer up plenty of protein, a balanced amino acid structure and are one of the best tasting savory scones I have ever had. This is a great recipe to make if you have some left over ham and a bit of blue cheese laying around or you can get tricky and play around with the ingredients yourself.

Quinoa has been a staple of the south American diet for thousands of years and help to build the Inca empire. Quinoa is available in two forms, whole seeds and ground "flour". The flour form of Quinoa as no gluten in it, so if you are baking you cannot use 100% quinoa flour. The seeds cook up like rice, so making a Quinoa pilaf or adding it to a salad are all possibilities.

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Ham, blue cheese & quinoa scones

Printable version of this Ham & blue cheese scone recipe (word doc)

Ingredients:

2c – unbleached flour

¾ c – quinoa flour

1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1# - ham, diced

4 oz – cream cheese, warmed

4 oz – blue cheese

6 – green onions, sliced

½ c – heavy cream

½ c - water

1 - egg

Egg wash (opt):
Beat well with a fork:
1 egg & 2 Tbsp. milk

Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Combine 2cups flour, ¾ c quinoa flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

3. Add cream and blue cheeses & toss gently (with hands) until combined. Make sure that the cream cheese looks like small peas. You will have to use 2 forks, your hands or a food processor to do this.

4. Add ham and green onions & toss gently until combined.

5. Beat heavy cream & water with egg and gently fold into dry ingredients, mixing lightly until a soft dough forms. Add up to 1/2 cup additional flour if the dough is too sticky.

6. On a floured surface, gently pat dough into a circle approximately 1-inch thick. The key to tender scones is to handle the dough with a light touch and as little as possible. With a sharp knife cut the circle into 8 wedges and place them on a silpat lined baking pan.

7. Brush tops and sides of scones with egg wash (opt) and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm, or cool completely and refrigerate or freeze in an airtight container.

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