Mangelwurzel & Caramelised Onion Cheese Scones

inmykitchenwithyou

18 hours ago

3 min read

Golden, fluffy, wonderfully savoury scones with a rather unexpected ingredient hiding inside ...

Three golden biscuits on a blue-and-white plate outdoors, with a blurred giant root vegetable and street in the background.

I've been having a little fun finding new ways to use mangelwurzel, that rather overlooked traditional root vegetable. Having experimented with brownies, truffles, jellies and drinks, I thought it was time to see what it could bring to the savoury side of the kitchen ,,, And so, into the scone mixture it went.

Finely grated raw mangelwurzel brings moisture and a gentle earthiness to the dough, whilst caramelised onion cheese gives these scones a lovely depth of savoury flavour. A little mustard and thyme round everything off. Golden on the outside, fluffy in the middle and wonderfully cheesy. Not bad for a vegetable more commonly associated with feeding livestock!

Mangelwurzel & Caramelised Onion Cheese Scones - The Recipe

Ingredients

Makes 6 large scones

250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
50g cold butter, cubed
100g caramelised onion cheese, grated
60g raw mangelwurzel, peeled and finely grated
1 tsp English mustard powder
½ tsp dried thyme
Good grind of black pepper
1 egg
40ml milk

To finish

A little milk for brushing
A little extra grated cheese

Method

1. Prepare the mangelwurzel

Peel and finely grate the raw mangelwurzel. Place inside a clean tea towel or straining bag and squeeze out the excess moisture. We want to retain some moisture without introducing too much liquid into the dough.

2. Make the crumb

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

Place the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Rub in the cold butter using your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Stir through the grated caramelised onion cheese, mangelwurzel, mustard powder, thyme and black pepper.

3. Bring the dough together

Beat the egg with 40ml of milk and add to the dry ingredients.

Gently bring everything together. Add a little more milk if needed until you have a soft dough that holds together without being sticky.

4. Shape the scones

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently bring together. Avoid kneading or overworking.

Pat out to approximately 3cm thick and cut into six rounds using a floured cutter. Press straight down rather than twisting.

5. Bake

Arrange on a lined baking tray, brush the tops with a little milk and scatter over some extra grated cheese.

Bake for approximately 15–18 minutes until well risen and golden.

Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool slightly before serving.

Serving Suggestions

These are lovely served slightly warm with salted butter, but don't stop there.

Serve alongside a bowl of homemade soup.
Add to a cheeseboard with a good chutney.
Split and fill with mature cheese and pickle.
Serve as part of a savoury sharing board.

Jo's Kitchen Notes

I used raw grated mangelwurzel rather than cooking it beforehand. It adds moisture to the scones and helps create that lovely soft crumb.

Don't overwork the dough, and add the milk gradually. You want a soft dough rather than a wet one.

The caramelised onion cheese is doing a lot of the heavy lifting flavour-wise here, bringing a lovely savoury cheesiness that works beautifully with the gentle sweetness of the mangelwurzel.

And if there's one thing I've learned from this little experiment, it's that mangelwurzel is capable of rather more than we might have given it credit for.