Deliciously buttery Kylemore Farmhouse cheese scones

Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese is a unique, premium Irish farmhouse cheese produced on Teresa Roche's family farm in Co Galway. Their award-winning cheese is a mountain-style hard cheese. It is fully traceable and sustainable from farm to fork.

The farm has been producing natural milk from grass-fed pedigree Friesians for more than 60 years. Their herd is considered a “closed herd” meaning no other cattle are brought in; they have all been bred and born on the farm.

Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese is a handmade natural washed rind cheese, with a creamy, nutty, buttery flavour and is only produced in the months from April to October at the foothills of the Slieve Aughty mountains in Co Galway.

Teresa is somebody I love working with as her passion for cheese and for her family farm is infectious. Her amazing cheese varies as each batch is made by hand and the attention to detail that is required in the ageing process is incredible. She truly loves what she does and her passion shines through.

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Kylemore Farmhouse cheese scones

Ingredients
360g plain flour
1½ tsp baking powder
80g salted butter
2 tsp caster sugar
¼ tsp black pepper
1 egg
200g Kylemore Farmhouse Cheese
230g buttermilk

To serve
Abernethy butter
GranGrans Foods Red Onion Marmalade

Method

1 Heat the oven to 150 degrees/130 fan. Grease a muffin tin.

2 Sift the flour, salt, black pepper and baking powder into a bowl, then sift again to make sure the ingredients are thoroughly combined.

3 Grate the cheese using a cheese grater.

4 Add the butter to the bowl and combine with your fingertips to make breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the cheese into the breadcrumb mixture and rub together until evenly distributed. Try not to mix too much as the heat from your hands may start to melt the butter.

5 Mix together the egg and buttermilk. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and pour in enough of the buttermilk mixture to give a fairly soft but firm dough. Do not pour in all the liquid at once as you may not need it all to get the right consistency.

6 Weigh the mixture into 120g pieces and roll into balls. Place them into the muffin tin. Alternatively, lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough to approximately 2cm thick. Cut out the scones with a medium (about 8cm) cutter, then put on a sheet of baking parchment, glaze with a little milk. Slide on to the hot oven tray.

7 Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Serve with a knob of butter and a spoon of delicious red onion marmalade.

Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes for Food Month at The Irish Times from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland, in support of Ireland’s food producers. #ChefsMeetProducers.