A very English afternoon snack

It's really not that much fun eating when you have a head-cold (my earlier chest cold has migrated northwards and is currently encamped in my sinuses where it seems unwilling to move despite many Vicks assaults) because you really can't taste anything. Plus your throat hurts. And if you're me, when you get a bloody cold your mouth will also simultaneously fill with horrible giant throbbing ulcers, so what you can taste tends to feel pretty torturous as you chew. Anyways, despite all of this, you still get hungry when you're sick, obviously, and this afternoon I felt like something starchy and warm and soothing. Nothing came to mind as quickly as cheese scones: starch laden with fat...the very best kind! Plus scones have the added benefit of being bland to begin with so the whole tasting thing isn't an issue.

Well, I'm rather proud to say that I think I made the best scones of my life today! I usually make ok scones, but they're often a bit heavy and I think I've worked out why. I'm always light-handed with the baking powder for fear of making them taste soda-ish (you know that horrid tang when you put too much rising agent in?) but today I followed the instructions exactly and they worked out swimmingly - hurrah! Light, fluffy, slightly flaky and just perfect. They went down particularly well with several cups of hot, strong, sweet tea - completing my very English afternoon tea!

Cheese Scones
2 cups of self-raising flour (or plain flour with 6 tsp of baking powder. This is the way I did it because I'm never organised enough to have 3 kinds of flour at home. And yes, it does sound like an extreme quantity of rising agent, I know. But it works. Trust me!!)
1 tsp salt
25g butter
1/2 cup grated cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar and pecorino)
1/2 cup milk
1/4-1/2 cup water

Mix flour and rising agent and salt, rub in the butter, stir through cheese and then add the milk and the smaller quantity of water. Cut/mix through until damp - don't overmix! Be gentle with your lovely soft scone dough - it will reward you for your care later. Add extra water if it looks like it'll need it (in my case I needed all the liquid, but flours are all different). Turn onto a floured bench and sort of schmoosh/press into an oblong about 20cm long. Cut into 9 pieces, place on lined baking tray and bake at 220degC for 10-12 mins or until risen and golden. A trick to check if they're cooked: my Grandma always places them close enough together on the tray so that when they rise, they sort-of rise into each other and you can just pull them apart to check that they're done in between. I leave about 1.5cm between them I think? It's much easier than having to try and open a scone to see if it's done in the middle. Oh, and a wee sprinkle of paprika on top will make them look positively cafe-quality.

Best enjoyed warm from the oven, split and lashed with a generous helping of butter. Because what starch isn't?!