Make-Yourself-Some-Friends Ham & Swiss Scone Bites

Nobody ever tells you how hard it’s going to be to make friends as an adult. When I was little, I made friends by interrupting people with random fun facts and teaching kids on the playground how to tie their shoes. For some reason, those strategies aren’t really working for me anymore. You know what does make you popular?

Food.

Specifically? Scones.

For your baking and friend-making pleasure, here is one of my favorite recipes for a lil' savory scone action that will win you brownie points in anyone's book.

Ham & Swiss Scone Bites

Ingredients:

-2 cups flour

-1 teaspoon salt

-½ tablespoon paprika

-½ tablespoon garlic salt

-1 tablespoon baking powder

-4 tablespoons butter

-¾ cup milk, heavy cream, or almond milk (whatever’s in your fridge)

-½ cup chopped deli Swiss cheese (more or less, depending on your preference!)

-½ cup chopped deli ham

1. First things first, get that oven preheated and that pan ready for your tasty scone bites. The oven should be at 425, and your baking pan should be lined with parchment paper and greased (if you’re a spray person, that’s fine- I usually use a stick of butter and rub it all over the parchment paper).

2. If you haven’t already, prep your Swiss and ham. I usually use a few pieces of each and roughly chop them into pieces about the size of my thumbnail.

3. If you’re lucky like me and you have an adorable stand mixer, pull that puppy out, along with your whisk attachment. If you’re working with a mixing bowl and your baking biceps, grab that and a wooden spoon or whisk. Throw the dry stuff in your bowl first: in with the flour, the salt, the paprika and garlic salt, and the baking powder. Mix it all up.

4. Next- hear me out- grab your cheese grater and your four tablespoons of butter. Shred the butter into your bowl just like it’s cheese. I know it sounds crazy, but it does wonders texture-wise (and besides, you can tell your friends this fancy tip later so they think you’re a real baker).

5. Then dump in your milk of choice (I haven’t noticed a difference in using any I listed above, so really, whichever you have will be great).

6. Lastly, get your Swiss and ham chunks in there. Mix all our new friends in with our old friends until they’re well-incorporated and you don’t see any clumps of one ingredient or another.

7. Full disclosure: usually a scone mixture is more crumbly and biscuit-like than this one. The consistency you’re looking for here is a little more sticky and dough-like, but I promise the weird sticky dough will burst out of your oven ready to party. As these are scone bites and not full-size scones, scoop a little more than a tablespoon of dough out onto your pan for each little baby scone, giving them a little bit of space in between.

8. Another fun baking trick to tell your friends: you’re going to want to brush these bad boys with a little bit of milk of your choice before they get popped in the oven. It’ll help them to get that Great-British-Baking-Show golden-brown business on top.

9. Slide that pan of friendship opportunity into the oven and make. sure. you. set. a. timer. I’ve cried over burnt scones often enough for both of us, so do me a favor and set an alarm on your phone for 8 minutes. Then sit on the floor of the kitchen and stare at the oven door.

10. At the 8-minute mark, pull your scone bites out of the oven and perform the “are-you-raw-or-not” test, i.e., stick a fork through the tallest one’s middle. If there’s goo on the fork when you pull it out, stick them back in for 2 minutes and then conduct the test once more on another scone. If there’s not any goo on your fork, you’re golden and ready to make friends with your baby scone bites.