Jalapeno Cheese Scones

Source: Joy the Baker, via my friend Anika on Pinterest

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons cornmeal
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
2 large eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream  (plus more for brushing the tops of the scones) (I just used 2% milk because that's what we had and it worked great)
1/4 pound pepper jack cheese, cut into small cubes (I only had sharp cheddar, and it was yummy, but I'm sure pepper jack would be awesome!)
2 medium jalapenos, some seeds removed, diced small  (I halved the recipe and still used 2 jalapenos, so if I was making a full batch, I'd definitely double these)
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Directions:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a small saute pan and cook diced jalapenos  until softened, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Let the diced peppers cool and them mix with the diced cheese.  Toss mixture in 1 tablespoon of flour and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt.  Work in the cold butter with your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Some butter pieces will be the size of peas and the flour will be nice and crumbly.

Whisk together 2 eggs and heavy cream.  Add the wet ingredients all at once to the dry ingredients, fold together with a fork until almost fully incorporated.  Add the jalapeno and cheese mixture to the shaggy dough and work together.  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 30 seconds.  Form into a disk  about 8 inches around and 2 inches thick.  Cut disk into six wedges and refrigerate for 10 minutes before baking.

When ready to bake, place chilled scones onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with coarse sea salt (next time I think I'd leave the salt off - the crunch was a little weird to me with the soft and fluffly scone and I feel like they were just too salty with it).  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and delicious.  These are best served the day they’re made.

Notes:
My friend Anika had shared her love of these delightful little scones with me, so I knew someday I'd like to try them.  Well, someday turned into yesterday and I made a little batch to go along with our taco soup dinner last night.  Yum.  I couldn't really taste the jalapeno flavor (they're definitely not spicy) when the scones were hot out of the oven, but as they cooled down a bit, their flavor really came out.  I love jalapeno!  Both Gregg and I were (pleasantly) surprised how light and fluffy these were, too - I was expecting something a little more dense, so that was a happy realization.