Peel and slice the onions, if you have a food processor, all the better.

Put the oil and butter into a frying pan, add the sliced onions, cover and cook over a medium high heat, stirring occasionally, for 25–35 minutes. The onions will soften and become brown.

Remove the lid, stir in the sugar and cook for a further 2 minutes then remove from the heat, cover and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200C Fan, 220C and line a baking tray with parchment.

In a large bowl, sift the two flours, baking powder and xanthan gum.

Add the cubes of cold butter into the flour mixture and using the tips of your fingertips, or a pastry cutter, blend until you have what resembles large breadcrumbs. Add in the grated cheddar cheese and mix it through.

Pour the buttermilk in small quantities into the flour and butter mixture and mix well. I use a palette knife to bring it together. When it’s almost all together and just about to form a dough, add the caramelised onion relish and mix it through. Continue until you can bring it together into a firm dough. You should use almost all the buttermilk and probably have a little left. The dough will be a little sticky because of the caramelised onion.

Lightly flour your worktop and turn out the dough. Knead gently until smooth. Just a few turns. Don’t overwork the dough or your scones will be tough. Shape the dough with your hands into a circle about 6cm in height and cut out the scones. Gather the off cuts and bring together. Keep cutting out till all the dough is used up. You should get 6/7 decent sized scones.

Place the scones on a lined baking tray with a bit of space between them. Brush the tops well with beaten egg to get a lovely golden colour and sprinkle some poppy seeds over the top of each scone.

Bake in the centre of the oven for between 17 – 20 minutes depending on the size of your scones. Just check with a skewer inserted into the centre and the base should be firm. You might see a little bit of a residue on the skewer and that’s fine as the scones will continue to bake when removed from the oven and they will firm up.

The smell is just so good when you make these scones! Enjoy them on their own, with soup or a salad. They freeze well and just let them defrost at room temperature. You can give them a quick blast in the microwave or a few minutes in a low oven to heat them up.