Preheat the oven to 220°C/425F/Gas Mark7. Finely dice and saute the onions until soft, translucent with a bit of browning in about 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Allow the onions to cool.

Grate the cheddar cheese, keeping aside approximately 40 grams to place on top of the scones before baking.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper. Grate the butter or cut it into small blocks. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the cheese and onions into the flour, and mix through with your fingers until well distributed.

Pour the milk into the flour mixture, using a fork, stir to make a rough dough.

Lightly flour a dough board or kitchen counter. Place the dough in the middle of the floured surface and bring the dough together into a rectangle. Using a knife or bench scraper, cut the dough into thirds and fold the outer edges on the middle section. Press down using your hands or a rolling pin until the dough is about 3cm thick. Repeat the process twice more. This laminates the dough.

Either using a cookie cutter or knife cut 6 to 8 large scones. If using a round cookie cutter, bring together the left-over dough, by laminating the dough together and forming a disk or square to cut out additional scones. Try to work with the dough as little as possible.

Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the scones with the milk and sprinkle the leftover cheddar over the tops of the scones.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes. The scones would have risen, and be golden brown in colour. Remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack to cool down slightly before serving warm with butter.