Black Cherry Scones
A crumbly butter scone recipe with an almond cherry twist!
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Black cherry has been a favorite dessert flavor of mine for a LOOONG time. Did you know that black cherry is an actual type of cherry variety. It’s also commonly used as a flavor essence in drinks and desserts. These cherries may be hard to find, but can be easily subbed for dark cherries. A cherry scone recipe with all the signs of a good pastry. Flakey, melt-in-your-mouth scones. A perfect morning treat or after dinner dessert.
An important tip if this is your first time making scones is that the dough all comes together at the end when you add the cream. Mix it very lightly to create small pockets of wet flour then at the end press it into one shape.
Before baking your scones be sure to brush them with some extra cream to help keep the dough extra tender and act as a glue for the crunchy sugary topping. A great idea to amp up any dessert is to add a delicious crunchy sugar coating.
I’ve been baking for a while now and it’s taken me a while to get to the scones. It feels like a bit of an intermediate pastry recipe because the texture is determined on the mix of the dough. Take your time to really work the butter into the flour, gently mix the cream with the flour to hydrate slowly, then combine everything with the fruit in the end to create your light dough. DO NOT over mix or over knead the dough.
Keep your scones fresh in an air-tight sealed container. Refresh your scones in the toaster oven for a few minutes to ensure a soft warm pastry. Scones are like biscuits and they just taste so much better when they’ve been freshly baked or rewarmed for tasting. I love my scones with a cup of coffee or a schmear of whipped butter.
Black Cherry Scones
Yield(s): Makes 6
15m prep time
20m cook time
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 lemon, zested
- 1 orange, zested
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cubed
- 1/2 cup heavy cream, plus extra for brushing
- 2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
- 8 oz. fresh or frozen dark cherries
- Demerara sugar, for dusting
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 425˚ F convection bake and prepare a parchment-lined sheet tray.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, lemon, orange, sugar, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly mixed.
- Add the cold cubed butter to the flour mixture and work in with your fingers or pastry cutter until completely worked in. Place the bowl in the fridge.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cream, almond extract, and eggs.
- Stir the cream mixture and flour with the back of a wooden spoon until the flour disappears. Do NOT overmix.
- Dump bowl onto a work surface and gently fold in cherries. (If using frozen, be sure to pat dry with a paper towel) Lightly press the dough together into a ball.
- Dust the work surface and shape into a rough circle of dough about 2 inches thick. Cut into 6 even pieces like a pizza.
- Place scones onto a parchment-lined sheet tray and brush all over with heavy cream. Dust with coarse demerara sugar.
- Bake for 18 - 20 minutes or until very lightly golden.
- Remove scones to a wire rack until cooled.