These cherry scones have a tender crumb that melts in the mouth and a crispy and sugary exterior. The cherries’ flavor and natural sweetness are intensified once baked but the pieces of fruits remain plump and juicy! Cherry scones encapsulate summertime in one delicious bite. You can serve them at breakfast with butter and jam, or as is since they’ve got a little bit more sugar than most.
Making scones is actually super easy! It’s pretty rare for me to bake anything that requires only half an hour of hands-on time. I’m a really slow baker, I take my time, I enjoy the process, I get slightly distracted by my podcasts. I was pretty impressed when I noticed that having the cherry scones ready to be baked, from start to finish only took me 30 min. It’s definitely a quick recipe, but it doesn’t detract from its deliciousness! These cherry scones are perfect if you want something fast.
ULTIMATE BREAKFAST TREAT
Ever since I started drinking coffee a few years ago, I’ve become way more interested in ‘morning treats’. I wanted to taste everything that I could picture displayed at a coffee shop counter. I’ve had a donuts phase, a granola phase, a Swedish pastries phase, I even tried my hands at making croissants! I don’t eat breakfast but freshly baked goods make for great elevenses, and numerous coffee breaks during the day. And now I finally entered into a scones phase!
Scones are basically nonexistent in France and for someone who has been baking for 20 years, weirdly intimidating. They are just so small and dainty and they always look picture-perfect in the photos I was seeing online. Besides, I have made a couple of disastrous attempts at baking savory scones in the past. They turned out flat and dry and they put me off scones for a while. But I finally made some research and I discovered that my wedges were too flat and that I was kneading my dough way too much. There are basically 2 rules to follow while making cherry scones, or any type of scones for that matter, and if you follow them you’ll be golden!
RULE #1: THE BUTTER, EGG & CREAM NEED TO BE FRIDGE-COLD
The butter needs to be cold so that the little pieces of shredded butter will remain firm until the scones are placed in the oven. While baking the butter pieces will release steam, which will yield an airy crumb. Using cold egg and cream also helps to keep the dough cold and prevents the butter from softening. You automatically end up warming the dough with your hands while folding and shaping the scones. Because of this, I like to place my shaped cherry scones in the freezer (or fridge) for 15 min while the oven preheats. The key to tender scones is that the butter needs to remain intact. It also prevents the cherry scones from spreading while baking. Plus the gluten in the flour will have time to relax, which also helps the rise of the scones!
RULE #2: DON’T OVERWORK THE DOUGH
Be moderate, be gentle, only mix the dough until it just comes together. The goal here is to bring the ingredients together rather than to actually knead the dough. The dough will look a bit shaggy and crumbly with a few lumps in it and that’s perfectly normal. If you overmix your dough and over-handle it while shaping, the cherry scones will turn out tough and flat. Do not aim for a perfectly soft tight dough. This was definitely my pitfall with scones in the past.
FROZEN CHERRIES
You can totally make these cherry scones with frozen cherries as long as you thaw them first. Put the cherries on a plate in a single layer, cover with plastic wrap and let the cherries sit overnight in the fridge. If you are short on time, put the cherries into a bowl and cover them with cold water. Let them sit in the cold water bath until completely defrosted, then drain in a colander. It should take about 15 min for the biggest cherries. Once thawed you can then go on with the first step of the recipe and chop the cherries.
I have never tried to incorporate frozen chopped cherries directly into the dough since the frozen cherries I buy are whole. It might work out fine if the pieces aren’t too big since some people make scones by directly adding frozen blueberries to their dough.
ALTERNATIVES
You can swap the cherries for any other fruit you have on hand. For example, you could use 1 cup of banana or peach cut into small chunks, cubed apple or pear, whole blueberries, halved raspberries, roughly chopped stoned apricots, or strawberries. Once you’ve sliced/chopped/cut up your desired fruits, don’t forget to put them on a plate lined with paper towels and cover them with another layer of paper towels. It’s important to absorb as much juice as possible so that they won’t bleed too much while being folded into the dough.
Feel free to replace the almond extract with vanilla extract if it’s more to your taste! I once replaced ⅓ of the all-purpose flour with almond flour. The scones tasted great but their texture became a bit too cakey.
❗ Disclaimer: this is a recipe for American-style scones, not British/Irish ones. These cherry scones have a much higher percentage of butter and sugar. They are bordering on dessert because they can very well be eaten ‘plain’. If you want to eat the cherry scones with jam I would recommend halving the sugar.
Do you want to bake something else for breakfast? Here are some of my favorite recipes:
- Caribbean buns
- Crepes
- Pisi (Turkish fried bread)
Cherry scones
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- resting: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These cherry scones have a tender crumb that melts in the mouth and a crispy and sugary exterior. The cherries’ flavor and natural sweetness are intensified once baked but the pieces of fruits remain plump and juicy!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 115g butter, fridge-cold (1 stick)
- 210g cherries (1 ½ cups)
- 375g all-purpose flour (2 ⅔ cups)
- 11g baking powder (1 tbsp)
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 100g granulated sugar (½ cup)
- 1 egg, fridge-cold
- 180ml heavy cream, fridge-cold (¾ cup)
- 2 tsp almond extract (optional)
For the topping:
- 2 tsp granulated sugar, divided
- 4 tbsp flaked or sliced almonds
Instructions
- Prepare the butter and the cherries. Grate the butter using the largest circular shredding holes of a box grater. Quickly place the grated butter on a plate and put it in the freezer (or the fridge if you don’t have a freezer). The butter needs to be really cold and firm before making the dough. Pit the cherries and roughly chop them. Place them on a plate lined with paper towels and cover them with another layer of paper towels. The goal is to absorb as much juice as possible so that the cherries won’t bleed too much while being incorporated into the dough.
- Make the dough. Place the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Beat the egg in a separate medium bowl. Pour 2 tbsp of the beaten egg into a small cup and set it aside. You’ll use that to glaze the scone. Add the cream and almond extract (if using) to the medium-sized bowl containing most of the beaten egg. Whisk the wet ingredients together until combined. Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl. Use a knife to scrape the plate if some of the shredded bits of butter are stuck. Use your hands to toss the pieces of butter around, break them apart and coat them with flour. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Slowly drizzle the wet ingredients into the flour mixture, tossing with the blade of a knife until everything appears hydrated. There should still be some dry spots. Add the chopped cherries and fold them into the dough with a rubber spatula. Don’t overwork the dough otherwise the scones might turn out tough. Fold until you just begin to bring the dough together and the cherries are distributed throughout evenly. If the dough is too dry and does not come together add 1 to 2 more tbsp of cream.
- Shape the scones. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface and flour the top. Pat and press the dough into a 4cm (1 ½-inch) thick disc that is about 15cm (6-inch) wide. If the dough is too sticky, flour your hands and the surface lightly as you work. Brush the surface of the dough with the egg wash you prepared earlier. Sprinkle 1 tsp of sugar over the top, followed by the almonds and then the leftover 1 tsp of sugar. Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut with sharp up-and-down movements into 8 wedges. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Transfer the scones, one by one, to the sheet using a spatula spacing them evenly.
- Bake. Place the sheet in the freezer (or the fridge) for 15 min. In the meantime preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F). Bake the scones until lightly browned on top and bottoms are golden brown, about 25 min. Remove from the oven and let the cherry scones cool down on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Serve just warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Cherry scones are best on the day they are made. If you have leftovers, cover them and keep at room temperature for up to 2 days. They will soften over time. Rewarm slightly in a 175°C (300°F) oven before serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 459
Keywords: easy breakfast baked goods, cherries recipes, desserts that go well with coffee
FREEZING
You can totally freeze cherry scones! Scones are best eaten on the day they are made so if you want to preserve them at their utmost freshness, freezing is the best option.
Once baked and fully cooled, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Freeze them until solid and then wrap each scone in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and place them into a freezer bag. You can keep baked cherry scones in the freezer for up to 2 months.
However, I think frozen cherry scones are at their best if you freeze them unbaked and then bake them the day you want to serve them. To do this follow the same method as above. Once shaped, glazed and sprinkled with almond flakes and sugar, put the cherry scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Freeze them until solid, it should take about 1h. Then individually wrap them in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and pack them airtight in a freezing bag. You can keep unbaked cherry scones for up to 1 month. When you want to bake them, arrange them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let them sit at room temperature while you preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F) for 15 min. Slide the cherry scones into the oven, and add a couple more minutes of baking time to the one written in the recipe.
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