spoon

Cream Scones With Cherries

Posted on Monday, April 21, 2014 9:03 AM | By: Lauren

Category: , , ,



I can't remember if I've told you this or not, but I can still remember the first time I had a scone.  It was my freshman year of college, and one morning in our cafeteria there were these triangular, tough biscuits with blueberries.  They were topped with coarse sugar.  I decided to try one and absolutely loved it.  Slightly sweet, dense, and not dry, flecked with blueberries- they were a whole new baking experience.  I had no idea what they were, and I had no idea other people outside the Gardner-Webb cafeteria knew what they were.  Later, on another morning, a friend of mine remarked something about these little triangular biscuits and called them scones.  Oh, so these are somewhat familiar to others.  Hmm.  And so began my love of these little gems.  Those still hold the place of best scone ever in my mind, and I am slowly working to dethrone them.



While they're wonderful for breakfast, my favorite application for scones  is mid-morning or afternoon snack, with coffee or hot tea.  This particular recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours and is one of many wonderful recipes I've made from this book.  It's also a good base recipe for jumping off into your own flavor worlds- add citrus fruit zest, other dried fruits, chocolate chips, or nuts for variety.  I would bet you could do savory applications, too.

This recipe is easy, and using a cold cheese grater and very cold butter make the work very quick.  

Cream Scones with Cherries
from Dorie Greenspan

1 egg
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small cubes
3/4 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Beat egg and cream together and set aside (a two cup measuring cup works really well here). 
In large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Add the butter and rub it into the flour until you have a pebbly mixture.

Pour the egg and cream into the flour/butter mixture and stir to combine with a rubber spatula. Add in your dried fruit or other flavoring ingredients.  When the mixture is totally incorporated, divide the dough into two equal sized balls. Pat them disks about an inch tall. Place them on a parchment or silicone mat-lined baking sheet. Carefully cut each disk into six segments (I used a bench scraper) and separate them.

Bake the scones for 20-22 minutes, until the are nicely browned. Serve immediately. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.

Notes
  • The original recipe calls for dried currants, which I've never before seen in my grocery store.  What I know I love and can find are dried cherries.  
  • Depending on the effect you want, you can brush the top with more cream or an egg wash for a sort of glaze.  You can also sprinkle on coarse sugar.  I left them au naturale.

Comments (2)

grace said on April 26, 2014 at 2:30 PM

scones are often so dry that i just don't like them, but i've found that using cream as the liquid really does a lot to help. these sound delightful!
Lauren said on May 6, 2014 at 2:12 PM

Thank you! I really enjoyed them- they had a nice, sandy texture, and did stay moist.

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