Dried Cherry Almond Scones

Dried Cherry Almond Scones

From: Ann Burrell's cooking show

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Zest of 1 lemon
Pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/2 cup heavy cream
Turbinado sugar, for garnishing (also sold as Sugar in the Raw)

Honey Butter
8 oz. heavy cream
2 Tbls. honey
Zest of 1 orange

Whisk all ingredients on high speed until the cream starts to clump and turn light yellow. Continue mixing as butter forms and the buttermilk begins to separate out. Scrape sides and continue mixing until mixture is one lump of butter. Place butter into a clean container or serving dish and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, salt and cinnamon, cut butter into dry ingredients with fork or wire whisk. Add in the cherries, almonds and heavy cream, mix until the dough comes together -- do not over mix.

Form the dough into a 1-inch thick disk. Cut into 8 wedges. Transfer the wedges to a parchment-lined sheet pan. Space them several inches apart -- they will spread! Bake in the preheated oven for 17 to 18 minutes, turning the pan halfway through. Serve warm with Honey Butter.

I am going to try substituting 1/2 cup Whole Wheat flour or Oat flour for some of the white flour. I'd like to make them a little more...healthy. Is that possible? :)

The scones in the picture are much smaller than these directions that is because I felt they were too large and of course if you take one you feel the need to eat the whole thing. It is the way we were raised. So what do I do? Make them smaller and then eat more :). Yeah, I know, it doesn't make any sense . . . whatever! Oh yeah and I also found that I needed to bake them for about 20-22 minutes. Guess ovens vary so keep an eye on them when you get to 18 minutes.

I did not use the Turbinado sugar since I don't know what it is. I just brushed the scones with milk and then sprinkled them with granulated sugar. Now, as far as the recipe goes for the butter, I didn't have much luck with the whipping cream turning to butter but I'm told it may not have worked because I used ultra pasteurized heavy cream. My Honey Butter separated. Even after whisking for more than 10 minutes in my Kitchen Aid it did not become one lump of butter as she says it will in her directions. However, the taste was wonderful and very complimentary to these scones. So I would suggest trying the recipe but don't buy the ultra pasteurized heavy cream. Oh yeah, and cover your bowl with plastic wrap while whipping because that cream is going to splash all over if you don't. If you don't want to experiment with Ann Burrell's Honey Butter, try making your own butter by adding honey, orange zest and some confectioners sugar to real butter. Just mix until it is creamy.

I also tried this recipe with chocolate chips (of course) in place of the cherries. I eliminated the lemon zest and added 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. They came out pretty good but next time I will also eliminate the cinnamon. I don't care for the cinnamon/chocolate combination for some reason. I knew this prior to making these but kept the cinnamon in....I don't know why but I did.