Cherry Almond Scones

This is what we had for breakfast this morning!  I used the Basic Scone Recipe from King Arthur Flour with a variation.  I added almond extract and  FRESH cherries.  Most recipes call for dried fruit, but I use fresh, pitted, diced cherries.I couldn't find their recipe online. This is one of their scone recipes they have online: Scones 

Here's what I did:

3 Cups King Arthur AP flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup chopped FRESH cherries
2 Large eggs
2 teaspoons almond extract
1/2 cup milk
8 tablespoons butter (I froze mine and shredded it in a cheese grater)
1 egg beaten with one tablespoon of water.
Coarse sugar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Many recipes call for high baking, then leaving the scones to cook once the oven is turned off.  I just bake them until they are brown so I can put my second batch in (I only have one scone pan). The fresh cherries will give you a slightly wetter dough than you'd get with dry, so if you want to roll your scones, add fewer cherries....

Mix together flour, sugar, buttermilk powder, salt, cherries and baking powder.  Stir in the shredded butter.  In separate bowl, mix eggs, extract and milk.  Add liquid ingredients to the flour mixture. Gently fold until the mixture is moistened. You can then turn out the dough for rolling or you can place it in your scone pan.  I basted the top with the egg butter mixture and sprinkled coarse red sugar on top. I usually use white sugar, but decided to use the red today.  My boys wolfed these down this morning.

Enjoy!  Happy Eating!