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!

Cherries!

Sweet cherries

We love to go cherry picking every year.  We really like to go to Levering Orchard, just north of Mt. Airy, NC. Tart cherries are awesome, but need to be used quickly. They have a higher water content (read: more mushy) than sweet cherry varieties.  The tartness creates a much better jam and pie, in my opinion.  Nothing like a tart cherry pie. Of course you can use sweet cherries in pies, too, but it won't have that classic tang!

Large bowl of sweet cherries

I made jam with the tart cherries right after we arrived home, then I started pitting the rest to freeze.  I find the best way to freeze them it to pit them, place them on a cookie sheet and freeze.  Once frozen, stick them into a freezer bag where they won't stick together because they are already frozen!  I use this method for freezing strawberries, too.   This is important with the tart cherries because they are a lot juicer and will form a huge lump if not frozen individually first.  Then, you can use them straight from the bag to make pies, smoothies or even cherry clafouti. 

Tart Cherries - you can see how juicy they are!

Tart cherry Jam

Pitted tart cherries ready for the freezer

I had to freeze the tart cherries because hubby's favorite pie is tart cherry pie and he is out of town. I don't think it would go over well with my baking his favorite pie while he was out of town!  Tart cherry season only lasts a few weeks, so if you want tart cherries, you've got to pick them fast! Happy eating!