Cherry Scones

 

I didn't realize that tart, dried cherries taste really good in scones. I've been cognizant of a bag of dried, tart cherries sitting in my pantry that I bought at Trader Joe's quite a while ago, occasionally throwing them in salads. But now they are making a play in my scone recipe.

I guess I could have gone shopping for currants, or some other standard scone supporting ingredient, but I like to use up what I have on hand (it makes me feel green).

In any case, these are good. And I'll have to confess that I added chocolate chips to half the batch just to see how the combo would fair. Quite decadent.

Apparently cherries have powerful pain relief properties for runners and other athletes. Since I just started trail running again (light trail running that is, with my dog, who stops to sniff quite often) these will come in handy.

PS This recipe was inspired by a recipe in a wonderful cookbook by Kendall Conrad.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of almond flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of yogurt  (dripped or Greek yogurt is ideal)
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of honey (or other sweetener)
• about 1 cup of tart cherries (the more the better)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Using a mixer, or blending very well, mix the first four ingredients together. The batter will be very thick.
3. Next, hand mix in cherries into the batter.
4. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper (or non-stick mat) and place heaping spoons of the scones on the baking sheet (about 2 1/2 inches in diameter).
5. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden brown on the peaks. If I have time, I turn the oven off and leave them in the oven for another 5 minutes or so to harden a bit more on the outside.
6. Enjoy!

Comments

[Karen]

These look wonderful, thanks for the recipe. I have a bag of dried blueberries waiting for this recipe:)

[S. McDowall]

I have yet to go through all your recipes but it gives me hope that I will not be eating bland,tasteless food. I look forward to trying all your recipes. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Deborah]

I've only just found your blog but delicious recipes and wonderful photos. I do want to draw your attention to the fact that something is wrong with your feed. Dosen't work?

[LUcyRic]

Would it be ok to use frozen cherries? Does extra moisture affect the batter?

[Erica]

Lucy - funny, I was thinking about that as I made another batch (I realized that Trader Joe's adds sugar to their dried cherries, so I won't be using those anymore). The moisture might be a problem, and the texture would be different. You could roast the cherries or dry them before baking. Or try another dried fruit you have on hand.

[Patrick Griffin]

I tried this recipe and found the dough was very crumbly, with the ingredients listed. I had to add a half cup of oil and an egg to get to get to a cooking consistency. They turned out great, but not with the ingredients listed.

[Erica]

Sorry Patrick - I've never had a problem with the recipe. It's very thick, but doesn't crumble. Did it taste like a scone?

[Steve]

Hi,
I just made these with dried Blueberries from Trader Joes and they were good. TJs by my house has 3 types of dried blueberries, one of them has no sugar or sulfites, just blueberries. It's obvious which ones because they look super dry, and they are. Next time I may soak them a few minutes to see if that helps, or try using fresh berries. They did have cherries with nothing added, but I like bluebrries better.

Oh, and to make these decadent, I bought Macadamia nut honey at Henrys by a brand named Royal Hawaiian Honey, spread a little on the scones and it tastes kind of like a carmel sauce.

[Erica]

Nice Steve. I would definitely try fresh blueberries - they don't hold as much moisture as cherries. Thanks for sharing.