Cherry Chocolate Scones

By mitzzy

The recipe for these Scones comes from King Arthur Flour and it's a recipe that I use on a regular basis. It's a good basic recipe that's simple to make and can you can change it up by adding different combinations of dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, spices or extracts. For these scones I went with dried cherries, chocolate and almond extract. They were delicious but the flavour of the cherries didn't really come through the way I had hoped. Dried cranberries would have been just as tasty and about 1/3 of the price...here we go with that cheap thing again!! :)

Ingredients

• Cherry Chocolate Scones recipe slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour
• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup chopped dried cherries
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup of milk or cream (I used 1/4 cup milk whisked together with 1/4 cup sour cream)
• cream to brush on top of scones
• Demerara sugar for topping

Preparation

Step 1

Line a large pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.

Cut the butter into the flour using either a pastry blender, or food processor. You should have some pea size bits of butter once it's all cut in.

Mix in the cherries and chocolate chips.

In another bowl, mix together the milk, eggs and extracts.

Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir together using a wooden spoon until combined.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 portions.

Pat each portion of dough into a circle about 3/4" thick.

Slice each circle into 6 wedges and place on the prepared pan (spaced 1-2" apart)

Brush scones with cream and sprinkle with Demerara (raw) sugar.

Pop the pan into the freezer for 30 minutes (uncovered) and heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Once chilled for 30 minutes, bake scones for 20-25 minutes until they've risen up and are golden brown.