Cherry Almond Scones

February: National Cherry Month and National Almond Month

If anyone has noticed through our blog posts over the decade, we eat a lot of scones and enjoy trying out new recipes so we can taste different types for teatime. We had leftover dried tart cherries from another recipe that we needed to use before they expired. So we tried cherry almond scones. We loved the combination of the sweet-tart taste of the fruit and the complementary crunchy texture of the nuts. This recipe is a keeper and is now archived in the Theme Menus scones section! Cherry almond scones are perfect for teatime, breakfast/brunch and snack time and especially during National Cherry Month and National Almond Month.

Recipe

(Adapted from Bob’s Red Mill)

Ingredients

• ¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted
• ½ cup dried tart cherries, chopped
• ¼ cup turbinado sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup cake flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup butter, cold unsalted, cut into small pieces
• ¾ cup heavy cream plus 2 tablespoons for glazing
• ¼ cup almond extract
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds, raw

Directions

Toast the almond slices by heating them in a small skillet, mixing them until slightly brown. Remove from the skillet and let cool. Chop the dried cherries and set aside. Grind the turbinado sugar with a mortar and pestle until fine. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the all purpose and cake flours, baking powder, salt and turbinado sugar. Add in the pieces of butter and gently mix with a pastry cutter until there are coarse pea-sizes in the flour mixture.

Add the toasted almond slices and chopped cherries in the flour mixture. In a measuring cup, mix together ¾ cup heavy cream and almond extract. Pour this into the flour mixture. Stir gently until a sticky dough forms.

Transfer to a clean, floured surface. Form the dough into a ball and pat down into a 1-inch disk about 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 8 wedges. Place on parchment paper lined round baking pan. Glaze the tops of the wedges by brushing with the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream. Sprinkle raw sliced almonds on each wedge.

Bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees F for 20-22 minutes, being careful not to burn the nuts on top. Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and serve warm. Store leftovers in an airtight container for 3 days.

Notes

• If turbinado sugar is not available, use plain cane sugar.
• If cake flour is not available, use all purpose flour. The original recipe called for 2 cups of pastry flour, which is the equivalent of half all purpose and half cake flour.
• February 17 is National Almond Day.
• Search under the Theme Menus tab in our blog for more scones recipes.