Are you craving sweet, full of flavor, easy to make cherry scones recipe for breakfast? Well, I hope you are now! Scones are the dessert style cousin of the breakfast biscuit. These sweet scones are flavored with lemon zest, orange zest, vanilla and almond extract with delicious ripe red cherries.
This recipe reminds me of the end of summer. The days are still long but slowly getting shorter. I’m spending as much time as I can having breakfast outside. Cherries are showing up at the farmer’s markets and baking with citrus zest compliments the sweet tones.
I suggest making a batch of scones, find a spot to sit in the grass, and just lay around looking at the clouds and snacking on the last warm days of the year.
How Do You Make Scones?
Scones are a simple mix and bake recipe. Simply work you ingredients together to form a large loose dough. Hand knead in your chopped cherries and shape into disc. Roll out into a rectangle and slice into squares. Place scones on a baking sheet and bake! Tada, no proving time needed.
Tips for Cherry Scones
- Use ripe Bing cherries for the best flavored cherry scones.
- Make sure cream, egg and yolk, and butter are cold.
- Knead dough lightly 1-2 times to shape and pack in cherries. Don’t over work the dough or it will be tough and the cherries will bleed too much and make everything soggy.
- You can roll the dough out to a rectangle and cut for square scones or hand shape into a circle and slice for triangle scones.
- Bake on middle rack.
How to Store Cherry Scones
Store cooled scones in an air tight container at room temperature for 1-2 days.
Can You Freeze Scones?
You can definitely freeze scones after they have been baked and completely cooled. Place them in a freezer safe air tight plastic bag with a piece of parchment paper between them to prevent then from sticking to each other.
More Fresh Cherry Recipes
Ingredients
Scone Dough
- 2 ½ Cups (313 grams) All Purpose Flour
- ⅓ Cup (67 grams) Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
- 2 teaspoons Lemon Zest
- 2 teaspoons Orange Zest
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 6 Tablespoon Unsalted Butter
- ½ Cup (125 ml) Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 Large Egg Yolk
- 1 ½ Cups Bing Cherries pitted, cut into quarters
Topping
- 3 Tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
- Turbinado or Sparkling Sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 F (218 C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, orange zest, and salt.
- Cut in cold butter cubes with pastry grinder and/or fingers until resembles cornmeal.
- Place flour mixture in freezer for 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl whisk together egg, egg yolk, cream, vanilla extract, and almond extract.
- Remove flour mixture from freezer and pour in egg and cream mixture. Stir together with a wooden spoon until just mixed, then loosely form into a ball with hands.
- Place dough on a floured surface and knead in chopped cherries.
- Shape into a circle about 2 inches thick. Cut circle in half and then each half into thirds for a total of six triangles
- Place scones on baking sheet 1.5-2 inches apart.
- Use the 3 Tbsp of remaining Heavy Cream, more if needed and paint a thin coating on the scones.
- Generously sprinkle with sparkling sugar.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until golden on the edges.
- Let pan cool on baking rack for 10 minutes before removing scones and eating!!
Video
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Taylor
Hi there ! What steps would I change if using frozen cherries ?
Thank You !
Jenn
You can use frozen cherries too! Just let them thaw to room temp on a few paper towels before adding into the mix:)
Cindy
Yummy recipe! What can I substitute for the heavy whipping cream?
Thank you!
Jenn
Hi Cindy! You can swap the heavy whipping cream for whole milk.
audri
can i use dried cherries?
Jenn
Yes 🙂 But, you may need to add more heavy cream, as the juice from the fresh cherries adds lots of moisture.
Blonda
I use dried cherries. I simply rehydrate them. Let them sit in VERY hot water for a few minutes. Drain well. This may not be proper but it has worked well in this recipe. Cool the cherries and mix into dry ingredients before combining. They are moist and tender every time.
Sandy B.
Super tasty! Love the citrus “pop” from the zest, and the almond extract adds a lovely nutty base. I used frozen bing cherries and only cut them in half (while frozen). Turned out great!
Jenn
Hi Sandy!!
I’m so glad you liked them!!
mbp
well they are in the oven and i too used frozen bing cherries with my nordicware mini scone pan. liked the fact you said “of course substitute whole milk for heavy cream”. i used 1/2 whole fat yogurt and 1/2 whole milk….didnt see your comment before substituting.
looking forward to tasting.
Lynn
I made them tonight with soft dried cherries. They look great! Didn’t have almond extract so I used Amaretto. They smell amazing!
Holly
Hi
Made them this June with sour cherries, sweet cherries and lastly black currants. Today will be black currants and slightly under ripe plums knocked off by birds. Yummy
Natasha
It didn’t seem to have enough liquid. I couldn’t even need it as it was too dry. Checked the ingredients twice and I had all the measurements correct. Not sure what went wrong!
Jenn
Hi Natasha, It should be pretty moist with the juice from the fresh cherries and the heavy cream. Were your cherries ripe? You can also always add more cream as needed to get the right texture.
Michelle Faircloth
Yum my family loved them! Will definitely make again
Lise Worthington
Hello I made these cherry scones , I topped them with Crème Fraiche and cherry preserves, need I say more…… absolute deliciousness. My question is can I make this recipe with blueberries or raspberries? Cherries are seasonal where I live but I can get the others year round . If I change the to a different berry does anything else in the recipe need to change?
Best scones ever , thanks for sharing