Easy to make cherry scones using fresh cherries, lemon and orange zest, with additional flavor notes of vanilla and almond. Enjoy these homemade scones full of cherries for breakfast or a simple sweet treat.
These delicious scones remind 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 sweetness. I suggest making a batch, then 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.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Fresh Cherries, either bing or rainier sweet cherries work best.
- Fresh Lemon and Orange Zest to enhance the scones with citrus notes.
- Pure Vanilla Extract and Almond Extract are the perfect flavorings for juicy cherries.
- Heavy Cream mixed into the dry ingredients makes for tender scones.
How To Make Cherry Scones
Scones are an easy mix and bake quick bread, that can be made in a large bowl and shaped by hand. Start by working the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or your fingertips until the texture resembles cornmeal. Some of the butter can stay the size of peas.
Add in the wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula to form a shaggy dough. Hand knead in the chopped cherries then transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Shape the dough into either a rectangle or a thick circle using a rolling pin or by patting with your hands. Cut the dough into squares or even triangles with a bench scraper or sharp knife.
Transfer the scones to a parchment paper lined baking tray. Brush the tops with a thin coating of heavy cream and top with a sprinkle of coarse sugar, like sparkling or turbinado sugar. I use heavy cream instead of an egg wash to prevent over browning of the tops. Finally, bake on the middle oven rack until golden brown.
What Kind of Cherries To Use
Fresh Cherry Scones
Fresh red sweet cherries also known as "bing cherries" and work best for this scone dough. Use ripe cherries, make sure to remove the stem and pit.
Frozen Cherry Scones
Frozen cherries can have extra moisture and may make the dough too soggy. To remove some of the added water from the ice and condensation, let the frozen cherries thaw to room temperature on paper towels before adding them into the mix. The paper towels will help soak up any additional moisture.
Tips for Cherry Scones
- Use ripe sweet cherries for the fresh fruit flavor in every bite.
- Pick up a cherry pitter, to make removing the pits so much easier.
- If you like sour cherries, give them a try or mix them half and half with the sweet cherries.
- Make sure the heavy cream, egg, egg yolk, and butter are cold when adding them to the scone dough.
- Knead the dough lightly 1-2 times to shape and pack in the cherries. Don't over work the dough or it will be tough and the cherries will bleed too much and make everything soggy.
- Dress up your scones by adding in ¼ cup of chopped dark chocolate for chocolate cherry scones.
- You can roll the dough out into either a rectangle and cut square scones or hand shape into a circle and slice for even triangle scones.
- After you brush the heavy cream onto the tops of the scones add a few sliced almonds for a crunchy nut topping.
- Line your baking tray with two layers of parchment paper to absorb juices and prevent the bottom of the scones from over browning.
How to Store Leftover Scones
Store cooled scones in an air tight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can also wrap them in aluminum foil and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
To freeze scones, allow them to completely before placing 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. Scones will stay fresh in freezer for up to 3 months.
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Cherry Scones Recipe (fresh cherries)
Ingredients
Scone Dough
- 313 grams all purpose flour
- 67 grams granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 84 grams unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 125 grams cold heavy cream, full fat
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
- 210 grams fresh bing cherries, pitted, cut into quarters
Topping
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- turbinado or sparkling sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉ / 220℃ / 200℃ Fan (convection). 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 tablespoon 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
Notes
- How to Store Cherry Scones: Store cooled scones in an air tight container at room temperature for 1-2 days.
- 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. Scones will stay fresh in freezer for up to 3 months.
- Cherry Type: Fresh red sweet cherries also known as "bing cherries" work best for this scone dough. Choose ripe cherries and make sure to remove the pit.
- Frozen cherries can have extra moisture and may make the dough to soggy. To remove some of the added water from ice and condensation, let the frozen cherries thaw to room temperature on a few paper towels before adding into the mix. the paper towels will help soak up any additional moisture.
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
Janaiyah
I substituted the whipping cream for coconut milk and the batter came out like a thick cake batter. Should I have used less coconut milk as opposed to the half cup?