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These are the easiest cherry scones you’ll ever make. Fresh cherries and citrus zest are folded into a tender, buttery dough flavored with vanilla and almond. All you need is one bowl and a baking pan. In under an hour, you’ll be pulling warm cherry scones from the oven.
Scones are one of those breakfast recipes that don’t require any special equipment, no baking pan, paper liners, or electric mixer needed. The dough comes together easily in one bowl, then you simply pat it into a circle with your hands. It’s also endlessly customizable, so if blackberry, raspberry, or blueberry scones are more your style, just swap the cherries for your favorite fruit.
I am called the Scone Queen. This is only due to your recipe. Thank You!
Key Ingredients & Test Notes
- Fresh Cherries: Opt for ripe, sweet cherries like Bing or Rainier to impart natural sweetness and juiciness to the scones. The firmness of these varieties helps maintain their shape during baking, preventing excessive bleeding into the dough.
- Test Note: If using frozen cherries, ensure they are thawed and patted dry with paper towels to minimize added moisture, which can affect the scone’s final texture.
- Fresh Lemon and Orange Zest: I love the combo of both lemon and orange zest for bright, aromatic citrus notes that complement the sweet cherries.
- Pure Vanilla Extract and Almond Extract: Vanilla extract adds a warm, sweet undertone that enhances the richness of the scone, while almond extract introduces a subtle nutty flavor that pairs exceptionally well with cherries, reminiscent of classic cherry almond desserts.
- Heavy Cream: With a high fat content of 33-35% creates a lovely moist and tender crumb.
- Test Note: Brushing the tops of the scones with heavy cream before baking gives them a golden-brown finish without the need of egg wash.
How To Make Cherry Scones
Before making the dough, let’s prep the cherries. Tos the slices cherries with a tablespoon of sugar in a small bowl. The sugar will activate the fruit to start releasing juices. Let them sit for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then strain out the juice.
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.
Best Cherries for Scones
- 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.
Jenn’s Tips
- Let the cherry juices drain and toss them in a little flour before adding to them to the dough.
- Pick up a cherry pitter, to make removing the pits so much easier. Trust me on this one! I’ve used everything from chopsticks to skewers to remove the pits and I’ll never go back.
- Make sure the heavy cream, egg, egg yolk, and butter are cold when adding them to the scone dough.
- Knead the dough lightly with floured hands 1-2 times to shape and pack in the cherries. Don’t overwork 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 1/4 cup of chopped dark chocolate for chocolate cherry scones.
- After you brush the tops with heavy cream, add a few sliced almonds for a crunchy nut topping.
- Line your baking tray with two layers of parchment paper to absorb excess juices and prevent the bottom of the scones from over browning.
- If you have leftover cherries, try your hand at a dessert and make a cherry pie.
Storage & Leftovers
- Room Temp: Store scones in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can also wrap them in aluminum foil and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: Allow scones to cool completely before placing them in a freezer safe airtight 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.
★★★★★ Please leave a star rating and review below if you make this recipe! THANK YOU!!
Cherry Scones Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
Cherries
- 185 grams (1 ¼ cup) fresh sweet cherries, pitted, cut into quarters
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, *to toss with the cherries
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Scone Dough
- 313 grams (2.5 cups) all purpose flour
- 67 grams (⅓ cup) granulated sugar
- 15 grams (1 tablespoon) baking powder
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons orange zest
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 84 grams (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 120 grams (½ cup) 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
Scone Toppings
- 3 tablespoons (3 tablespoons) heavy cream
- turbinado or sparkling sugar, for sprinkling
Instructions
Prep the Cherries
- Fresh cherries can release a lot of fruit juice. To prevent your scone dough from being too wet, place cherry slices in a bowl, toss with the granulated sugar and let the juices drain for about 10 minutes. Discard the juice.185 grams fresh sweet cherries, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- Toss the cherries with 1 tablespoon of flour to absorb any leftover juice.1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Make the Scone Dough
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest, orange zest, and salt.313 grams all purpose flour, 67 grams granulated sugar, 15 grams baking powder, 2 teaspoons lemon zest, 2 teaspoons orange zest, 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- Cut in cold butter cubes with pastry grinder and/or fingers until resembles cornmeal.84 grams unsalted butter
- Place flour mixture in freezer for 10 minutes.
- In a separate bowl whisk together egg, egg yolk, cream, vanilla extract, and almond extract.120 grams cold heavy cream, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk, 1 teaspoon almond extract
- Remove flour mixture from freezer, the pour in the egg and cream mixture. Stir together with a wooden spoon until just combined. Mix in the cherries and any leftover flour, to form a shaggy dough in a loose lump.
- Place the dough on a well floured surface and gently knead to combine any loose flour. Careful not to overwork the dough.185 grams fresh sweet cherries
- Using floured hands, pat the dough into an 7 to 8-inch circle about 1-inch thick. Cut the circle in half with a bench scraper or sharp knife and then each half into thirds for a total of six triangles.
- The dough is more moist than traditional scone dough, so I use a pie server or flat spatula to transfer the scones onto the baking sheet, spacing them 1.5-2 inches apart.
- Use the remaining heavy cream to paint a thin coating on top of the scones. Generously sprinkle with coarse or sparkling sugar.3 tablespoons heavy cream
- Chill the cherry scones in the fridge for about 15 minutes while the oven preheats.turbinado or sparkling sugar
- Preheat oven to 400℉ / 200℃ / 180℃ Fan (convection).
- Place pan on the middle oven rack and 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!!
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 too 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.
This looks so good! Would it be possible if I substituted the cherries for canned sour cherries? I think they would be significantly more wet, maybe pat dry?
Hi Taylor, I haven’t tried it with canned cherries, but agree they would need to be pat dry or the dough may be too wet. I would alos toss them well with a bit of flour before adding to the batter. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Recipe worked great for me. I used bread flour and half and half instead of all purpose and cream. Also skipped the zests.
These scones are amazing. I use this recipe for every other scone I make, from dried figs marinating in Madeira with walnuts to dates and candied maple pecans with oranje zest and blackberry lemon. I am so in love with someone finally adding enough zest! I put some lemon juice in the cream and put that back in the frig until I need it. Every time I think of a new scone combination I am called the Scone Queen. This is only due to your recipe. Thank You!
Hi Maureen! Love all your flavor combos! so happy you love this recipes as much as I do, thanks for the feedback and happy baking 🙂
Yum Yum Yum!!! Absolutely amazing!
Thanks for the feedback! so glad you enjoyed them:)
I think fresh cherries didn’t work well here. Dried would be better, as I found fresh too moist for the batter. Also, too many of them recommended.
If the cherries are very ripe and juicy, its best to let them drain a bit with the sugar first as recommended. You can also add a bit more flour if needed, or reduce the amount of cherries to your preference. The added moisture of fresh cherries helps bring the dough together, it may be too dry with dry cherries.
Great recipe!
Thank you so much!
Wonderful recipe, and easy! The only change I made was leaving out the zest because I had no fresh lemons or oranges. Instead, I soaked the cherries in lemon juice concentrate and drained them well. The zest would have been better, but the scones were great anyway. I brought them to an extended family celebration. I tripled the recipe.
Thank you! I’m so glad you liked them!
Can you use jarred cherries?
Hi Donna, I haven’t tested this recipe with canned cherries yet, but I would make sure to drain them well before using. Please let me know how it goes. Jenn
These were delicious and so moist! Thank you for the recipe.
I added 1/2 c. Chocolate mini chips because my friend had done that.
I made the night before, and shaped into round. Then in the morning, I took it out, cut into pieces, and let sit at room temperature for about an hour. Added the cream and coconut sugar to the top, then baked. Worked really well. I may try freezing the round while the cherries are in season!
Love love this recipe!
Although a bit labor- heavy, always a win! 🥰
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?
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
Yum my family loved them! Will definitely make again
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!
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.
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
I made them tonight with soft dried cherries. They look great! Didn’t have almond extract so I used Amaretto. They smell amazing!
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.
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!
Hi Sandy!!
I’m so glad you liked them!!
can i use dried cherries?
Yes 🙂 But, you may need to add more heavy cream, as the juice from the fresh cherries adds lots of moisture.
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.
Yummy recipe! What can I substitute for the heavy whipping cream?
Thank you!
Hi Cindy! You can swap the heavy whipping cream for whole milk.
Hi there ! What steps would I change if using frozen cherries ?
Thank You !
You can use frozen cherries too! Just let them thaw to room temp on a few paper towels before adding into the mix:)