Cherry Scones

This year we had another bumper crop of cherries.  While I was happy popping them into my mouth one after the other, with the occasional cherry pie thrown in, our youngest daughter had other ideas.  "I wanna make cherry scones Papa!" the three year old proclaimed.  Now, I love making scones, during the summer we crank out blackberry and peach scones like nobody's business,....but cherry scones....hmmmm.  Well, Margot is hard to refuse, so after a morning in the kitchen with my little helper we created these yummy little morsels.  Dare I say it may be my new favorite way to consume our crop.  And don't worry if you're a traditionalist, the recipe works just as well with blackberries, blueberries, peaches.....you get the idea.

INGREDIENTS

1 stick of butter, frozen
3 tbls of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of pitted sweet cherries, halved or quartered if they're huge
1 cup milk
1 lemon
2 cups flour
1/ cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

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RECIPE

Heat oven to 425 and line baking sheet with parchment.

Spread cherries into a single layer and place in freezer.

Squeeze lemon into milk and let stand to thicken.

Zest the lemon rind to get 1 tsp, set aside.

Grate stick of butter on box grater, place grated butter in freezer.

Whisk together flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, baking soda and lemon zest.

Add frozen grated butter and toss with your ringers until well combined.

Add thickened milk and mix with a spatula until it just comes together into a dough, if it's too sticky, dust with a little more flour.

Put dough on floured surface and knead half a dozen times. Roll into a 12" square. Fold square into thirds and into thirds again to create a square, wrap and put in the freezer for 5 minutes.

Roll out into another 12" square, spread frozen cherries over surface and pat lightly into the dough. Starting at one edge, roll dough up like a carpet with the cherries on the inside.  Keep an eye on the edges so the cherries don't start falling out.  Pat into a rectangular shape with the seam side down. Cut rectangular log into 4 squares and then cut each square diagonally into triangles.

Transfer to parchment lined baking sheet, brush with melted butter and sprinkle each with a little white sugar.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until slightly golden.

Thank you Margot.

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