Unfortunately, it's too hot just now to really be doing much cooking with cherries this week. This morning, I made some sour cherry jam, and all that boiling turned my kitchen into a sauna. Thankfully, though, last week I took advantage of the cooler temperatures and baked myself a batch of cherry almond scones. Today, I have the leftovers sitting in my freezer, just waiting for snack time to help cool me down.
I started making scones back in the Wanda days of college, when I noticed that I could eat a dozen muffins in a couple of hours. That was fine when I was swimming four hours each day, but during the off-season, it could get me into trouble. Since my muffin recipes generally only called for one egg, I couldn't very well scale down the recipe. So instead, I started looking for baked goods that did not require eggs, and scones fit the bill. Once I started making them, I was hooked.
There are so many reasons to love scones, but for me I think it begins with the texture. I love them for their crisp, buttery exteriors encasing a soft, flaky crumb, and for the pockets of moist sweetness provided by any fruit tossed into the batter. I love that they're sweet but not too sweet, and that you can adapt them to fit whatever's at the market or in the pantry that day. I love that they freeze well and reheat in the toaster oven beautifully for a quick snack. I love that they give me another chance to use my surprisingly fantastic free plastic pizza cutter (which looks something like this). But mostly, I love that they're just so darn delicious.
Today's scones included a healthy helping of cherries and almond flour, which are a pair only slightly less exalted than, say, peanut butter and jelly, or bacon and chocolate. (Seriously.) I'm not sure I'd made that pairing in scones before, but it was my loss because these were particularly tasty, if I may say so. If you don't want to take my word for it, then maybe you'll believe my mom, who declared these the best scones she'd ever eaten. I guess that means it's time to brave the heat and bake another batch - here's to hoping for cooler temperatures soon so that I can start running my oven again without dying of heat stroke.
Cherry almond scones
I used sweet cherries to make these scones, but sour cherries would be pretty delicious, too. In that case, it would probably be best to add in an extra tablespoon or two of sugar.
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup fresh cherries, washed, pitted, and cut in half
1 cup heavy cream
Raw sugar for sprinkling on top (or regular sugar, if you don't have raw)
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, almond flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the butter, mixing until well combined: the butter should be well-coated with flour, with no lumps larger than a pea. Stir in the cherries, then fold in the cream using a wooden spoon. Mix just until the dough comes together into one mass, then knead in the bowl about ten times.
On a lightly floured counter, flatten the dough with your palms into a large circle about 3/4" thick, then sprinkle with the raw sugar. Using a pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut the dough into eight wedges that are approximately equal in size. Set the wedges onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving about an inch between wedges.
Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Let cool for five minutes, then serve hot with butter or honey.
Makes eight scones
1 comment:
Mmmmm. These were soooooooooo good. :-)
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