Start your day with these Cherry Scones, packed dried tart cherries and a touch of almond flavor, topped off with a delightful glaze.
3 Reasons These Are The Best Cherry Scones
- Buttery and Crumbly Texture: These Cherry Scones have a deliciously buttery and crumbly texture, enhanced by the plump bites of dried tart cherries throughout.
- Perfect Balance of Flavors: The simple glaze on top complements the slightly tart and buttery flavor of the cherry scone, creating an amazing balance that’s irresistible.
- Dense Yet Melt-in-Your-Mouth: Despite their satisfying density, these scones maintain a delicious melt-in-your-mouth quality, making each bite an experience.
Ingredients In This Cherry Scones Recipe
- Unsalted Butter: Frozen for flakiness and richness.
- Orange Zest & Juice: Adds citrus flavor to scones and glaze.
- Sugars: Granulated for sweetness in dough, powdered for the glaze.
- Baking Powder: Helps scones rise and become fluffy.
- Flour: Provides structure to the dough.
- Heavy Cream: Moisturizes dough; used for brushing on top.
- Egg: Binds ingredients and improves cherry scones texture.
- Vanilla and Almond Extracts: Adds sweet, aromatic flavors.
- Dried Tart Cherries: Gives tartness and chewy texture.
How To Make Cherry Scones
- Freeze Butter: Cube and freeze unsalted butter.
- Dry Mix: Combine orange zest, sugar, baking powder, salt, and flour.
- Wet Mix: Whisk cream, egg, vanilla, and almond extract.
- Combine: Blend frozen butter into dry mix, then add wet mix and cherries.
- Shape: Form dough into a disc, cut into wedges, and chill for 10 minutes.
- Prep for Baking: Brush with cream, sprinkle sugar, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Bake: At 400°F for 17-25 minutes.
- Glaze: Mix powdered sugar with orange juice and drizzle over cooled cherry scones.
Quick Tip
# 1 tip: Keep the butter and dough as cold as possible! I chill the flour, freeze the butter after cutting it, and take wet ingredients straight from the fridge. The colder your dough, the better your scones will be.
Storage
Storage Tips
- Room Temperature: Keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
- Refrigerate: Store cherry scones in a container for up to 1 week.
- Freeze: Wrap individually and freeze for up to 3 months; thaw at room temperature.
More Cherry Recipes
- Tart Cherry Daiquiri Mocktail
- Cherry Danish
- Dried Tart Cherry Sweet Snack Mix
- Cherry Crisp Recipe
- Cherry Smoothie
Tart Cherry Scones
Start your day with these Cherry Scones, packed dried tart cherries and a touch of almond flavor, topped off with a delightful glaze.
Ingredients
Scones
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes and then freeze
- 2 tablespoons orange zest (from 1-2 large oranges)
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 cups white, all-purpose flour (measure by spooning and leveling)
- 1/2 cup + 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream, divided
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or regular vanilla extract)
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional
- 3/4 cup dried tart cherries
- Optional: sparkling/coarse sugar
Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Number 1 tip: Keep all the ingredients as cold as possible! Chill the flour in the fridge ahead of time if possible (10-20 minutes). BUTTER: Start by cutting the butter into small cubes. Place in the freezer to chill until needed.
- DRY INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, combine the orange zest and sugar. Rub the two together with your fingers until the sugar is fully infused with the orange zest. Add in the baking powder, salt, and flour. Whisk until ingredients are combined.
- WET INGREDIENTS: In a small bowl, whisk together the 1/2 cup of heavy cream, egg, vanilla paste or extract, and almond extract. Mix until smooth.
- ADD BUTTER: Add the frozen cubed butter into the dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is evenly dispersed and the size of small peas. Make a well in the center of the ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. With a wooden spoon, gently combine the ingredients until a dough begins to form. As soon as a dough forms, add in the dried cherries. Mix as little as possible -- just until everything is moistened and mostly combined.
- FORM SCONES: Very lightly flour a surface and turn out the dough onto the surface. With lightly floured hands, gently work the dough into a ball(we want to handle the dough as little as possible while still getting it into a cohesive disc). If the dough is too sticky, add a tiny bit more flour; if it is too dry add 1-2 tablespoons additional cream. Press into a disc and cut exactly in half. Form each disc gently into a smaller disc about 5 inches wide. Chill the discs, wrapped tightly in plastic, for 10 minutes in the fridge. Remove and cut each disc into 8 equal wedges, using a very sharp knife. Try to cut each wedge in one decisive cut (don’t shimmy the knife through the wedge). Place wedges on a parchment paper (or Silpat) lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart from each other. Pour remaining 2 (3 if needed) tablespoons heavy cream into a small dish. Using a pastry brush, brush the cream over the scones. Sprinkle with sparkling/coarse sugar if desired.
- REFRIGERATE: Refrigerate the pan with the scones on them for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- BAKE: Bake for 17-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges and lightly browned on top. Overbaking scones will make them less flavorful and a denser texture, so watch carefully (mine generally take right around 19-20 minutes). Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet; Use a metal spatula to place scones a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- GLAZE: Whisk together the glaze ingredients -- the powdered sugar and orange juice. Add additional juice for a thinner glaze, as desired. Drizzle over the scones once they are COMPLETELY cooled. Let set and then enjoy.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 270kcal | Carbohydrates: 43g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 46mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 519IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made these this morning with dried cherries i bought this September in Door County. It was my first attempt at scones and they turned out fabulously delicious! Thanks for the detailed instructions.
Yay! I am so happy to hear this! Thanks! 🙂
Made this recipe today…absolutely delicious. I used dried sour cherries from Aldi’s. My husband and I loved them. I will definitely make them again. Thanks for such a great
recipe!
So thrilled to hear that, thank you so much for the comment and review 🙂
Do you ever freeze the scones before baking them?
I haven’t, sorry!
I followed the recipe as directed although I used fresh cherries. Had to add a little more flour to make less sticky from the moisture of the fresh fruit. Amazing!!
So glad you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for the comment 🙂
Substituted almond extract in glaze on cherry scone. Used orange juice for the cranberry scone and lemon on the blueberry. 5 Star best recipe ever!!!
This is the first time I’ve ever made scones that actually turned out sconelike! Thank you for all the tips and the recipe.
I’m so happy you enjoyed these Cherry Scones! Thanks Jacque! 🙂
I’ve made and they’re delicious! I used cranberries instead of cherries because I didn’t have cherries. Sooooo good! Great with a cup of tea. Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear! Thanks Sha! 🙂
Can I use fresh cherries? Or fresh frozen?
Yes! I sliced and pitted my cherries which came out to one and a half cup. It was perfect! I mixed the cherries in after making the dough. Sprinkled flour in as I was stirring till it clumped together more into a ball, not a sticky mess no more.
These scones are very good – more orange than cherry flavor. It took a while to make but very good for the holidays. Thanks for the recipe!!
So happy you enjoyed! Thanks Laurie! 🙂
Hello,
If I am unable to find the cherries mentioned in the recipe, which ones can I substitute for?
You could substitute dried cranberries!
Trader joe’s sells dried tart montmorency cherries. So if you have a TJ’s around, check it out.