I have been baking these sour cherry walnut scones a half a dozen times over the past couple of weeks. They are that good! Baked with wholesome ingredients such as creamy butter as well as sour cherries and toasty walnuts make them a lovely breakfast treat.
We are heading back East to be part of the MIXED Conference. It has been a while since we have attended a food blogging event and we cannot wait to put voices with faces. This time we will be more involved as we will be talking about video production for food blogging. Lenny is extremely thrilled to be sharing a passion of his to 110 hungry food bloggers with hopes that they will start adding video to their sites. After years of preaching this to our clients, that this is the next best thing for blogging, and now sponsors are asking for it too.
Years of flying have taught me one thing; airport food stinks. Since we had an early morning flight, I knew we would get a little hungry, so I decided to bake these Sour Cherry Walnut Scones for the flight. Definitely the last thing I needed to add to my to-do list, but I knew they would a welcomed treat so early in the morning.
I changed my go-to scone recipe by adding walnuts, cardamom, and cherries. I have been loving the dried sour cherries recently that I found in the bulk area of the market. Definitely a splurge, but, so worth it. Cardamom and sour cherries go extremely well together as well. The addition of walnuts adds some omega 3s as well as a little more texture. I toasted the walnuts before mixing into the scone dough as I find this takes away the bitterness, which is something that tends to bother me about walnuts.
Besides being a great treat to take on the plane, I think these scones would be wonderful served on Christmas morning. I would mostly dress them up a bit with a warm orange glaze; otherwise, they are perfect.
Tips:
- Use a high fat butter – 85% at least for baking these scones which will give you a scone that is not overly dry.
- If you cannot find dried sour cherries, regular dried cherries work as well. I remove about a 1 tablespoon of sugar if using regular dried cherries as I find them very sweet.
Tools:
- Food Processor
- Silpat or Parchment Paper
Recipe: Sour Cherry Walnut Scones
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cardamom
4 ounces unsalted butter – with at least 85% butterfat – cut into pieces
1 cup dried sour cherries
1/3 cup toasted walnuts, lightly crushed
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 egg
How To:
Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
In a food processor combine all of the dry ingredients, except cherries and walnuts, give a whirl to mix.
With the food processor running, add pieces of butter, a couple at a time, and pulse until pea-sized. Continue adding the butter until you use all of it.
Add the heavy cream. Pulse until the dough comes together.
Add cherries and walnuts, and give a quick pulse.
Remove the dough from the food processor, and knead on a lightly floured countertop.
Pat into a circle, about 3/4 inch thick.
Cut into triangles, I made 8 but you can make them a bit smaller or larger.
Place onto the baking sheet, with space between each one.
Make an egg wash with the egg and a tablespoon of water.
Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the scones with the egg wash, and sprinkle a little sugar on each top.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes, until the scones are golden brown on the tops.
Remove from the oven.
Let cool for 5 minutes.
Serve.
Eat.
More Scone Recipes to Warm You Up
Savory Parmesan and Black Pepper Scones
Pumpkin Pecan Scones with Maple Glaze
Kasey
Wednesday 5th of December 2012
One of my favorite things is sitting on an airplane and pulling out a little baggie or tupperware with homemade treats. It makes the whole ride! Hope you are well, friend!
Bron
Thursday 29th of November 2012
Ooh I wish I could come hear Lenny speak, would love to try my hand at a video... not actually featuring me tho...lol I'd love to try your scones too, sadly we don't have sour cherries here in fresh or dried form that I've found anyway :( woe is me.