Cherry Scones

This months meeting of the Atlanta Scarlett Hatters included a special “passing of the crown” ceremony.  Our Queen Mum Ruth decided that the time had come to step down from this important role in our Red Hat chapter.

Since the theme of the meeting was “tea on the veranda”, I decided to bake a batch of cherry scones.

I’ve mentioned before that my favorite cherry scone recipe is from the Winter 2005 Tea Experience Digest (no longer in publication).

Scones are a wonderful tea treat – delicious and simple to prepare.  I usually choose scone recipes that use butter and all purpose flour, rather than the self-rising flour that is so popular in the South.  This recipe has one cup of buttermilk, but will turn out just as well with sour milk (I’ve stopped keeping buttermilk in the fridge – too much waste).

Mine are cut in wedge shapes.  A baking stone is perfect for the high temperature baking (425 degrees).

This particular recipe is good for a large group, since I can cut out 24 medium size servings.

3     cups all purpose flour
1/3  cup sugar
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
½    tsp. baking soda
¾    tsp. salt
¾    cup butter, chilled
¾    cup dried cherries, chopped
1     tsp. lemon zest
1     cup buttermilk
1     tbsp. cream for glazing

Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt.  Cut in butter.  Stir in lemon zest and cherries.  Slowly add buttermilk and mix gently (do not over mix). 

Gather dough and divide into three balls.  Flatten to about ½ inch thick and cut into wedges.  Place on baking stone.  Brush tops with cream (if desired) and bake at 425 degrees until golden - about 12 minutes.