This recipe for American-style chocolate cherry scones is sure to be a hit! Packed full of fresh cherries and chocolate morsels, they'll be a new teatime favourite!
My fresh cherry scones with dark chocolate chips are an easy American-style cream scone. These are loosely based on the New York Times recipe for Cream Scones.
Ingredients for Chocolate Cherry Scones
- Plain (all-purpose) flour
- Sugar - a mix of both caster sugar and light brown muscovado
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Spices - cinnamon and nutmeg
- Dark chocolate chips
- Fresh cherries, pitted and quartered
- Heavy cream, chilled
- Optional toppings: extra chocolate chips, demerara sugar or other coarse brown sugar
Using Heavy Cream in Scones
Heavy cream is used in these scones in place of milk and butter. The fat content of the heavy cream helps to add a buttery richness to the scones without needing to rub cold butter into the dough.
Cherries for Scones
I prepare my cherries by pitting and quartering these. You can leave these cherries as halves if you want larger chunks, though this may result in fewer pieces distributed per scone. You can also cut them smaller if preferred. This will not impact the rest of the recipe.
My recipe is for fresh cherry scones, however, you can also substitute dried cherries into this recipe if these are more convenient.
In scone making, it is often easier to substitute dried fruits than frozen, if you are replacing fresh. This is because frozen will contain excess liquid, from the freezing process and will break down more easily in cooking. You can use frozen cherries in this recipe, but they should be defrosted first.
Making Chocolate Cherry Scones
One-bowl recipes are the best! Scones are a quick and easy one-bowl mix.
1. Mix the dry ingredients
Simply mix the dry ingredients together - this is the flour, sugars, baking powder, salt and spices. To thoroughly incorporate these ingredients, its best to whisk these or use a table fork.
2. Add the cherries and chocolate
It is best to add these in to the dry ingredients to ensure these are distributed throughout the dough. If you were to try adding at the end, the dough would be too thick to incorporate these well. This would result in the dough becoming overworked and the cherries mashed.
3. Add heavy cream
Slowly add in the heavy cream. This is best done by forming a small well in the middle of your dry ingredients and pouring about half of the cream in. Stir this with a knife and then continue adding the liquid small amounts at a time, mixing with your hands until a dough forms.
You do not want to over-add the liquid or overwork the dough. So, avoid too much kneading while you are bringing this together. You can expect to have between ¼ cup and ½ cup of the cream leftover.
Once the dough as formed, reserve the remaining cream for later.
4. Cutting American-Style Triangular Chocolate Cherry Scones
American-style scones are different from British in a few ways - one them being the way they're cut. While British scones are usually circular, American scones are generally served as triangles.
This is an easy shape to achieve, using either a sharp knife of a dough cutter. Follow these steps:
- Once you have your dough, turn this out onto a lightly floured surface.
- Knead once or twice lightly and form a round, roughly 7" or 8" wide and about 1" thick.
- Use a sharp knife or dough scraper to slice in half.
- Then slice perpendicularly across, forming four equal wedges.
- Slice each of these in half to form eight triangular scones.
To make the cutting process easier, use some flour to dust your blade between cuts. This will prevent the dough from sticking.
5. Bake Scones
Once your scones are sliced, transfer the slices to a prepared baking sheet. They will expand a bit in the oven, so space these about 2" apart.
Brush each with the reserved cream and add any optional toppings. Demerara or coarse sugar will add a bit of extra texture to the top and no one says no to a bit of extra chocolate!
Bake in the centre of a preheated 400°F oven for about 15 minutes. The scones should be golden on top, but be careful that the tips don't catch!
Allow to cool on a wire rack for a few minutes and eat warm or save for a teatime snack!
FAQs for Chocolate Cherry Scones
If you double (or scale further) this chocolate cherry scone recipe, it is best to form multiple rounds. If you have doubled the recipe, form two rounds of the same size and cut each as directed. This will ensure you make the appropriate number of scones of roughly equal sizes.
These scones stay fairly fresh for several days in an airtight container at room temperature. If you are making them for a particular event, I would recommend making fresh on the day as nothing beats a warm scone! But, leftovers will remain good for about 3 or 4 days.
Yes, these are easily frozen. You can freeze the baked scones, in freezer bags for about 3 months.
Some suggested serving accompaniments:
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
Chocolate Cherry Scones
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
- ¼ cup light brown muscovado sugar
- 2 tablespoon caster (granulated) sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup fresh cherries, pitted and quartered about 10 medium-sized cherries
- 1½ cups heavy double cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200C/180C Fan) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, spices and sugars.
- Add the chopped cherries and chocolate chips, stir through the flour mixture.
- Slowly add the heavy cream, a little at a time until the mixture comes together into a dough. You will likely need between 1 and 1¼ cup. Reserve the remaining cream to brush the top of the scones before baking.
- Once the dough has come together, tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly once or twice to form a round. Press this into a circle, roughly 8" round and 1" thick.
- Using a sharp knife or dough scraper, cut this into 8 triangles (like pizza slices).
- Place these a couple inches apart on the baking sheet and brush with the reserved heavy cream. Top with extra chocolate chips and/or coarse brown sugar (optional).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes until lightly golden. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
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