Cherry Chocolate Almond Scones

Scones! Scones! Scones! You are chanting that, right? A favorite breakfast treat is scones. I admit I usually do not make them from scratch, but this was a special occasion and I wanted to try making some with some of my family's favorite flavors - cherries, chocolate and almonds! Man oh man they baked up just perfect and tasted even better. These scones would be amazing with tea, coffee or just because and best yet, you can play with the ingredients to suit your tastes!

Why wait  a moment longer ...lets move onto the recipe and then you can surprise your family with a breakfast treat this weekend!

Ingredients

• 2 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 Cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
•  1/2 cup mini chocolate chips 
• 8 ounces maraschino cherries (drained), chopped 
• 1 teaspoon Pure Almond Extract
• You may also find it super easy to use a mini scone pan

Make It!

• Freeze your butter over night.
• Preheat oven to 400F
• Mix together flour, sugar,  baking powder, baking soda, salt.

• Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture (use the big holes of the grater or you will drive yourself NUTS!)

• Use your hands (be sure they are clean!) to mix the butter into the flour mixture. Pinch and rub and smush with your fingers until combined.
• Mix in the mini chocolate chips.

• Mix the egg and sour cream together.
• Add the almond extract to the wet mixture.

• Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture (do not use a mixer. Use a fork).
• If necessary, use your hands again to help the dough form.
• Gently fold in the chopped cherries with your hands. 
• NOTE: Not all of my cherries folded into the dough, so after forming the scones (before baking), I stuck those cherries into the scones individually.

I USED A SCONE PAN:
My dough was still a bit wet, but I was using my mini scone pan, so it was OK, because I was placing the batter/dough (2 Tablespoons) into the mini scone pan, so it was easy to handle. 

OPTION (NO SCONE PAN):
Use a large cutting board or pastry board and dust with flour.
Place your dough on the board and form a large circle about 3/4" thick.
NOTE: add a bit of flour, 1 Tablespoons at a time to make the dough easier to work with.
Use a circular cookie cutter to cut scones or pinch off biscuit size piece and pat into a (rough) circle.

Bake for 15-17 minutes.
Let cool.
Serve to your favorite people!

Like baked goods? Try a savory delight with these Sundried Tomato, Spinach and Goat Cheese Muffins.

This post is written and created at 504 Main by Holly Lefevre