Cherry Pecan Scones Recipes

CHERRY, CHOCOLATE AND PECAN SCONES WITH STRAWBERRY JAM

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the sour cream with the egg. Mix in the cherries, chocolate chips, pecans and golden raisins. Set aside.
• Use a grater with large holes to grate the butter over the dry ingredients. Alternatively, cut the butter into small cubes. Lightly work the butter into the flour with your fingers until it looks like small peas. Gently work the sour cream mixture into the flour mixture. Using your hands, gather the ingredients together from the bottom of the bowl. Wash your hands, then turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface, then gather the dough together. Take care not to overwork the dough!
• Gently press the dough into a loose 1-inch-thick circle, about 5 inches in diameter. Use a knife to cut the circle into 6 equal wedges (like slices from a pie). Place the wedges spaced out on a nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake the scones until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Allow them to cool a few minutes before serving with the Strawberry Jam.
• In a large bowl, stir together the strawberries with the sugar and vanilla to evenly coat. Allow the mixture to macerate, or sit, for about 15 minutes until the berries are "weepy"-softened and letting off liquid.
• Transfer about three-quarters of the strawberries and some of the liquid at the bottom of the bowl to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the fruit starts to break down, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir back into the bowl of uncooked strawberries. Stir in the balsamic vinegar. Serve warm or let cool, then cover and store in the refrigerator for about a week.

CHERRY PECAN SCONES

Steps:

• 1. Put the first 5 dry ingredients into the bowl of your food processor or just a large bowl. Blend briefly or pulse a few times to mix.
• 2. Add the cubed, cold butter into the bowl of the processor and pulse until the butter is small pieces, smaller than peas, but not sandy. Or use a pastry cutter and cut butter in. Last, add the cherries and nuts. Pulse briefly.
• 3. Add the buttermilk and pulse until the dough comes together into a kind of ball. Remove from the processor bowl, scooping the dough out onto a floured counter or mat. If it is real sticky, sprinkle liberally with flour. A little sticky is good. Fold over itself about 4 times, just to bring it together. You do not want to develop the gluten. Shape it with your hands into either a large round disk or two smaller round disks, about 1" high. Place them on a piece of parchment paper on the baking sheet. Cut like a pizza into 8 wedges. (They will be either 8 large wedges, or in the case of 2 disks, 16 small ones.) Pull each wedge out a little from its neighboring wedge, but still forming a circle. Cover with plastic wrap. (I use bread bags with the side and bottom cut open) and put into the freezer while the oven heats to 425 degrees. Or you can freeze them overnight, then wrap in plastic wrap and put into a zip lock bag for a later date.
• 4. Once the oven is nice and hot, remove the scones. You have the option here of brushing them with cream, milk or melted butter, but plain works too, because you will be glazing them soon. I like to double pan them at this point, setting the baking sheet inside another baking sheet, so the bottoms are safe from burning.
• 5. Bake until nice and golden on top, about 25 minutes. Just before they are done, in a small saucepan, melt the butter and honey together, whisking occasionally until warm and liquid. As soon as the scones come out of the oven, brush them with the honey glaze. Wait another 10 minutes and brush them again with glaze. Voila! Done.