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Dried Cherry Almond Scones
Dried cherries, toasted almonds, and a little lemon bring bright contrast to a cold-weather scone with a moist and tender crumb.
- Prep
- 30 minutes
- Cook
- 18 minutes
- Total
- 48 minutes
- Yield
- 8 scones
Print the card
The card carries the title, timings, ingredients and method. Add what you want beside them — currently one sheet.
Nicole’s method treats cold ingredients and restraint as serious business. The lightness depends on genuinely cold fat and cream, plus a short, unhurried mixing window. Keep those checks in view: butter should stay cold while cut into coarse crumbs, and mixing should stop as soon as the dough comes together. Small disciplines, big protection for lift and texture.
This is Nicole’s tested method, and its sifting step is rooted in Nicole’s Trini grandmother. That detail gives the recipe a food story without turning it into a history lesson: flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and allspice are sifted before sugar joins the bowl. The technique is part of the recipe’s story.
Dried cherries, toasted sliced almonds, lemon zest, cinnamon, and allspice give these scones their just-enough-sweet-and-tart character. The finish brings more than decoration: toasted almonds and turbinado sugar crown the tops, while homemade honey butter or a cardamom drizzle supplies the extra umph.
What you need
Ingredients
Measurements
Metric converts only measures that are mathematically safe. Density-dependent cups stay as Nicole wrote them.
Scale the batch
8 scones
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1½ sticks cold unsalted butter
- 1 cup heavy cream, plus 1 tablespoon for brushing
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup dried cherries
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ¾ cup sliced almonds total
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch of allspice
- Turbinado sugar, generous topping sprinkle
How it goes
Method
Read the whole thing once before you start. Nothing here is difficult, but the timing is unforgiving at the end.
Toast the sliced almonds and let them cool
Preheat to 400°F. Toast almonds in a dry skillet only until golden, then cool in a single layer on a sheet pan.
Sift the dry ingredients, then whisk in the sugar
Sift flour, baking powder, kosher salt, cinnamon, and allspice; whisk in sugar.
Cut in the cold butter and add the mix-ins
Cut cold butter into coarse crumbs, keeping it cold; add dried cherries and ½ cup of the toasted almonds.
Whisk the cream and extracts, then mix only until combined
Whisk the cream with vanilla and almond extracts, pour into the dry mixture, and stop mixing as soon as the dough comes together.
Pat into a circle and cut eight triangles
Turn onto a lightly floured surface, pat gently into a 1-inch-thick circle, cut eight triangles, and move them to a parchment-lined sheet pan.
Freeze and finish the tops
Freeze shaped scones 15 minutes. Brush with cream, then top with remaining toasted almonds and turbinado sugar.
Bake and cool
Bake 18–23 minutes until lightly golden. Cool 5 minutes on the sheet pan, then transfer to a wire rack.
On the bench
Equipment
2 of these change the result. The rest are conveniences, with a workaround given. Nothing here is a brand recommendation — the spec is what matters.
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Skillet
OptionalThe method explicitly directs toasting the almonds in a dry skillet.
- What matters
- Dry skillet suitable for stovetop almond toasting.
- If you skip it
- Toast the almonds on a sheet pan in a 450°F oven for 3–5 minutes.
- Search for
- “10in skillet” (paid link)
Sheet pan
The method names a sheet pan for cooling and baking.
- What matters
- Sheet pan suitable for parchment-lined scone baking.
Wire rack
The method explicitly directs transferring the scones to a wire rack.
- What matters
- Wire rack suitable for cooling baked goods.
The list
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Cook's notes
What we would tell a friend
- Cold butter and cream are central to the flaky but moist result. Do not overwork the dough; mix only until it comes together.
- The 15-minute freeze gives lift and flake. Sifting is tied to Nicole’s Trini grandmother and an airy baked good.
- If dried cherries are very dry, soak them in hot water for 8–10 minutes and dry them well.
- Dried cranberries or cubed dried apricots, and cardamom or clove, are source-backed variations.
From the kitchen
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