After I tackled my first Great British Bake Off Technical Challenge, Mary Berry’s Cherry Cake, I was totally chuffed and left with a half a tub of leftover glacé cherries. Generally, when I have left over ingredients that I don’t use on a regular basis, I just leave them to commune with my ever-graying dried herbs and spices until I move or there is some kind of fire. But I imagine that these cherries would harden into ruby red stones, and who needs Thanos knocking around their cupboard trying to complete his gauntlet (#InfinityWar, anyone?)? Glacé cherries are yummy, so I briefly considered just eating them whole, but I did not want to discover what these syrupy sweet wax-adjacent fruits would do to my system. The only other choice was to use them. How? Bake them into scones!
I’ve been on a serious scone baking kick for a few weeks now and I find they are such a fun bake. You get the satisfaction of bringing dough together with your hands and shaping it without the challenge of arduous kneading or the patience of proving. My husband, who was raised by a proper English lady, and my father-in-law, who is the spouse of that proper English lady, love to remind me that what I make are not “proper English scones.” Proper English scones are plain, fluffy white biscuits to be eaten with jam and Devonshire cream. They are not to have any added flavor or fruit, except for maaaaaybe currents. My mother-in-law, who is that proper English lady, only says kind things about my scones, because actual British people are nice. (I’ve had her scones with jam and Devonshire cream, and they are amazing.)
I was inspired to make my own scones by what may be the antithesis of the “proper English scone,” the Starbuck Scone. Like everyone in America, Brad and I live right across the street from a Starbucks, and down the street from a Starbucks, and caddy corner from a Starbucks. We had gotten in the habit of getting Starbucks scones nearly every morning. Brad would go for the cranberry orange scone, which is life-raft like in size and flavor profile, and I would go for the petit vanilla bean because who would not want a sponge if it is 120 calories and covered in icing sugar? They were convenient, carb-y and I had not yet discovered how delicious the homemade scone could be.
When it finally dawned on me that we could save a few bucks if I just took an afternoon to knock out a batch of scones, I started scrounging the internet for a recipe that seemed easy enough, didn’t have too many ingredients, and did not have enough sugar to qualify as a triangular cake, and I came upon this recipe on Epicurious from Bon Appetit, November 1998. It’s 4 out of 4 tiny red forks and a 96% “Make it Again” rating, and the tiny red forks do not lie – it’s a solid recipe. The first time I made this recipe, I made it pretty much as written except I subbed whipping cream and apple cider vinegar for the buttermilk and made the scones smaller so I got 16 out of the recipe instead of eight gargantuan ones. They turned out great, perfect for dipping in tea or coffee and they actually tasted way better than the Starbucks cranberry orange pontoon. I’ve since made the recipe in a couple of different variations including lemon, orange marmalade thumbprint, blueberry lemon thumbprint, and now these – my Mary Berry Cherry Cake Scones.
On Your Mark, Get Set, Bake!
Rooty tooty, prep your fruity. I prepped the cherries exactly as I did in for the cherry cake – by cutting them into quarters, rinsing off the syrup, drying in a kitchen towel, and borrowing a tablespoon of my flour and coating them. This time I actually did a double rinse – rinsing them before and after the quartering, and that did make the cherries less sticky to handle while cutting. Then I zested and juiced my lemons. I like zesting my citrus on the large side of my box grater instead of using the small side of the grater or a microplane for my scones. I know what you’re thinking – I’m a maverick! But I like finding the waxy pieces of citrusy zest in my scone. It adds to the texture, I think.
Sorry, buttermilk. After juicing, I took a tablespoon of my lemon juice and put it in the bottom of my liquid measuring cup and filled the rest with whipping cream up to one cup. Don’t stir it! Then the cream just thickens like sour cream and it’s harder to work with. I always sub out buttermilk for whipping cream plus an acid because, frankly, I find buttermilk kinda gross and not the kind of leftover ingredient I want hanging out in my fridge. It’s sour and weird, and how do you know when it is bad? Whipping cream is a lovely thing to find in your fridge. You have a wonderful excuse to pour whipping cream directly into your tea – decadent, I know, but you got to use up this leftover cream! Or I suppose you could be like The Dude and have a super rich white Russian. No one has ever looked at leftover buttermilk and felt hopeful. I apologize to all of the buttercows – it’s not you, it’s me.
Ground almonds, why not? Along with leftover glacé cherries, I had leftover blanched almond slivers from making the ground almonds for the cake, so I just blitzed enough to make a half-cup of ground almonds, which I swap out for a half a cup of the flour. I sieved the ground almonds through a medium sieve before I sieved them in with the rest of my dry ingredients.
Butterfingers. Incorporating your butter cubes is about the funnest part of this whole recipe. You drop the cold butter cubes into the dry ingredients and then you go in with your pinchy-crab fingers and just pinch and rub the butter into the flour until practically all of your butter is one with the flour and you end up with what looks like bread crumbs or a course meal. I have a pastry cutter, but I find it to be less efficient and satisfying than just getting in there with your hands. I’m like Paul Hollywood in that way, I like to get handsy with my dough. (But I am unlike Paul Hollywood in that I eat my cake with a fork not my hands, because I am a dignified person.) After you get to breadcrumb stage, mix in your prepped cherries.
Mixing and cutting dough. I give my lemon and cream mixture a quick stir before I add it a little bit at a time to the bowl. It’s the reaction of the “buttermilk” and baking powder and soda that gives the scone it’s little bit of rise, like a quick bread. Once all of the liquid is in, give the dough a little bit of a knead so that it comes together into a ball. I just knead it right in the big bowl. Why bother getting my counters dirty? Give the ball a light dusting of flour, then split it in two and give each of the smaller balls a light dusting so that they’re easier to handle. It’s always easier to handle balls after they’ve been powdered.
I transfer my powdery balls to a baking sheet that’s been lined with parchment paper and I pat them into round 3/4 inch thick disks. I’ve done it with a rolling pin, but I don’t think it makes that much of a difference. Then I cut each of those disks into eight even pieces, pizza style, and distribute those on your baking sheet so they’re about an inch apart because they will grow in the oven.
Adorn them golden triangles! While my scones were getting all puffy and golden in the oven, I toasted my almonds and cut my decorative cherries into eighths. When my scones were out, I made the lemon icing. It is the exact same two-ingredient icing as the cherry cake. You just add the lemon juice to the icing sugar a smidge at a time until the icing sugar just lets go of your whisk. You don’t want to add too much liquid, because you want the icing to keep its shape on the scone.
Once the scones have cooled for ten minutes on the baking sheet, I start decorating. I wanted to channel Nancy’s winning cherry cake for my icing job and went for a tight zig-zag. I would ice the scones one at a time and then stick on my cherries and almonds. I found I had to put dots of extra icing to get the cherries and almonds to actually stick, and while they turned out really cute, I got pretty fed up with the fiddlyness of sticking things on individually. When I make these again, I’m totally just going to make twice as much icing and just throw the toppings on. Not as cute, but way quicker, and who doesn’t want more icing?
The result?! These are my favorite batch of scones yet. The ground almonds add a little more cakeyness to the scone, which makes them perfect for dipping and soaking up your morning tea or coffee. The tartness of the lemon icing and the sweetness of the cherries compliment each other perfectly. And look how darling they are! They are sweet, adorable, and a little bit tart, just like Mary Berry herself!
Recipe: Mary Berry Cherry Cake Scones
Adapted a recipe from Bon Appetit, November 1998.
Ingredients
3/4 cups glacé cherries plus 7 for decoration
1 cup (minus a table spoon) of heavy whipping cream
Juice of 2 lemons
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Zest of two lemons
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons of flaked almonds
Directions
- Preheat and prepare the pan. Preheat your oven to 400° F and line your sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Prepare the cherries and cream. Quarter then rinse your 3/4 cups of cherries, then borrow a tablespoon from your flour to coat. Put a tablespoon of lemon juice in the bottom of your liquid measuring cup then fill to one cup with cream. Don’t stir.
- Mix dry ingredients. In a big bowl, sift your flour, ground almonds, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Then add your zest.
- Incorporate your butter and add cherries. Cut your butter into cubes and drop the cubes into your dry ingredients. With your fingertips, rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it looks bread crumby, then mix in the cherries.
- Add liquid and make the dough. Give your lemon juice and cream a quick stir, then add it a little bit at a time to your bowl, tossing the contents around with a fork. Once all of the liquid is in, knead the mixture together just until you can make it into a ball.
- Divide the dough into triangles. Cut the dough in half and cover each half lightly with flour. Make each half into a 3/4 inch thick disk on your sheet pan. Cut each disk across the diameter into eight triangles. Arrange the triangles into the sheet pan so they have some room between them on the sheet pan.
- Bake and toast your almonds. Place the sheet pan in the center oven and bake for about 17 minutes until your scones are a pale golden brown. While your scones are baking, toast your almonds in a dry pan on medium heat. Set aside to cool.
- Cool and get cherries ready to decorate. Once your scones are done, let them cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack. While your scones are cooling, slice remaining cherries into eighths.
- Make icing. Put your icing sugar into a medium bowl. Whisk in your lemon juice tablespoon at a time until it makes an icing just thick enough drizzle.
- Decorate! Ice your scones, then top with almonds and cherry eighths.
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