Dried Cherry Orange Scones

Standing at attention, eyes front, my elementary school days began with a resounding rendition of G’d save the Queen, the British national anthem. Canada is a commonwealth country and the Queen is its constitutional monarch. On the 6th of February this year, Her Majesty The Queen became the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee, marking seventy years of service. The Queen has reigned longer than anyone in modern history. To honor the occasion of the anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne, we’re baking scones, albeit a North American version of that popular British teatime treat.

Dried Cherry Orange Scones

This recipe is adapted from über talented food writer and cookbook author Dorie Greenspan in her brilliant, newly released cookbook, Baking with Dorie: sweet, salty & simple. Personalize these scones with your choice of add-ins such as chocolate chunks or your favorite dried fruit. With a few simple ingredients you can enjoy a breakfast treat worthy of royalty, in under an hour.

The best scones are crispy on the edges and tender in the middle. These buttery, flaky, pastries are surprisingly easy to make with just a few tips that will ensure your success:

• Always start with very cold ingredients. Cold butter creates steam as it melts in the oven, which helps lift and form flaky layers. If you grate frozen butter over the flour, it only takes a few seconds to toss and coat the fluffy shreds of butter with the flour. The frozen butter keeps your dough nice and cold, and will melt perfectly in the oven.
• After whisking the liquid ingredients together, mix them into the dry ingredients with a fork, stirring only until the dough ingredients are moistened and hold together. Don’t overwork the dough.
• For the best texture and highest rise, the bakers at King Arthur Baking recommend placing the pan of scones in the freezer for thirty minutes before baking. Chilling the scones relaxes the gluten in the flour which makes the scones more tender and allows them to rise higher. It also ensures that the fat in the scones is well chilled which will make the scones a bit flakier.

Assemble your ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater into the dry ingredients. Using your hands, toss the shreds  of butter with the flour. Press the butter flakes into the flour, rubbing the flour gently with your finger tips. You should have uneven small pieces of butter coated in flour scattered throughout the mixture. This will be a pebbly mixture. If you don’t have a box grater, cut the cold butter into small pieces and mix with the flour as described.

Grate the rind of one orange into the flour mixture and add the dried cherries. You can use any dried fruit you like if dried cherries are unavailable. Other good choices include raisins, cranberries, chopped prunes or apricots. You can use grated lemon rind or a teaspoon of vanilla instead of the orange rind. Whisk the egg and milk lightly. Make a well (small depression) in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Using a fork, stir everything together until the flour is moistened and starts to come together and form a dough. This dough is sticky. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on a baking sheet. Scrape the dough into the middle of the sheet of plastic wrap. Wet your hands and pat the dough into a 6-inch circle. Cover the dough with another sheet of plastic wrap and place the circle of dough in the freezer for a 1/2 hour.

Place a rack in the middle position of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the circle of dough from the freezer. Take off the plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife cut the circle of dough with a straight up-and-down motion into quarters and then cut each quarter in half so that you have 8 wedges. (At this point you can rewrap the wedges in plastic wrap and freeze for up to two months.) Move each wedge to the parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush each scone with milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar if desired. You can also skip the demerara sugar topping and glaze the scones after they’re baked. Bake the scones for 16-18 minutes. The baked scones will be light golden on the top and bottom and a toothpick inserted in the middle will come out with just a crumb or two clinging to it. To glaze the scones, combine the orange juice and confectioners’ sugar. Drizzle the glaze over the scones while they’re still warm. Try and wait 15 minutes before enjoying a scone.

Print Recipe

Dried Cherry Orange Scones

Breakfast, Bread and Muffins

By Dorie Greenspan, Baking with Dorie – Serves: 8

Prep Time: 10 minutes + 30 minutes freezing – Cooking Time: 16 minutes – Total Time: 26 minutes + chilling time

Buttery, flaky, pastries that are crispy on the edges and tender in the middle, scented with orange and studded with sweet-tart dried cherries.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups (340 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• Grated rind of 1 orange
• 1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons; 3 ounces; 85 grams) frozen unsalted butter, grated on the large holes of a box grater, or cold butter cut into small pieces
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup (250 ml) cold milk
• Topping
• 1 tablespoon milk, for brushing scones
• 2 tablespoons demerara sugar (skip if using glaze below)
• Glaze
• 1/2 cup (60 grams) confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tablespoon orange juice

Instructions

1

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater into the dry ingredients. Using your hands, toss the shreds  of butter with the flour. Work it in quickly using your finger tips. You should have uneven small pieces of butter coated in flour scattered throughout the mixture. 

2

Grate the rind of one orange into the flour mixture and add the dried cherries. You can use any dried fruit you like if dried cherries are unavailable. Other good choices include raisins, cranberries, or chopped prunes or apricots. You can also substitute lemon rind or vanilla extract for the orange rind.

3

Whisk the egg and milk lightly. Make a well (small depression) in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the wet ingredients. Using a fork, stir everything together until the flour is moistened and starts to come together and form a dough. This dough is sticky.

4

Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on a baking sheet. Scrape the dough into the middle of the sheet of plastic wrap. Wet your hands and pat the dough into a 6-inch circle. Cover the dough with another sheet of plastic wrap and place the circle of dough on the baking sheet in the freezer for a 1/2 hour.

5

Place a rack in the middle position of the oven and preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the circle of dough from the freezer. Take off the plastic wrap. Using a sharp knife and a straight up-and-down motion, cut the circle of dough into quarters and then cut each quarter in half so that you have 8 wedges. (At this point you can rewrap the wedges in plastic wrap and freeze for up to two months.) Move each wedge to the parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the scones with a tablespoon of milk and sprinkle with demerara sugar if desired. You can also skip the demerara sugar topping and glaze the scones after they're baked.

6

Bake the scones for 16-18 minutes. The baked scones will be light golden on the top and bottom and a toothpick inserted in the middle will come out with just a crumb or two clinging to it.

7

To glaze the scones, combine 1 tablespoon of orange juice and 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar. Drizzle the glaze over the scones while they're still warm.

Notes

Baked scones taste best on the day that they're made. They can also be wrapped well and frozen unbaked as described above and baked at a later date. Remove the frozen scones to a lined baking sheet as the oven preheats. You may need to bake them a couple of minutes longer than if they were not frozen. To reheat room temperature scones, tent lightly with foil and warm in a preheated 350 F. oven for about 10 minutes.