Cherry Scones

Let me start by saying this...

I don't like cherries.

There, it's out there now.

But, I really don't think it's my fault.

I blame cough syrup manufacturers.

Cherry-flavored medicine was one of the WORST ideas.

Although, I was very fond of playing Hi-Ho-Cherry-O upstairs at my grandparent's place.
Anyone else grow up playing that game?

Well, now that it's out there, I will tell you that my husband loves them.
A sweet friend brought us a bag that she got at a fruit stand and, I kid you not, he'd have eaten the whole bag (if his stomach wouldn't have argued with him about it later).

TMI?

ANYWAY, one of my favorite memories from my childhood was making scones with my dad. Our family recipe has worked for Chocolate Chip Scones, Blueberry Cinnamon Scones, Cinnamon Raisin Scones, and Cranberry Scones (sometimes with White Chocolate Chips, too - YUM!).

So, I thought I'd see what would happen if I tried Cherry Scones.

The beauty of this recipe is that you can add ANYTHING. I think the cherry scones would be great with dark chocolate chips added in but since I didn't have any, I used white chocolate chips.

Here's how it works:

Rinse off some fresh cherries.

Chop and pit the cherries until you have a cup and a half of chopped cherries. (At this point, I set them out on a paper towel to dry a little bit... it'll help later)

Place flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking powder and cream of tarter into a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir to combine.

If you're not familiar with cream of tartar, here's a picture. (You find it in the spice aisle. A certain husband, who shall remain nameless, might have thought that I was asking for a kind of cream and spent some time in the dairy section. Oops.)

Dice 2 sticks of butter and add to the flour mix.

Now, the way we used to do this when I was a kid was by using a pastry blender and combining it by hand. However, I use my fancy stand mixer with the paddle attachment to blend it all together.  It should resemble small crumbs.

Beat one egg and one egg yolk and add that to 2 tsp of vanilla and 1- 1 1/3 C half & half. (This is where it gets tricky - Use 1 C for fruit scones and 1 1/3 C for scones with things like raisins, chocolate chips, etc - or if you live in a drier climate.) Set this aside.

Add the cherries and cinnamon (and I might have added some white chocolate chips, too) to the dry ingredients and gently fold together. (I only use the paddle attachment on my mixer when making scones with hard ingredients like chocolate chips. For the fruit scones, use a spatula and be gentle!)

Make a little hole in the middle of the dry ingredients to pour the wet ingredients into.

Gently fold together until mixed... It doesn't have to be super well mixed. And, having a few little chunks of butter is ok. Scones are very forgiving.

Cover the dough and put it in the fridge overnight (or if you make the dough in the morning, you can bake them that night). DON'T SKIP THIS STEP. It makes the next part WAY easier and you'll want the butter in the dough to be chilled again.

When the dough is fully chilled, turn 1/4 of the dough out onto a floured surface. There's no kneading necessary. Sprinkle a little flour on the top and gently pat into a circle until the dough is between 1/2 and inch and 3/4 of an inch thick.

Use a large knife to cut the circle into 8 triangles.

I use a spatula to lift them onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. (Let's hear it for parchment paper! WHY DIDN'T I START USING THIS STUFF A LONG TIME AGO?!)

In another tiny bowl, beat an egg with 3 tablespoons of water and lightly brush the tops of the scones with this egg wash.

Sprinkle on as much sugar as you're comfortable with. ;)

Here's what they look like on the pan before baking:

And, after being in a 425 degree oven for 13-15 minutes:

That, my friend, is a beautiful picture. A delicious, beautiful picture.

Serve them warm with a little butter melting over the top.

I often try to convince myself that these count as breakfast, when, let's face it, they are definitely a dessert... or snack... or anytime sort of yummy treat.

I did bring a few over to the friend who brought me the cherries and she gave me her seal of approval, so now I feel comfortable sharing the recipe with YOU!

Click HERE to download a PDF of this recipe card.

***I live at a very high elevation, so to adapt this, I only use 3 tsp baking powder, I used 1 1/4 C half & half, and I did a slightly heaping cup of flour for the 4th cup of flour added.***

Enjoy!
-kt

S'more Pie

I'm making dinner for the JAW banquet tonight.

In other words, I'm cooking dinner for more than 15 people who are hungry.
All the time, hungry.

Camp life makes you very, very hungry.

So, I'm having 3 desserts.

Why not?!

(The JAWs are our Junior Assistant Wranglers. They are high school kids who come to camp for 3-5 weeks during the summer for intense training in teaching lessons, riding, and discipleship. They work hard and they play hard. On their last week here, we have a banquet for them. It's kind of a 'sending off' dinner and a chance for them to wrap up their session.)

When trying to decide on which desserts to make, I finally settled on one of them being a s'mores pie. I looked and looked and finally settled on this one because so many of them were actual pies, but THIS particular recipe looked like a s'more in a bowl.

Yes, please.

This is so easy, so delicious, and so so so much better than microwaving a s'more when you don't have a fire… this will be my new go-to in the winter when I just gotta have a s'more!

So, here you go!

Ingredients:
1 stick softened butter
1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used my food processor to crush my grahams)
1 tsp baking powder
7 oz marshmallow creme
8 whole Hershey's bars, unwrapped
1 cup marshmallows
1/4 cup chocolate chips

To make:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" pie pan.
In a large bowl beat butter and sugar together until combined, then add egg and vanilla and stir together. Stir in flour, graham crumbs and baking powder.
Divide the dough in half. Press half the dough in the bottom and up the sides of the prepared pie pan. Evenly spread the marshmallow creme over the bottom crust. Separate chocolate squares and place on top of the marshmallow creme.

This is where the Little Mister was happy to help; although, if you do have a 3 year old helper, you may want to open an extra bar. ;)

Place 1 cup of marshmallows on top.
Using the remaining crust, pat sec ions of dough on top of and around the marshmallows (they will still show through - I even left bigger holes than PW did). Sprinkle with 1/4 cup chocolate chips.

Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
Cool completely before cutting.

We're serving it with vanilla ice cream and the kids' choice of toppings, not that this will need it. :)

This recipe was originally found on the Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen blog. To see the original recipe with more pictures and for a printable version, go here.

-kt