Dried Cherry Scones are an adorable Valentine’s Day breakfast! These homemade scones are super easy to make and will have your entire family feeling the love.
These Dried Cherry Scones are amazing. They’re buttery and crumbly and the dried cherries add the perfect amount of tart. My kids are obsessed and ever since we started making this homemade version, they’ve been a Valentine’s Day breakfast staple in our house.
This scone recipe was inspired by the delicious pastries at a local shop in our neighborhood. Nestled deep in our local park — which is more like a local forest — is a charming little food shack which sells some of the most enticing baked goods you’ve ever tried. It’s usually packed with an assortment of families, hikers and locals looking to relax and enjoy a light bite before hitting the trails or the playground. We’ve been going to this place since Kenya was a baby and he and his sisters light up anytime they know we’re headed there.
The word “shack” may conjure up the wrong image of this place, but I can’t think of a better name for it. Regardless, it’s totally charming and with pretty much anything I eat there I wonder, “what do they put in this to make it taste so good?” My kids particularly love their scones. Whenever they see these fresh, gorgeous, crumbly pastries stacked up neatly in the window, they get so excited that words seem to fail them.
With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I thought it would be fun to make heart-shaped, dried cherry scones with the kids. This is a great recipe to cook with your little ones. Mine love mixing the ingredients together with their little hands, shaping the dough into a big circle and then using a cookie cutter to press out hearts. Of course they taste just as yummy if you don’t have any heart shaped cookie cutters!
While the kids still love going for scones at our special shack in the woods, they majorly approved of our homemade version. I guarantee there will be a lot of love in the air at your house too when these come out of the oven!
If you’re looking for more Valentine’s recipes try my Raspberry Cream Cheese Heart Tarts, Waffle Heart Sandwiches or Puff Pastry Berry Hearts!
Dried Cherry Scones
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and chopped
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup dried cherries
- 1 egg, beaten or 1 tablespoon heavy cream*(See step 7)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Whisk the first four ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture and mix with either your fingertips, a pastry blender, or two knives until it forms the texture of coarse meal.
- Add the milk and cherries and mix gently until just incorporated (the dough may look a bit dry, but allow it sit for a few minutes and the flour will soak up all the milk).
- Place dough on a lightly floured surface and gently press into a 1″ thick circle.
- Cut out scones using a heart shaped cookie cutter.
- Place scones on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg or heavy cream, if desired (this will give the scones a golden crust)*.
- Bake in oven for 25 minutes.
- Move immediately to a wire cooling rack and serve.
Have you tired to make these gluten free with bob’s one to one gluten free flour?
It made only 8 scones for me – i added cinnamon Yummy!
Catherine, I love this recipe. I was at a local cafe today & had afternoon tea with my son. They served a scone with crystallized ginger. He devoured that thing! So, for my luncheon with friends tomorrow I’m making this with ginger instead of the cherries. Hope it goes over well!
Fresh cherries would probably work if you cut them into small pieces and as long as they aren’t too juicy!
Do you think this could work with out the cherries being dried