Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones

I'm having another one of my food fads. You know, one week it was cupcakes. The next it was peanut butter cookies, and of course, ice cream took over there for awhile and the love affair with my new cuisinart ice cream freezer still hasn't cooled off (pumpkin ice cream anyone?). But this week, there is something new, something unexpected, something I didn't even know I like so much, let alone love.

Their version. I strive to replicate.

Isn't that how the best relationships get started?

This week, scones have stolen my heart and robbed me of my self-control.

I blame Spoon Market, that shop right next to my workplace. Even though I only work there once or twice a week, somehow I manage to scarf down 4 or 5 scones. You do the math. I'm beginning to think that those sprinkles of raw sugar sparkling atop each pastry is really some sort of addictive drug. Maybe cocaine. They are truly habit forming. And that good. As evidenced by my nonstop trips to their bakery counter, the crumbs all over my car and the lack of cash in my empty wallet.

And since I'm starting to be embarrassed by the knowing looks of the market workers who begin reaching for the scones even before I ask for one, it's time to make my own buttery flaky sugary chocolatey tart unbelievable scones.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Scones (makes 6)
Ingredients:
1 egg
2/3 cup heavy cream

2 cups all-purpose or pastry flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
Sugar in the raw, for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.

In a small bowl, stir the egg and cream together. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter  with the flour. Quickly, working  with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients. The butter will be in small chunks of all different sizes.

 

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork. Don't overdo it or the scones will be flat, not fluffy. Next, knead the dough a few times until it is slightly springy.

Lightly dust a counter with flour. Take about a third of the dough and press in onto the counter and pat it into a rough square. You're going to make a layered scone: place some dried cherries and chopped chocolate chips onto a third of the dough. Roll the dough over it, and continue the process on the next layer. Fold it over again, cut it in half and sprinkle sugar over the top.

 

Now, the scones can either be frozen for later use. When you go to bake them, don't defrost, just bake them for 2 extra minutes. For instant gratification, bake the scones for 15 minutes, or until their tops are golden. 

Spoon, watch out. These scones rock my socks. Good thing they only make six...