2. Sour Cherries - Sour Cherry Scones

When Miss C went away to New York this year, she returned raving about a place called Amy's Bakery and a sour cherry scone like no other. She tracked down the recipe and I decided to give it a go. These aren't a regular scone and turn out more like rock cakes than evenly risen buns. This may have something to do with it being my first time making these but they do have a very high fat content which makes spreading an inevitability. They are not the most beautiful things but they do taste pretty good (something to do with the amount of cream involved, no doubt).

Ingredients
510g plain flour
1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
200g light brown sugar
200g sour cherries
Between 600 and 630ml double cream
1 small free range egg, beaten lightly with a fork
Demerara sugar to sprinkle on each scone

You will also need 2 baking sheets lined with baking parchment.

Method

Preheat the oven to 210 C.

In a bowl, evenly mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, light brown sugar and dried cherries.

Make a deep well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour 600ml of the cream into the well. With a wooden spoon stir everything together until a soft dough is formed. The dough should be moist throughout and soft enough to form a round about 2 inches thick that will hold its shape without spreading. See how your dough looks and feels and add more cream if you feel it's a bit dry.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and gently shape each piece into a round about 2 inches thick. Using a sharp knife, cut the disks in half and then cut each semi-circle into 3 wedges. When you've finished cutting you should have 12 wedges.

Arrange 6 wedges on each baking sheet leaving a few centimetres of space between each scone to allow for spreading. Brush each scone with the beaten egg and sprinkle generously with demerara sugar.

Assuming that you don't have an industrial-sized oven, the scones will need to go on separate shelves and for even baking they will need to be moved around. Step one of the baking is at a high temperature to set a crust and encourage the scones to keep more of their shape. Place the scones in the oven (a tray in the top half of the oven and a tray in the bottom half (but not directly on the bottom of the oven)) for 7 minutes. For step two of the baking rotate the tins, reduce the oven temperature to 180 C and bake for a further 10 minutes. Rotate the tins one last time for step three and bake for another 15 minutes. The scones should be golden brown and firm.

Remove from the tins and allow to cool on a wire rack.

These have a rich and luxurious flavour and when teamed with the crunch of the sugared top they really are good. If I made these again I'd experiment a bit. I'd make them a bit taller (in the hope that they wouldn't spread so much and end up flat) and I'd start with a slightly hotter oven to set the crust. Don't let my photograph put you off - the taste definitely makes up for their unattractiveness!