Easy and Simple All-Butter Cherry Scones

One of our favourite lunch or tea time treats are homemade cherry scones. This recipe is adapted from a Nigella Lawson recipe and is one that I have found that works every time. It’s easy and simple and makes 12 “largeish” scones. So here you go my all butter cherry scones recipe.

Cherry Scones

These simple and easy to make cherry scones are my go to recipe whenever we need a simple cake, snack or treat for weekend and holiday lunches. Easy to make and pretty much failsafe they are staple in the house.

Made with my homemade unsalted butter they taste even better but you could of course use any butter you want to use.

Ingredients for Homemade All Butter Cherry Scones

Adapted from Lily’s Scones from How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.

• 500g Plain Flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 4 and 1/2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 75g of homemade unsalted butter
• 200g Glace Cherries
• 280ml of semi skimmer milk + extra for wash

I use the Tesco Stockwell’s make of plain flour and have found that it needs less milk added to it than with other flours for some reason. So I reduce it by at least 20ml of milk when I make them as otherwise I end up with a very wet and “sloppy” dough.

How to Make Homemade Scones with Cherries

1. Preheat your oven to 200C
2. Add the flour, salt, bicarbonate of soda and cream of tartar into a bowl and mix together.
3. Cube the unsalted butter and add to the flour mixture.
4. Using your hands rub in the butter till it’s all completely incorporated and you have a fine sand texture to the mixture.
5. Chop the cherries in half and add them to the mix and mix together with your hands.
6. Pour in the milk and mix roughly together – you don’t want to over mix this mixture.
7. Once combined turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a very short while until blended and smooth.
8. Roll to around 2cm thick.
9. Using a 70-80mm pastry cutter cut out the scones. You will find that you have to roll up the scone again and the last one press into the cutter to shape.
10. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
11. Place the scones on the tray and brush the tops with a little milk.
12. Put in the oven for around 18mins (depending on your oven) and remove when the scones have risen and the tops browned.

What does it mean to “Rub in” in Cooking

Rubbing in the butter is a term used in cooking and especially in crumbles, scones and pastry. It’s the act of using your finger tips to combine cold fats and flour.

Make sure that your fats in the case of these scones butter is cold from the fridge and cube it into the flour. Then using your finger tips rub the butter into the flour so that it combines completely.

Once combined your mixture should look like fine sand or breadcrumbs depending on how much fats are added.

How to Serve Homemade Scones

These are best served warm with more of the homemade butter and some homemade jam or marmalade if you have any.

More Recipes from our Kitchen

• Apple and Cinnamon Muffins