Sour Cherry Scones

I was flipping through my cookbooks and I came across a sour cherry scone recipe.  Yum!  I froze a few pounds of sour cherries and I was willing to sacrifice a few to try this recipe.  That may sound funny but I always feel that the food that I preserve myself tastes better then store bought stuff.  My hope was to make a scone that didn't feel like a brick and had the yummy tang that sour cherries bring to the table.   I don't often make scones because they are not always sweet enough for me.  I like things sweet.  When I saw that this recipe only uses 1/4 cup of sugar I decided to make a glaze to drizzle on top.  I also wanted to add a crunch so in the end I changed the recipe by adding sliced almonds on the top and then drizzling with a vanilla bean glaze. 

Sour Cherry Scones  (The Craft of Baking - Karen DeMasco)

1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 T plus 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t salt
6 T chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 c pitted sour cherries, frozen or fresh
1 c plus 2 T heavy cream
sliced almonds
1 c powdered sugar
3 T milk
1 t vanilla paste

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Stir.  Add butter and mix until the butter is broken up in tiny pieces throughout the flour.  Add the cherries and mix just to stir them in.  Pour in cream and mix just until combined.  Using your hand, knead the dough just until it comes together.  Turn the dough onto a flour surface and shape the dough into a disk that is 7 inches round and 3/4 inch thick.  Cut the dough into twelve equal wedges.  Place the wedges on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze for 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Remove the scones from the freezer.  Brush lightly with heavy cream and sprinkle sliced almonds on them pressing them in lightly.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Scones should be firm and golden on bottom. 
While scones cool, prepare glaze.  Stir together powdered sugar, milk and vanilla paste.  Drizzle over warm scones and dig in!!!