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These dried cherry scones are filled with tart cherries, mini chocolate chips, and fresh orange zest. They’re light, flaky, and the perfect companion for a hot cup of coffee or afternoon tea. All you need is 9 simple ingredients!
The best part of this simple scone recipe is it’s straightforward and approachable! When I first began making fresh scones at home, I thought it would be a long, complicated process. I’m happy to share that that’s not the case at all! This cherry scone recipe will only take you about 15 minutes to prep and 25 minutes to bake, meaning you can be eating warm, sweet scones in just under an hour!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Flour: We kept it simple here and made our homemade cherry scones with simple all-purpose flour. It’s light, fluffy, and helps make the best soft, flaky scone texture.
- Sugar: Granulated cane sugar sweetens the dough without overpowering the flavor. In order to ensure your scones are vegan-friendly, opt for organic cane sugar.
- Baking powder: This leavening agent helps puff up the scones and makes them tall and flaky. For best results, make sure your baking powder is fresh. Baking powder loses its leavening powers after a few months and is no longer as active of an ingredient.
- Refined coconut oil: We swapped the cold butter for refined coconut oil in our scones recipe. If you don’t mind a coconut undertone, feel free to use unrefined coconut oil.
- Dried cherries: We developed this recipe using dried cherries. They last forever in the pantry and have the added bonus of making it easy to make cherry scones year-round. No more waiting for cherry season!
- Mini chocolate chips: Mini chips fold better into the scone dough than normal-sized chocolate chips. Some of our favorites are by the brand Enjoy Life! They’re naturally allergen friendly and are perfect for sharing.
- Almond milk: Our homemade almond milk is a go-to in all of our vegan recipes, but feel free to opt for your favorite unsweetened plant-based milk.
- Orange juice + zest: This adds a unique citrus flavor that brightens the flavors in these cherry scones and makes them bakery worthy. Don’t skimp on the zest here – it makes all the difference!
Equipment Needed
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper or silicone mat
- Large mixing bowl
- Pastry cutter
- Wooden spoon
- Sharp knife or bench scraper (for cutting the scones)
How to Make Dried Cherry Scones
- Hydrate the cherries: In a medium-sized bowl, add the dried cherries. Pour over the boiling hot water and mix. Set aside to hydrate for 10 minutes.
- Combine the flour mixture. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until uniform.
- Cut in the coconut oil. Add the solid coconut oil to the bowl with the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in the coconut oil until the mixture forms fine crumbs.
- Add remaining ingredients. Drain the dried cherries and pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel. Add in the cherries, mini dark chocolate chips, unsweetened almond milk, orange zest, and orange juice. Mix until a soft dough forms.
- Cut into 8 equal wedges. Turn the scone dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat the dough into a large circle, about 8 inches wide and 1/2 an inch thick. Cut into 8 even triangles, similar to how you would cut a pizza.
- Bake! Transfer the cherry scones to the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Serve. Allow the homemade scones to cool on a cooling rack, then serve as desired!
Serving Suggestions
These dried cherry scones make the perfect quick breakfast, afternoon snack, or even dessert when served with a dollop of Coconut Whipped Cream on top of the scones! You can also smear the scones with a spread of peanut butter, vegan butter, or Chia Seed Jam!
They also pair perfectly with our Homemade Chai Latte, Easy Vegan Matcha Latte, Homemade Cold Brew, or a mug of your favorite cup of tea.
Storage Instructions
Baked cherry scones will keep for up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, but refrigeration does cause them to become much more dense.
Scones can also be frozen. To freeze baked scones, simply allow the scones to cool completely on the baking sheet, then place the baking sheet in the freezer. Freeze the scones until solid, about 2 hours. Then, transfer them to a freezer bag or freezer safe container and freeze for up to 2 months.
Thaw frozen scones at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator and enjoy room temperature!
Recipe FAQs
We have not personally tested a gluten-free version of these cherry scones, but you may be able to replace the all-purpose flour with a gluten-free flour blend. We’ve had good results using Bob’s Red Mill’s gluten-free flour blend in many of our other gluten-free recipes.
Yes! We made our scones using vegan-friendly dark chocolate chips and almond milk to make them 100% vegan. But your non-vegan friends won’t tell the difference – these cherry scones taste exactly like regular, soft, buttery ones.
The dried cherries can be replaced with fresh fruit, but we’d recommend folding them in at the very end to prevent mashing them. Depending on how ripe they are, the cherry juice can also bleed into the dough and turn it pink.
A rolling pin can be helpful, but it is not needed! We could quickly form our dough into a round shape using our hands. That said, a rolling pin can help prevent the coconut oil from melting – especially helpful during the warmer months.
More Delicious Breakfast Recipes You May Enjoy:
- Healthy Breakfast Bars – these date-sweetened oat bars are the perfect on-the-go vegan breakfast.
- Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread – take your banana bread to the next level with a swirl of chocolate.
- Vegan Zucchini Muffins – healthy muffins ideal for the zucchini season.
- Gluten-Free Lemon Poppyseed Breakfast Cookies – try these bright Spring cookies for meal prep!
- Oatmeal Breakfast Bars – similar to our healthy breakfast bars, these oatmeal breakfast bars are the perfect spin on the classic bowl of oatmeal.
- Vegan Apple Cider Coffee Cake – light, cinnamon-y cake that also pairs beautifully with a cup of coffee.
Make sure you tag us on Instagram @sweetsimplevegan and @consciouschris and hashtag #sweetsimplevegan if you recreate any of our recipes, we love to see your photos!
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Dried Cherry Scones Recipe
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 scones
Description
These dried cherry scones are filled with tart cherries, mini chocolate chips, and fresh orange zest. They’re light, flaky and the perfect companion for a hot cup of coffee or afternoon tea. All you need is 9 simple ingredients!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dried cherries, roughly chopped
- About 2 cups boiling hot water
- 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup organic cane sugar
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 5 tablespoons solid refined coconut oil
- 1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips*
- 3/4 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 2 teaspoons orange juice
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the dried cherries. Pour over the boiling hot water and mix. Set aside to hydrate for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and mix until uniform.
- Add the solid coconut oil to the bowl, and using a pastry cutter or a fork, cut in the coconut oil until the mixture begins to form fine crumbs and become sand-like.
- Drain the dried cherries and pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir until the mixture forms a uniform and soft dough. Add additional almond milk (1 tablespoon at a time) if your dough is too dry and crumbly.
- Flour a clean surface or cutting board and turn the dough out onto it. Form it into a large circle, about 8 inches wide and 1/2 an inch thick, and cut into 8 even triangles. Gently separate the scones and then transfer them onto the lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the scones from the oven and cool before serving.
Notes
- Be sure that the chocolate chips you are using are vegan!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: breakfast, side, baked goods
- Cuisine: Vegan
Keywords: scone, breakfast, side, pastry
Nutrition facts label provided by Nutri Fox.
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These chocolate cherry scones are bursting with flavor and the added CBD oil is amazing in curing many health issues such as anxiety, depression and headaches making sure your’e in top shape!
Oh my goodness, these are so so neat! I definitely want to try baking with CBD oil. Not sure if I’d use it on a regular basis yet, but for now, they’ll go into some tasty treats like these scones!