This Simple Cherry Scones Recipe is a perfect easy recipe that you can enjoy for breakfast, brunch, or even dessert! Flaky dough is studded with fresh cherries, letting the popular fruit shine.
Table of Contents
Why You Will Love This Recipe
I absolutely LOVE cherry season and making so many recipes with the popular fruit, such as my super popular Homemade Cherry Jam!
Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or a cozy afternoon tea, these golden brown scones are a wonderful way to enjoy the sweet and tangy flavor of cherries.
They’re incredibly easy to whip up, requiring only a handful of pantry staples and a short time in the oven. Plus, you can use fresh or frozen cherries, making this recipe versatile and adaptable to what you have on hand.
Ingredients
Full recipe quantities and details can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Let’s talk about the simple ingredients you need to make these homemade scones!
Cherries – I love using fresh cherries when I have them, but this recipe is also great using frozen cherries! Make sure the pits are removed from the cherries, which I like to do with a cherry pitter (it is SO fast and easy), or you can use a metal straw to push the pits through (a little trickier). Dried cherries can also work!
All Purpose Flour
Granulated Sugar
Unsalted Butter – using unsalted butter in baking is best because it allows you to control exactly how much salt is in the recipe. If you do use salted butter, reduce how much salt you add separately to accommodate it. You also want to be sure to use cold butter – do not use room temperature butter (I grab it right from the fridge when ready to add).
Heavy Cream
Baking Powder
Salt
Optional: Our easy Lemon Glaze or Orange Glaze recipe would both taste great on top of the scones! If you do add it, just be sure the scones are completely cool first so that the glaze does not melt or roll off.
Instruction Overview
To make this fresh cherry scones recipe, first start by prepping your cherries.
Remove the pits if needed for fresh fruit (a cherry pitter is totally worth it as it makes this process faster and easier).
Then cut the cherries into fourths. I like that they are cut into smaller pieces so there are more of them throughout the scone dough, but they are still big chunks. Set aside.
Place the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse the flour mixture to combine.
Add the cold butter to the flour mixture and pulse until incorporated and it looks like coarse crumbs or wet sand, approximately 10-12 pulses.
Pour out the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
Add the cherries and heavy cream, and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
Press the scone dough into a greased round cake pan.
Chill the scone dough for 30 minutes. This helps the butter set up to prevent too much spreading in the oven.
At this point, preheat your oven.
Remove the scone dough from the fridge, slam out onto a counter on a lightly floured surface, and cut into 8 wedges like a pizza with a sharp knife.
Then, for small scones, cut each triangle into two smaller triangles for a total of 16 smaller pieces.
Place scones on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Spread the melted butter over the tops of the scones and sprinkle with a little more sugar.
Bake at 450°F (232°C) for about 13-15 minutes until the scones are turning a light golden brown. Bake time might vary slightly.
Leftover sweet scones can be stored in an airtight container up to 5 days. They also freeze well!
Kim’s Tips
Homemade scones can be covered and refrigerated up to 24 hours before baking, after cutting or after put into cake pan.
Freeze the sweet scones after cut and before baking for up to a month. Then bake as desired and directed in instructions, without thawing, although you may need to bake them a few minutes longer. Freeze them on a baking sheet, not touching each other, and then put them together in a bag. This makes it easy to remove just the amount you need without them being stuck together!
Refrigerating for 30 minutes is highly recommended as it helps the scones rise instead of being wide and flat.
I like to watch the bottom edges of my scones that are touching the baking sheet to make sure they are cooked enough and also do not get too dark.
Modifications and Substitutions
Frozen cherries can be used in place of fresh. Just thaw and drain before using.
Want to give the homemade scones some almond flavor? Add a teaspoon of almond extract with the flour in step 2 and/or some sliced almonds with the cherries.
I like to shape the scone dough in the round cake pan to help press it all together and give them their best chance at holding their shape. You can also just shape the dough by hand into a disc instead.
You can also make cute round scones using a cookie cutter! See our peach scones for these instructions.
If you are not using a food processor, you can cut the butter into the dry ingredients by hand using a fork or pastry cutter in a large bowl until in very small pieces and the mixture looks like wet sand. This just takes longer and some more elbow grease!
Top these scones off with our Lemon Glaze or Orange Glaze recipe if desired!
FAQs
To make great scones, make sure you are using cold butter! This helps the dough keep its shape.
Scones are typically made with more liquid, and biscuits are typically made with more butter.
When making scones, avoid using warm ingredients and avoid overmixing the scone dough.
Recipe Video
You can view our recipe video for our Blueberry Scone Recipe! It is the same process, using our basic scone recipe, just a different fruit!
More Homemade Scone Recipes
Cherry Scones Recipe
Equipment
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring spoons
- Food processor (see notes if you want to make by hand)
- Cherry Pitter if needed to remove pits, or metal straw
- Knife
- Round Cake Pan for shaping, optional
Ingredients
- 2 cups cherries (approximately 10-11 ounces) (fresh or frozen)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons sugar plus more for sprinkling on top, optional
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter unsalted, very cold, cut into ½ inch slices
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted, for topping
- 2 Tablespoons sugar for topping
- lemon glaze optional, for topping
Instructions
- Prep the cherries by removing the pits (if needed) and cut them into quarters. Set aside.2 cups cherries
- Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix.2 cups all purpose flour, 3 Tablespoons sugar, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
- Scatter the cold butter across the flour. Pulse until it resembles cornmeal or wet sand, approximately 10-12 pulses.5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- Pour out the flour mixture into a bowl. Add the cherries and heavy cream. Mix until just barely incorporated. Do not overmix (a little dry mixture is okay and preferred to overmixing).1 cup heavy cream
- Spray a cake pan with nonstick spray.
- Dump the dough into the cake pan and press into an even layer.
- Refrigerate the dough in the pan for 30 minutes (or longer, see note).
- Preheat oven to 450°F (232°C) with the rack on the middle shelf.
- After chilling, remove the pan from the refrigerator and slam onto the counter or cutting board. Repeat if needed until the dough disk falls out.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the disk in half, then half again in the opposite direction to give you four quarters. Then cut each piece in half again (think like a pizza) to give you 8 triangles. Then cut each triangle into two smaller triangles to give you 16 pieces (or you can leave them larger if preferred).
- If desired, coat with the melted butter and sprinkle with additional sugar for texture and color.2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 Tablespoons sugar
- Place the scones on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through baking. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Drizzle with lemon glaze if desired when completely cool. Store in a sealed container for up to 5 days.lemon glaze
