Bittersweet Chocolate and Montmorency Cherry Scones

Having been convinced, by a candle that smells like Gwyneth Paltow's vagina, that the only way to survive the pandemic is "clean" eating, I broke out the bag of turbinado (raw) sugar that's been sitting in the pantry for two years and made a batch of scones.  They're baking in the oven as I type this.

I have no idea how they'll turn out.  I've never made scones before today.  I like scones, but if I'm going to whip up something in the kitchen, it's usually something to feed a crowd (like a couple dozen cupcakes) or that can be single-serving frozen (like cookie dough) for the need-to-have-now cravings that occasionally make their appearance.

Every once in awhile, I'll pick up a scone for myself from our local co-op while grabbing a rustic croissant for my super hot Husband.  Husband treats croissants like a guilty pleasure and rarely eats them in front of me - saving it for a snack (he swears).  Not wanting to moan in glutinous, pastry based ecstasy is my hunch.

The problem with the local co-op scones is that they're way too dense.  A common problem with gluten-free baked goods of all varieties.  I mean, my wedding cake was delicious and I could have done better at home with one hand tied behind my back.  It wouldn't have been as pretty and I love the pictures that will eventually make their way into our wedding album, if we ever find the time to sit down and prioritize those pictures we want highlighted.  Perhaps this pandemic and the requisite extra time at home will make that happen.

That, however, is really neither here nor there.  It's somewhere in the ether.  What's here is scones - or the recipe for scones.  What's there is the actual scones baking in my kitchen oven.

I used this recipe by Stella Parks as a base for my first scone experiment.  I'm not such a fan of milk chocolate in my baked goods.  Gwyneth Paltrow's vagina candle convinced me that "closer to the natural state" is the only thing that will save us.  So, I swapped out the milk chocolate and added bittersweet chocolate instead.  Being celiac, I also substituted gluten-free flour for the all purpose flour.  Then, deciding that what a scone with bittersweet chocolate truly needed was some montmorency cherries and almond, I adjusted the amount of flour to accommodate blanched almond flour and cut back on the amount of chocolate to accommodate some dried cherries.

Here's the modified recipe:

7 ounces gluten-free flour
2 ounces blanched almond flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp sugar
2 ounces high-fat butter (Hope Creamery)
3 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
2 1/2 ounces dried montmorency cherries
2 ounces whole milk
6 ounces heavy whipping cream
1 tsp almond extract

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling


Pre-heat the oven to 400F.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar.  Cut in the butter until it all forms a coarse meal.  Stir in the chocolate and cherries.  Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, cream, and extract.  Mix to combine.

Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and shape into a 7" round.  (Rather than buy one of those fancy boards or try to draw a 7" circle on my paper, I placed my parchment paper on the bottom of an 8" round cake pan and patted the dough out to within 1/2" of the pan edges).

Cut into six wedges, sprinkle with a bit of turbinado sugar, and transfer the parchment paper to a baking sheet.  Bake for 25 minutes.


I just heard the kitchen timer warn me that there is one minute left in baking.  Let's hope this worked well and that they taste better than Gwyneth Paltrow's vagina candle smells.