These lovely chocolate chip and cherry scones from the Bouchon Bakery cookbook are kissed with a cherry glaze and filled with plump cherries and melted chocolate in every bite.
I feel like every Bouchon Bakery recipe I post should come with some kind of disclaimer.
Like, THIS WILL NOT TAKE YOU ALL WEEKEND!!
I PROMISE!!
A REAL PERSON WHO HASN’T GONE TO CULINARY SCHOOL CAN MAKE IT!!
No really. I’m not lying!
Except….these scones will take you all weekend.
But, hey!
Don’t run away!
It’s not what you think!!
I guess what I should say is:
these will take you 3 days to make. But they are three low-stress, mostly hands off days!!
Night one: you prep the cherries. This involves simmering lots of good stuff on the stove for like 5 minutes and then popping them in the fridge overnight. Totally doable.
Day two: you make the batter, form the scones, and then freeze overnight. This includes a 2 hour chill in the fridge. Just, FYI.
Day three: YOU BAKE! AND GLAZE! AND EAT!
See, it’s not that bad! And by that I mean it’s REALLY REALLY GOOD.
Because then you get these scones at the end of it as a reward for all of your patience and hard work.
The scone dough itself is pretty basic and is not sweetened at all. It gets all of its flavor from the plumped up dried cherries and chocolate chips. The scones are then topped with a cherry glaze as soon as they come out of oven that basically melts into the dough and in your mouth. It’s like a breakfast dream come true. And so worth the three day wait.
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup sugar
- 20 g (1 tbsp + 1 tsp) kirsch
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 105 g (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) dried tart cherries
- 332 g (2¼ cups + 2 tbsp) all purpose flour
- 6.5 g (1⅜ tsp) baking powder
- 4.5 g (3/4 + ⅛ tsp) baking soda
- ¾ tsp kosher salt
- 133 g (9 tbsp + 1 tsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 100 g (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp) confectioner's sugar
- 45-50 g (2.5-3 tbsp) reserved cherry syrup
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- Combine the water, sugar, kirsch, and vanilla bean paste in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Add the cherries and bring back to a simmer. Once simmering, remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to a container and refrigerate overnight.
- Strain the cherries and reserve the syrup for the glaze. Set aside.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 15 seconds.
- Add the butter pieces to the stand mixer bowl and mix on low speed until the butter is coated in the flour. Turn the speed up to medium and mix until butter starts to get broken up and evenly distributes throughout the mixture, about 2-3 minutes.
- Slowly pour in the heavy cream, mixing on low speed just until the dough starts to come together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the cherries and chocolate chips to the batter. Pulse to combine.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, roll into a ball, and place on the parchment paper. Freeze for at least two hours or overnight.
- Heat oven to 350F.
- Bake until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes.
- While the scones are cooking, making the glaze. To do this, whisk together the powdered sugar, cherry syrup, and heavy cream together in a small bowl.
- Immediately drizzle the glaze onto the warm scones once they come out of the oven. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Part of me says “no way am I spending 3 days making scones.” The other part says “girl, who are you kidding? You regularly take 2 days to make cookies or cinnamon rolls.”
Ohhhh yum!! Those cherries with the chocolate sound soooo good! Love the kirsch in there too!
So, just to clarify, the frozen balls of scone dough go straight into the oven? Or do they thaw at all first? After all the prep time, don’t want to wind up with doughy centers :- P
Yes, they go into the oven frozen!