The weekends are my favorite time to have a decadent breakfast, a strong cup of coffee and relax with my partner. Reading while munching on a scone or other baked treat, taking the morning slow and being generous with time, these are some of my favorite activities on Saturday morning. I’m not quite sure where this decadence starting, but I’ll surmise a guess that it was in Italy. How could you not fall in love with this tradition while having un cafe e un cornetto (an espresso and small sort of croissant). What weekend rituals have you adopted? Another element to this, is that I am through and through an early bird. That worm is always mine. My partner on the other hand, could sleep the entire weekend. So when I am awake at 6:30 am on a Saturday, he is soundly asleep, sprawled in the middle of our bed. I have found this time is a perfect time to bake, almost a meditation while I mix butter, flour and sometimes sweet, sometimes savory ingredients. When he finally awakes, the love poem I have written him in baked form greets him and is a gentle reminder of my love for him and that I have been awake for at least four hours.
While I am enrobing myself in a scone, a deep rich cup of French Press coffee and a book, a vinyl record spinning in the background neatly frames this scene. One of my current slightly upbeat, warm, mood setting albums is Veneer by José Gonzáles. A very good friend told me about this artist and I haven’t looked back since. He has an expert hand in lifting my mood, yet continuing the mellow morning I’m looking for. Once this album and breakfast is complete, I am ready to conquer my weekend. I hope you will feel the same.
Vinyl: José Gonzáles – Veneer
Cherry-Almond Buttermilk Scones
Prep Time – 20 minutes
Bake Time – 25-30 minutes
Total Time – 45-50 minutes
Serves approx. 8
Ingredients
o 1.5 cups of all purpose flour
o ½ cup of cake flour (avoid self-rising)
o 2.5 tsp baking powder
o 3.5 Tbsp granulated sugar
o ¾ tsp salt
o 1 stick of unsalted butter (4 oz or ½ cup), cut into ½ tbsp size pieces
o 1 cup of sweet cherries, diced into quarters
o 2 tbsp sliced almonds
o zest of one lemon
o 1 whole egg
o ½ cup of cultured low-fat buttermilk
o ¾ tsp vanilla extract
o optional: 1 egg for an egg wash
Instruction:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or canola oil spray. Alternatively cover with parchment paper.
- Whisk the first five ingredients together in a bowl. Add in the butter and using a pastry cutter or your fingers, mix in the butter until the mixture looks coarse and there are minimal lumps of butter.
- Stir in the cherries, almonds and lemon zest. Mix to coat the cherries in a light dusting of flour.
- Crack an egg into a bowl, add in the buttermilk and vanilla and whisk until combined. Gently pour the mixture over the flour mixture and stir to combine, until the dough is starting to come together. There may be some flour left in the bottom of the bowl. Be careful not to overmix.
- Pour the mixture onto a floured counter and continue working the dough with your hands until it starts to come together into a large flat disc, 3-4 turns with your hands at most. Shape this into a disc shape and cut into 8 -10 wedges.
- Place the wedges on your baking sheet, brush with beaten egg wash if desired. If brushing with egg wash, place a few almond slices on top of the brushes scones for an extra visual pop and place into the oven. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes:
These scones keep well on the counter for two days and will keep even longer wrapped in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. They can be rewarmed for lazy weekend breakfasts or for last minute guests.
If you want to increase the almond flavor, reduce vanilla extract to ½ tsp and add in ¼ tsp of almond extract.