Roasted Cherry Ricotta Scones with mini white chocolate chips. Making the best of the seasonal summer fruit, bringing to the table a breakfast delight. Light, crumbly, and sweet, they are just the right accompaniment to tea or coffee.
Song of the day: Sweet Cherry - UB40
One of the things my parents taught me about food is to eat seasonal fruits and veggies. It is a little harder to do at this latitude than it is in Italy, but we try to follow as much as we can.
You would never see summer vegetables in my parents' fridge during winter. Peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, zucchini, just to mention a few, make their appearance only when they are at their peak, and my parents can buy them at their local farmer's markets or get them fresh from their garden. Fruit consumption is regulated by season as well. They expect spring and summer to get their hands on strawberries, cherries, apricots, peaches, watermelon, and cantaloupe. When living with them, I never had a strawberry, which is my favorite fruit, during winter, and that made it even more exciting to wait for them to appear. I would eat that strawberry with a blissful smile on my face, welcoming it like I would welcome a found friend.
How Roasted Cherry Ricotta Scones came to be.....
Cherries are, instead, my mother's absolute favorite, and in the summer she tries to eat as many as she can before my father uses them to make jam (making jam is for my dad what eating cherries is for my mom 😉 ). Quite a pair, they are.
Here in Alberta, we don't have cherries, they tell me, other than deliciously tart and crimsonly red sour (Evan) cherries. So, when summer comes, we buy them at our local farmer's market from the vendors that bring them from a neighboring Region, British Columbia. Sweet, plump, and organic, you can find them in our fridge from when they start to appear until there are no more. We mostly snack on them or add them to smoothies in combination with other summer fruits, but today I decided they are going to be featured in what is possibly my most favorite breakfast item: scones. Moreover, to intensify their flavor and also lose a bit of the moisture (that scones don't like), I am going to roast them.
I had never roasted cherries before, pears yes, to make more delectable scones, but not cherries. Roasted Cherry Ricotta Scones are the answer to my dreams when I dream about my breakfast at night. And I do so. I cannot say it enough, the thought of what to have for breakfast is with me before I fall asleep and the first thing on my mind when I wake up. These Roasted Cherry Ricotta Scones are also special and particularly delicious because we used our homemade ricotta cheese. The recipe and instructions are coming real soon (here). It is a gift from Loreto's Godmother, teaching us to make ricotta since we love it and use it so much.
The recipe for these Roasted Cherry Ricotta Scones is our trusted recipe, the one we use for almost every scone we want to make. Pretty easy to follow, just remember there are "rules" when making scones:
- mix the dry ingredients together: flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt
- use cold butter, cubed, and work it fast into the flour with a pastry blender (or your fingertips) until it resembles a fine crumb
- add the wet ingredients when the butter is already incorporated: berries (and chocolate, in my case) before the cream/egg mixture, so as to coat them in flour and prevent them to lose too many juices
- lightly beat the egg and the cream before adding to the dry ingredients, so you don’t have to mix too much
- use your hands as little as possible, which leads to:
- do not overwork the dough
The Roasted Cherry Ricotta Scones are out of the oven and the smell is incredible, kind of when you make jam. Who needs artificial diffusers and incense sticks if you can bake, smell good, and eat it too?
The roasted cherries are plump little morsels and if you are lucky enough to have in the same bite some of the mini white chocolate chips, you are sure transported to Heaven. The texture of these scones is as it should be: light and flaky, with caramelized, sweet, crispy edges and top. I don't know about you, but when I'm eating scones, there is nowhere else I'd rather be.
Song of the day: Sweet Cherry - UB40
PrintRoasted Cherry Ricotta Scones
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 scones 1x
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (or flour 00)
- ¼ cup organic cane sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- ¼ cup mini white chocolate chips
- 1 cup cherries, washed, pitted and halved
- ¼ cup heavy (whipping) cream
- ½ cup (76 g) organic ricotta
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- whipping cream for brushing
- cane sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375° F.
- Line a medium-size baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange cherries on parchment and roast for 20 minutes. Cool to lukewarm. Leave oven on. Line baking sheet with another piece of parchment (or baking mat).
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Toss in cubed butter, and work it with a pastry blender.
- Add the cherries and the white chocolate chips and blend gently with a metal spoon till the cherries are nicely coated with flour.
- Whisk the ricotta and cream together in a small bowl, add the beaten egg, then add the wet mixture to the flour mixture.
- Gently mix the dough with your hands until it just comes together. Don’t overmix.
- On a very well floured counter, pat out dough.
- Cut into 6 wedges and transfer to the prepared baking sheet, closer together, but not touching (I keep them 2 inches apart).
- Brush with whipping cream and sprinkle with cane sugar.
- Bake scones until firm and golden, about 25-30 minutes.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Breakfast, Brunch
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: International
I love baking and kneading dough because it takes me to a happy place in my soul.
dissertation writing service says
Cherry is a seasonally available fruit which is loved by everyone. It's lovely taste itself is enough to please the minds of anyone. You have made a delicious dish using this cherry. It's really wonderful. We usually use cherries to decorate cakes or other dishes. But with this post you have shown us that tasty recipes can be with cherries as the main ingredient. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
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Thank you for your comment. Yes, they're not only a decoration but the main ingredient of these scones.
Milena Perrine says
I love this UB40 song (Sweet Cherry)! How perfect for these scones and of course you have to take advantage of the seasonal bounty! I bet they taste amazing with the ricotta folded in the dough. BTW, was very happy to see your Italian espresso maker in the main picture. Do you use it daily? I start each day with one like that:) Pinned!
Aha ah, I thought it was perfect too 🙂 . Thanks, Milena, yes, this is my caffettiera, but we do not use it daily, we alternate drip coffee, americano, espresso, cappuccino, keurig 🙂 .
annie@ciaochowbambina says
Now this is a post after my own heart! From the cozy setting to the delicious flavor.... This is a keeper, my friend!
Thank you, Annie! Appreciated. We loved these scones.
Elaine says
As you know from my Instagram feed, I have cherries galore right now! Such a perfect recipe for me for a Monday morning! Have a great week!
★★★★★
Yes! You have quite the amount of cherries right now 🙂 . Hope you like them! Have a great week as well!
Kristen says
I'm not a huge scone fan, but these sound to die for. Love ricotta and love cherries - can't go wrong with that combination. Yum!
★★★★★
Scones are my absolute favorites 🙂 . These ones with ricotta and cherries and white chocolate so so tasy. thank you!
Sean@Diversivore says
Now I'm dreaming of scones. You put it quite well - when you've got good baking in the house, who needs any diffusers or air fresheners? Love your attention to eating seasonally. It's something that we all need to think a bit more about - not only because of the environmental impact, but because seasonal foods just taste better! So cheers for (seasonal) cherries!
I always dream about scones, Sean! 🙂 Yes, so much more taste in seasonal fruits and veggies! Plus, they grown with the help of the sun, not with chemicals. Cheers for cherries!
Jessica says
These sound absolutely DIVINE! Currently cherry season so now I know what I'll be making very soon for brunch - these scones!
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Thanks, Jessica! So many BC cherries here now and they are so sweet. Perfect for these scones!
Diane Galambos says
Am crazy about cherries and am surrounded by them just now - though, in truth, the local cherries are not as perfect as BC cherries... I even have cherries in the freezer! Brilliant idea to roast them - am going to try that in some o my Hungarian recipes! Big hugs!
BC cherries are just so plump and sweet! We have sour cherries in the freezer 🙂 . Yes, use them in one of your recipes. Big hugs back, Diane!
Denise from Urb'n'Spice says
I thought I was the only one who thinks about breakfast the last thing at night and then wake up thinking about it the next morning! 🙂 I love your idea of roasting the cherries, Nicoletta. It is brilliant! My baking this week has involved lots and lots of BC cherries, so I will be sure to save some for your lovely scones. Thanks so much for sharing!
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I am so glad I am not the only one 😉 . I have just finished having breakfast with scones I made yesterday. I make them quite often 😉 . Thank you!!