mmmmm, mondays: cherry chocolate chip scones -- guest post by bonnie @ inspiring pretty

ahoy-hoy. bonnie from inspiring pretty here. i am brand new to guest posting, so i’m not sure how much to disclose. should i just go straight to the recipe (which is a good one), or should i tell you about my baking addiction? or my tendency to sing kids’ show tunes in the most inappropriate situations. or that i have been affectionately coined ‘bargain bonnie’ because i literally cannot bring myself to pay full price for anything. one thing you should know is that i am a mommy. not just in the sense that i have children, but in the way that my mind is eternally set to mom time. even when i am away from my kids, i find myself thinking like a mom. “don’t drive too fast. wear a jacket. oooh, look at the chocolate chip pancakes!”

it was this mommy mentality that got me into trouble last week. you know how some holidays have an enormous build up to them, so that when they are over you are left feeling kind of…meh? that was valentines day for me this year. i went a little pinterest crazy with crafts and goodies. i wanted to make everything I saw, you know for the kids. so while i rocked it at the school parties, i now feel like there should be like a gradual return from the land of pink and red hearts to reality.

one of my favorite v-day projects was this recipe for cherry chocolate chip scones. i adapted it from the smitten kitchen, basically just interchanging her cranberries with my cherries and chocolate. The result was an empty plate, which in my house (of picky eaters) is synonymous with success. 

cherry chocolate chip scones

ingredients:

2 cups (10 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, preferably a low-protein brand such as Gold Medal or Pillsbury 

1 tablespoon baking powder 

3 tablespoons sugar 

½ teaspoon salt 

5 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes 

½ cup dried cherries 

½ cup chocolate chips 

1 cup heavy cream

 
directions:
1. adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425°F.

2. place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in large bowl or work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. whisk together or pulse six times. 

3. if making by hand, use two knives, a pastry blender or your fingertips and quickly cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal, with a few slightly larger butter lumps. stir in currants. if using food processor, remove cover and distribute butter evenly over dry ingredients. cover and pulse 12 times, each pulse lasting 1 second. add cherries and pulse one more time. transfer dough to large bowl.

4. stir in chocolate chips and heavy cream with a rubber spatula or fork until dough begins to form, about 30 seconds. 

5. transfer dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead dough by hand just until it comes together into a rough, sticky ball, 5 to 10 seconds. form scones by patting the dough onto a lightly floured work surface into a 3/4-inch thick circle and either a) cutting the dough into 8 wedges with a knife or bench scraper or b) cutting pieces with a biscuit cutter, and pressing remaining scraps back into another piece and cutting until dough has been used up. (be warned if you use this latter method, the scones that are made from the remaining scraps will be much lumpier and less pretty, but taste fine.) 

6. place rounds or wedges on ungreased baking sheet and bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. serve warm or at room temperature

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bonnie blogs at inspiring pretty along with lindsey and claire. it's a home for everything women care about. from recipes to weddings and spirituality to raising a family, we are here to share our lives with you and make yours prettier. our motto is 'a pretty home, a pretty faith, a pretty life'. born just outside chicago, illinois and raised in the mountains of colorado, bonnie found her home in southern california alongside her husband and three little boys. when she’s not cleaning up after all four of them, helping with school projects or making fabulously healthy dinners and scrumptious desserts, she enjoys being outdoors, a good cup of tea, writing and giving design advice to anyone who’ll listen. you can also find them on facebook, twitter and pinterest.