Whole Wheat Scones Made With Rainer Cherries

So I'll admit I've been craving these scones all week but dreading making them because well I Hate Breakfast. I am a breakfast hater. And then once I finally made them, I wished I would have made them without the wheat flour. Don't get me wrong, they still tasted good but I wanted fluffier less dense scones. But here goes the recipe, feel free to substitute the whole wheat flour for all purpose flour.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups chilled and cubed butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup pitted and halved cherries(If you want you can freeze them to keep them from bursting in the dough)
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon coarse cane sugar


1. First things first, wash and cut your cherries and freeze them if that is what you want to do, I decided not to because the Rainier cherries aren't super juicy but if i was using Bing cherries I would have.


2.Preheat oven to 375 Degrees Fahrenheit


3. In a large bowl whisk together flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4.Now cut in your butter, I just used two knives in a back an forth motion (think hand bars on an elliptical machine how the go back and forth at opposite times)but if you have a pastry blender by all means use it. Mix until your dough looks like a coarse meal with plenty of small chunks of butter in it

5.Make an impression in the middle of your dough and pour the buttermilk in. 

Buttermilk I know its blurry... Sorry!

6.Now continue mixing with your knives or pastry blender until the dough forms a crumbly ball. The dough will still be somewhat dry so don't worry

7. Go ahead and transfer your dough to a space where you can knead it and shape it into a large rectangle. Press your cherries into the dough and try to get some fully covered.

8.Now you can cut your dough into four equal rectangles and than cut each rectangle on the diagonal to get pretty little scones.I personally did not do this because well i just wanted to eat, having it look pretty didn't matter because once again I hate breakfast.


9 Place scones on a lightly greased baking sheet(I couldn't find mine hence the pan)lightly butter the tops with the melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar to get a crunchy crusty top. 

10.Now you can chill your dough in the freezer for 5-7 minutes to help it keep its shape or be lazy and skip this step and go directly to step 11.


11.Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown, remove from oven and enjoy while warm with some homemade jam!

feel free to substitute the cherries for any other type of fruit, hell I was half tempted to just use frozen strawberries this morning so I didn't have to pit the cherries but I talked Dan into prepping the cherries for me so I stuck with them.

Raw packed cherries in simple syrup

The tastiest thing I've decided to add to my zombie apocalypse bomb shelter all summer!

So tonight I decided to raw pack a few pounds of cherries I picked up dirt cheap at work. Rainer cherries were on sale this week and I got about 5 pounds for $10! Now I love my cherries in the summer but what about that sad dreary time in the winter, I can only stuff sooo many apples down my throat.


Ingredients:
2 pounds fresh Rainer cherries pitted
2 cups of sugar
4 cups water
2 vanilla beans cut into small strips
And jars, I used 5 Weck 12.5 oz jars


First off if you haven't done it already clean and pit your cherries. You can use a fancy cherry pitter or if your a broke 23 year old like myself, you can just jab those little pits right on out with a straw!

Now you want to make sure you sterilize your jars and lids and in my case seals. Boil your many small components and keep them warm! We wouldn't want those precious jars to burst when we pour the warm simple syrup in!

Now while you wait for the jars to boil feel free to start making your simple syrup. In a small sauce pan over medium heat warm your sugar and water to a gentle boil stirring occasionally. You want the sugar to completely dissolve or you will have sugar crystals form in your jars after you are done processing everything. also now is a good time to cut up your vanilla beans.

Next take your freshly sterilized jars and fill them with the cherries. Make sure to leave enough space in the jar for your liquid to fully cover the cherries AND have room to expand. Now go ahead and add a strip of vanilla bean, pour in your syrup and attach the lid. 

Begin your hot water bath and process for 15 minutes.

Remove the jars from water place on cooling rack and allow to cool down. Check to make sure the jars are sealed and now marvel at how easy that was, along with how delectable those beautiful cherries look!

Go ahead and eat some now, but more importantly save some for later on when you miss that taste of summer! Plus the vanilla bean will enhance the flavor as time goes on the longer you wait the better!