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["Cherry Almond Scones:
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Preheat your oven to 400 degrees if it is on regular or 375 if you are using a convection oven; Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
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Wash your fresh cherries and use a pairing knife to cut them in half and remove all of the pits. Leave half of the cherries in halves and cut the rest into quarters. (I like to do this just for blending purposes, but you don't have to do this) Next, spread your cut cherries onto a baking sheet and place them into the freezer to flash freeze them until you are ready to work them into your dough. This step isn't 100% necessary, however, when it comes time to work the cherries into your dough, it is much easier to work with frozen cherries, and this will also help to ensure your dough doesn't turn pink from the fresh cherry juices.", "Meanwhile, prepare your scone dough. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together buttermilk, cream, egg, vanilla, almond extract and lemon zest; Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
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Next, in a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and ginger until evenly combined. Add in your cubes of cold butter and lightly toss to coat each of the butter cubes with the flour mixture. Begin working the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers or with a pastry cutter until most of the butter chunks are the size of peas, with a few larger almond sized chunks.", "Drizzle the cream & buttermilk mixture over the dry ingredients and use a fork to gently fold the wet into the dry ingredients until a ragged dough forms and turn the ragged dough out onto a cool lightly flour work surface. Now it is time to begin folding the cherries into the dough.", "Dust the dough with some additional flour if needed and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of your prepared frozen cherries. Gently fold the right half of the dough over onto the left half; sprinkle the top of the dough with another 1/4 cup of the frozen cherries and gently press them down into the dough sprinkle with additional flour if your dough is quite wet. Next, fold the left half of the dough onto the right half of the dough; sprinkle with another 1/4 cup of the frozen cherries and gently press them into the dough. Next, gently fold one half of the dough over onto the other half one final time.", "Gently pat/shape your dough into a 3/4-1 inch thick disk, and use a sharp knife to cut the disk into 8 equal parts. Place the 8 scones onto your prepared baking sheet; Brush the tops the melted butter and sprinkle with coarse sugar and slices almonds.", "Place the tray into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the tops spring back to your touch. Note - your scones will cook a bit faster if you are using a convection oven.", "Almond Glaze:
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While your scones are baking, prepare your almond glaze. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together milk, icing sugar, vanilla and almond extract until a thick yet still fluid glaze forms. You may need to add additional icing sugar or milk to achieve the desired consistency.
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Once your scones are ready to take out of the oven, remove them and place the tray onto a wired cooling rack. Allow the Scones to cool for 10 minutes and drizzle the glaze over the tops. Allow the scones to cool with the glaze on top for about another 5 minutes before serving.
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Serve the scones slightly warm or completely cooled - either way... they will be delicious :D"]
