The perfect decadent treat for summer! Tender and flaky, these easy (and vegan!) Dark Chocolate Cherry Scones are loaded with fresh juicy cherries and puddles of dark chocolate.
I recently bought a bag of fresh cherries for client photoshoot and had a LOT leftover, and thus this recipe was born. There’s something about the pairing of dark chocolate and cherries that is truly magical. The chocolate amplifies the sweetness in the cherries creating the perfect flavourful bite. Baked until golden on the outside and tender on the inside – we’re OBSESSED with how good these are.
These are perfect when you’re craving something sweet but you’re short on time. Scones come together with minimal dishes and ingredients and in under 40 minutes (including bake time). Made without dairy, eggs, or butter – these scones are completely vegan but taste just as decadent and delicious as their non-vegan counterpart.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Tender and flaky in every bite.
- Made with just 11 ingredients!
- Chocolate and cherries are the perfect pairing.
- Perfect for weeknight baking.
Top tips for making Vegan Dark Chocolate Cherry Scones:
- Keep the ingredients (and tools) cold! The most important tip for making flaky scones is temperature. For flaky scones that have a great rise keep all your ingredients and even your tools as cold as you can. Chilling the bowls and prep tools is great for beginners, so if you take a little longer to bring your dough together the bowl is keeping the ingredients cold. The key here is to ensure the butter remains in chunks. If the butter starts to get soft place your dough in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes before you continue with the recipe.
- Weigh the ingredients. Baking is a science, especially for recipes that rely on specific textures. To ensure the dough is crumbly but not dry use a scale to weigh out all the ingredients according to the recipe.
- Don’t overmix the dough. This goes for a lot of baking recipes, but if you overmix scones you runt he risk of a tough finished product. Scone dough should be crumbly but hold together.
- Avoid using your hands. Body heat can cause the butter to melt and we don’t want that! For best result use a metal pastry blender and only use your hands when absolutely necessary and for as short as possible.
- The dough should be crumbly. The perfect scone dough is just hydrated enough to hold together but should still be a little crumbly. For a better idea of what you’re looking for, check out our video tutorial.
- Bake the scones from cold. For flaky scones with a high rise it’s best to chill the finished scones before baking them! Just place them in the fridge or freezer for about 10-15 minutes while the oven preheats.
Ingredient Notes:
- Vegan Buttermilk – It’s the key ingredient in scones and to replace that in our vegan alternative all you need is soy milk and apple cider vinegar. Vegan buttermilk is an acidic ingredient so it reacts with the leavening agent allowing your scones to rise.
- Baking Staples – For this recipe you’ll need your favourite all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, icing sugar, and vanilla extract. Nothing fancy here, just your favourite brands should work.
- Vegan Eggs – To replace eggs in this recipe we’re using our go-to vegan egg replacement: flax eggs!
- Maple Syrup – To slightly sweeten the recipe we like to use maple syrup instead of sugar.
- Sweet Cherries – It’s best to use fresh, local cherries when you can. But in a pinch you can use frozen cherries.
- Dark Chocolate – We like to use a good quality dark chocolate bar and chop it into chunks for recipes like this. The flavour is more well rounded and you can delicious dark chocolate throughout the whole scone.
Recipe FAQ:
Can vegan scones be frozen?
Yes! Scones freeze super well before and after baking. To freeze them before baking, form the scones and store them in an air-tight container in the freezer. When ready to eat, you can bake from frozen (you may just need to bake a couple minutes longer) or thaw slightly then bake. To freeze after baking, allow the scones to cool completely and wrap or store in an air-tight container. Allow to thaw completely before eating.
Do you have to use vegan buttermilk?
We recommend using vegan buttermilk. Without it you run the risk of scones that don’t rise and aren’t tender – plus it adds some delicious flavour! If you don’t have apple cider vinegar on hand you can use lemon juice instead.
Is there a vegan butter substitute?
Vegan butter is key for flaky scones with a tender crumb so we’d advise you don’t substitute that ingredient. We used Becel plant based sticks for this recipe and if you have access we’d recommend using the same, but any vegan butter should work. If you don’t have access to vegan butter that you like, you can also use vegetable shortening like Crisco.
Other vegan scone recipes you’ll love:
- Glazed Cranberry Orange Scones
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Scones
- Lemon Raspberry Scones
- Easy Blueberry Scones
How to make Vegan Dark Chocolate Cherry Scones:
Dark Chocolate Cherry Scones
Ingredients
- 240 mL (1 cup) soy milk*
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) apple cider vinegar
- 7 g (1 tbsp) ground flax seeds
- 30 mL (2 tbsp) maple syrup
- 5 mL (1 tsp) vanilla extract
- 360 g (3 cups) all-purpose flour, + more for dusting
- 12 g (1 tbsp) baking powder
- 3 g (½ tsp) baking soda
- pinch salt, to taste
- 170 g (¾ cup) cold vegan butter
- 200 g sweet cherries, pitted and halved
- 100 g dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Before you start: Place your scone mixture in the fridge whenever you’re not using. It’s important to keep the dough as cold as possible to ensure you get flaky layers.
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- To a bowl combine non-dairy milk, apple cider vinegar, ground flax seed, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Mix and set in the fridge until needed.
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix until combined.
- Add cold vegan butter to flour mixture and using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture comes together in pea-sized crumbs. Having small chunks of butter in the mixture is what will form the flaky layers.
- To the flour/butter mixture, add the milk mixture. Mix until all the flour is incorporated into a dough. You may need to use your hands to gently fold, but don’t handle it too much or your body heat will melt the butter.
- Fold in the halved cherries and chopped dark chocolate until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Flour a clean flat surface and turn out the dough onto it. Sprinkle some flour over top and gently knead 1-2 times and press it into a disk about 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife cut the disk into pie slices – we opted for 8 total. Place scones on a lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Once baked, allow scones to cool about 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
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