Sweet Milk Scones with Dried Cherries
Cook’s Illustrated The Best Recipe

2 cups AP flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1-2 Tbsp sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
1/2 cup dried cherries or other small dried fruit
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup whole milk

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450. Allow the oven to come up to heat before making dough.

Place flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the cherries and butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal with a few slightly larger butter lumps.

Add the milk and puolse until dough just starts to gather into a rough ball. Do not overprocess or scones will be tough. Turn dough onto a well-floured work surface.

Quickly press dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Use a lightly greased and floured 3-inch biscuit cutter (or whatever, I used a wine glass with a diameter or 3 inches) to stamp dough with one decisive punch, cutting close together to generate as few scraps as possible. Reassemble scraps and cut more scones. Place dough rounds 1 1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet lines with parchment. Sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sugar. Bake until scones are lightly browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately.