Orange Spice & Dried Cherry Scones

Directions

1. Scones
2. Rinse lentils well, and make sure they contain no bits of debris. Place in small saucepan with enough water to cover by a half-inch or so. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until lentils are soft, then empty them into a strainer and allow to drain at least 5 minutes.
3. While lentils are cooking place your butter in the freezer. Zest then juice your orange. Mix your orange juice and tart cherries in a microwave safe mug, and heat in the microwave on full heat for 1 minute and set aside. Whisk your dry ingredients, including orange peel, together in a medium bowl. Place an oven rack in the upper middle position and heat your oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Place your drained lentils in a 2-cup liquid measure, and add enough cream to bring the volume to 1 cup. Use stick blender to blend until smooth. Add your 2 egg yolks and enough additional cream to bring the total volume to 1 & 1/3 cup. (You will have some left over cream, save it for brushing the tops of the scones before baking.) Blend until smooth, and place mixture in freezer to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, until slightly cool to the touch. Transfer to the refrigerator and proceed with the recipe.
5. Using large holes on box grater, grate your butter into your dry ingredients. Scrape residual butter off the grater with a knife so as not to lose much in the process. Using 2 knives or a pastry cutter blend the butter into the flour, until mixture resembles a coarse meal with a few larger pieces of butter.
6. Strain your cherries, reserving the juice to make a glaze for the scones.
7. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients, then pour the lentil mixture and dump the cherries into the well. Use a rubber spatula to fold the ingredients together until mostly combined, then dump the contents onto a lightly floured counter. Briefly knead the dough together until combined, no more than 5 to 6 strokes. The dough should be moist and a bit sticky. Form the dough into a rough ball, then gently but quickly pat into a 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick round. Cut the round into 8 equal wedges, using a chef's knife or bench scraper, and transfer them to a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Brush tops of scones with left over heavy cream. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until tops are light brown. Place baking sheet on cooling rack, and cool for 10 minutes before removing scones to the cooling rack. Glaze when barely warm & serve with tea or coffee.

1. Orange Cherry Glaze
2. Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Thin with additional orange juice if needed to achieve a good consistency for drizzling over scones. Drizzle over scones.