Lynne's Cherry-Oat Scones

I have 3 good scone recipes, but this is my favorite...It's whole-wheat nutty in flavor--with the added surprise of dried cherries. Sweet and rich, these are oh so good with coffee or tea in the morning.
This recipe comes from Lynn Ingram. She she managed to "bake 'em and bring 'em" to Bible Study one morning. And knocked our sox off. There we were, women in bare feet, munching happily away...

Note: You need to freeze these for at least two hours in advance of cooking. So, I would suggest making these the night before you cook them.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C whole wheat flour
2 C flour
3/4 C sugar (I cut the sugar down to 1/2 C--I tend to like things less sweet--like shortbread)
3/4 t salt
1 t baking soda
2 1/2 t baking powder
2 1/2 C oats
1 C dried sour cherries, roughly chopped (you can also use cherry-flavored dried cranberries)
10 oz. chilled butter, cut into pieces
2/3 C buttermilk
Topping; 1 T heavy cream,
1 T extra fine sugar ( I used regular sugar mixed with 1/8 t cinnamon)

Directions:

In a bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine all the dry ingredients with cherries. Add butter and mix on medium speed until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk. Mix until combined--taking care to mix as little as possible until you get a slightly wet, crumbly dough that will juuuust barely hold together if you pat it into a biscuit shape. If it will not hold together, you can always add a bit more buttermilk to the mixture.

Turn out the dough on to a clean work surface (I used my counter, and put a 20" piece of foil then a long piece of plastic wrap on top of the foil for my work surface). With hands, quickly pat mixture into a 16" X 3 1/2" rectangle that is 1 1/2 inches high (or thereabouts). Score rectangle into ten triangles. Lift up the edges of the plastic wrap and foil and fold them over at the top, covering and enveloping the scone dough. Transfer "packet" to freezer for at least 2 hours (keeps in freezer for a month or more).

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from freezer. Place scones 2" apart on baking sheet. Brush with cream and sprinkle on sugar or cinnamon-sugar. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown.