Saturday, October 2, 2010

Petite Vanilla Scones


Petite Vanilla Scones
(she is a much better photographer than I am, and I hate her for it.) (if "hate" means "adore.")

SCONES
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
2 sticks cold salted butter, cut into pea-sized chunks
1 egg
¾ cups heavy cream
2 tbsp. vanilla bean paste

GLAZE
2 cups confectioners sugar
cream and milk (see note below)
1 tbsp. vanilla bean paste
a pinch of salt

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles crumbs. (I worked quickly and smooshed the butter chunks into the flour with my fingers.. I swear my baking utensils are gonna be packed in boxes until the end of frickin time.)

Whisk vanilla paste into cream, then whisk in the egg. Combine with flour mixture; fold gently until the mixture barely comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and lightly press it together until it forms a rough rectangle. (Mixture will be pretty crumbly.) Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle about 1 inch thick.

I used a floured pizza cutter to trim the dough into a rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 symmetrical squares/rectangles, then cut each rectangle into 2 triangles.

Transfer to cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes. Cool completely.


VANILLA GLAZE
Combine all the ingredients to form a glaze that drizzles thickly from between the tines of a fork, kind of like Elmer's glue.

Note: I purchased an 8 oz. carton of heavy cream, but I had about 2 ounces left over. Instead of pitching it or letting it rot in the fridge, I just dumped it into the glaze.. worked just fine. I just added enough liquid to get a nice, thick glaze. I also think using the full 3 cups of sugar will leave you with too much glaze left over to have justified using so much real, expensive vanilla. The amount I made was perfect to submerge each scone, then scrape off the excess gently with the side of a fork. The glaze is thick enough that it settles down smoothly on the scone's surface after being scraped away.

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