KILLER HOBBIES: Glazed Orange-Vanilla Scones

I served a Cream Tea at my book signing two weeks ago. In my last post on March 20, I shared the recipes for Lemon Curd, Vanilla Sugar, and Clotted Cream.

Today I'm sharing the recipe for Glazed Orange-Vanilla Scones, which I served with Lemon Curd and Clotted Cream (I used the Vanilla Sugar in two recipes). I'll be making scones again, now that I know how easy they are.

Glazed Orange-Vanilla Scones
Makes 12 scones or 36-48 smaller scones

2 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 t Kosher salt (if using table salt, decrease by half to 1/2 t)
6 T vanilla sugar
2 T orange zest
6 T butter (cubed, then frozen)
3/4 C heavy cream
2 t vanilla extract

Glaze:

1 T heavy cream
1 T vanilla sugar
1 t orange zest

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine vanilla sugar and orange zest. Mix vanilla sugar/orange zest into flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, cut butter into dry ingredients until small and evenly sized (similar to pea). Add cream and vanilla extract, folding to incorporate. Knead in bowl to bring everything together, adding cream as needed if it's too dry.

Divide dough in half, shape into a round disc about 3/4" thick, and wrap in plastic wrap. Freeze for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Glaze ingredients together, and set aside. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cut each disc into 6 pizza-shaped pieces. Place at least 1" apart on prepared baking sheet. Brush tops with glaze. I cut mine into smaller triangles and ended up with 36 scones.

Bake in preheated oven 15-20 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Serve at room temperature.