Petite Vanilla Scones

There were two scones recipes from The Pioneer Woman's website that I have been wanting to try. I printed out the recipe for Rosemary and Lemon Scones and have even bought the Rosemary, somehow ended up making this Petite Vanilla Scones at the last minute. The basic recipe for these two scones are actually similar.

I made these Petite Vanilla Scones, and mine are not so petite! While Ree Drummond has used vanilla bean for the scones, I have used vanilla powder. And I have reduced the amount of sugar (refer to the recipe below). These scones are baked, cooled and then dunk into the vanilla icing glaze to coat the whole scones and left to set. 

I mixed the flour and butter, using the food processor. The crumbly dough is transferred to a bowl, mixed in the cream and egg using a fork just until it comes together, then placed on a floured work surface, pat and roll it out to a rectangular shape. The dough was very sticky and wet, I have to sprinkle lots of flour over, in order to roll it out. Since it was so sticky and soft, it was quite difficult to slice them and transfer the pieces to the baking tray. I've got to dust the pastry cutter with lots of flour for each cut, and more sprinkling of flour when transferring the pieces to the baking sheet, and was kinda worried, with all that additional flour.

Bake the scones for about 18 minutes, cool them on the pan for 15 minutes and transfer to the cooling rack to cool completely. Make the Vanilla Glaze by mixing milk, icing sugar, a pinch of salt and seeds from a vanilla bean. Once the scones are cool, dunk the scones in the Vanilla Glaze to fully coat each piece. I have only made a small amount of the Vanilla Glaze to coat about 6 pieces of the scones, leaving the rest without any glaze.

My Vanilla Icing Glaze is a bit thin, as I do not want it to be so sweet, and have used a lesser amount of icing sugar. For a thicker glaze, simply increase the icing sugar to the desired consistency.

While the scones are baking in the oven, the house smells so wonderful with the fragrance from the vanilla.

These scones are so delicious, especially so when still slightly warm, without any Vanilla Glaze. The texture is so tender and buttery, I ate three of these, without the glaze, while they are still warm. :)

The Vanilla Glaze is very nice and fragrant, delicious with scones. But then, since I am not a "sweet" person, I prefer eating the scones without any glaze, perfect with a cup of tea. According to Ree, the glaze that coats the scones, helps to keep them moist, but I've eaten the ones without the glaze, and they were still as tender and moist even after a few days. 

Petite Vanilla Scones
(adapted from "The Pioneer Woman")
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar (I use 1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp)
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (omit this)
2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, chilled (I use salted butter)
1 whole large egg
3/4 cups heavy cream (more if needed)
2 whole vanilla beans (I use 1/4 tsp vanilla powder)

Glaze :
5 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup whole milk, more if needed for thinning
1 whole vanilla bean
dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Split the vanilla beans down the middle lengthwise and scrape out all the vanilla "caviar" inside. Stir caviar into cream. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Cut cold butter into pats, then use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour. Keep going until mixture resembles crumbs.

Mix vanilla cream with egg, then combine with flour mixture, stir gently with a fork just until it comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and lightly press it together until if forms a rough rectangle. (Mixture will be pretty crumbly). Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick. Use your hands to help with the forming if necessary.

Use a knife to trim into a symmetrical rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 symmetrical squares/rectangles. Next, cut each square/rectangle in half diagonally, to form two triangles.

Transfer to a parchment or baking mat-lined cookie sheet and bake for 18 minutes, removing from the oven just before they start to turn golden. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Vanilla Glaze :

To make the icing, split one vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the caviar. Stir caviar into milk, allow to sit for awhile. Mix powdered sugar with the vanilla milk, adding more powdered sugar or milk if necessary to get the consistency the right thickness. Stir or whisk until completely smooth.

One at a time, carefully dunk each cooled scone in the glaze, turning it over if necessary. Transfer to parchment paper or the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days if glazed.

I'm linking this to Cook Like A Star, featuring Ree Drummond as the star for this month, hosted by Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids, Baby Sumo from Eat Your Heart Out and Mich from Piece of Cake.