Vanilla Bean Scones

A few days ago, my mother told me she was baking scones. I wouldn’t have thought much of it, except that she said they were vanilla bean scones. That caught my attention! Vanilla beans are magical! She showed me the recipe, which is from the Pioneer Woman’s blog. She’s incredible. I decided I must try the recipe for myself, though I adapted it a bit from PW’s recipe. I brought these to a church potluck and they went very well! I’m telling you, these are amazing and a guaranteed hit.

So you start with a couple of vanilla beans. Aaron says they look like long, dried out, kind of gross green beans. But to me, they’re beautiful.

Then you make vanilla cream. The original recipe calls for the vanilla to sit in heavy whipping cream, but I used evaporated milk and it worked just fine.

Add all your dry ingredients together first.

Throw in chunks of butter. YUM.

Use a pastry blender to cut in the butter and get lovely crumbs.

In goes the vanilla cream…

And after some challenging stirring and kneading, you get a big crumbly ball. Crumbly is good! Don’t overmix.

Lay it out on a floured surface, or you’ll have alot of trouble peeling your scones off the board later.

Roll it out about half an inch thick (maybe a little more). Then cut it into squares, and cut the squares into triangles.

Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

And I missed a few photos because dipping the scones in glaze was a huge mess. But you end up with these! Beautifully glazed scones… perfect with a warm cup of tea. That’s another thing Mom taught me!

Vanilla Bean Scones

SCONES
3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cups sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup UNSALTED butter, chilled
1 whole egg
3/4 cup evaporated milk (or heavy cream)
1 whole vanilla bean

GLAZE
5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
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 bits inside. Stir into cream. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Sift together flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut cold butter into chunks, then use a pastry cutter 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 it forms a rough rectangle. 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. Cut each square in half diagonally, to form triangles.

Transfer to a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 16 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 vanilla. Stir 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, icing one or both sides. Transfer to parchment paper or the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days if glazed.