Orange Scones

This is the best recipe I've found for scones, hands down. They turned out so fluffy and moist! The orange-vanilla flavor came through well - even the smell of the scones in the oven was amazing. The glaze is fairly easy to make and really takes the flavor to another level. If you have a stand mixer, I would recommend using it for the scones. It's not necessary, but is helpful.

Ingredients:

For the scones:

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

• ¼ cup sugar

• 2 tsp. baking powder

• ¼ tsp. salt

• 4 Tb. cold butter

• ½ cup heavy cream

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 egg

• 1 Tb. orange zest

• 1-2 Tb. orange juice

For the glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar

• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

• 1 Tb. butter, melted

• About 3 Tb. orange zest

• About 1/2 cup orange juice

Instructions:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or tin foil).

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl.

Cut the butter into small pieces and add into flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or a fork quickly mix until it resembles coarse crumbs (I used my stand mixer for this step and it worked great!).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the heavy cream, vanilla extract, egg, orange zest, and orange juice.

Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the egg mixture. Gently mix until the dough just comes together. It should have a shaggy consistency.

Turn out the dough onto your lined baking sheet. Using a rubber spatula, press the dough into a disc shape, about ½ – ¾-inch thick. The dough will be sticky, but try not to use extra flour.

Using a knife, cut the disc in half, then quarters, then again cutting the quarters in half; making 8 large scones.

Refrigerate scones to firm the butter back up for about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake the scones until they are lightly golden brown on the bottom, about 13-15 minutes. Place on a cooling rack and let cool completely. While the scones are cooling, you can make the orange glaze.

In a wide bowl; mix together the powdered sugar, orange zest, melted butter, vanilla extract, and orange juice. If the mixture is too runny, add more powdered sugar. Whisk until smooth.

Once scones are cool, you can either dip them one by one into the glaze or use a spoon to drizzle the glaze on top. Return the scones to the cooling rack after glazing.

Store scones on counter in an airtight container for 4 - 6 days.