In Search of the Perfect Scone

Now that I've had three cups of coffee, maybe I'm awake enough to start my day.

So, this first post will follow my quest for the holy grail perfect vanilla scone.  I was going to make vanilla bean scones, but I just found out that a jar of vanilla beans is $13.99.  And it only comes with two beans.  That's seven dollars per bean.  Being that I am a baller on a budget, I opted for just regular vanilla scones.  And then I spent $14 on these:

Back to the scones.  I used this recipe as a base.  Thank you "Grandma Johnson" and Allrecipes.com.

I didn't exactly have all the kitchen tools I needed for the recipe [like a rolling pin or a ...pastry blender...?] so I needed to think of some ghetto creative alternatives for my scones.   

First creative maneuver was using my stand mixer to fluff the flour.  I don't own a flour sifter.  I let the flour mix by itself before adding the other dry ingredients.  Second, I don't own a pastry blender to "cut" the butter into the dough.  Instead, I stuck the butter in the freezer overnight and grated it using a cheese grater.  That gave me the smallish chunks of butter I was looking for without buying fancy kitchen tools.  

The third creative method was finding a replacement for a rolling pin.  I found this double shot glass worked just as well.

Here's the pan before it goes in the oven.  I could only put six on the tray, because I have the world's smallest oven.  No seriously. 24 inches.  

I put some glaze on them when they were fully cooled. Mmmm....glaze.  

The scones turned out softer than I am used to-- which may or may not have resulted from me over-handling or over-mixing the dough. But I found I liked the softer scone. 

The scones turned out really tasty.  [the dough tasted good, too]  

So tasty, I may just have to make another cup of coffee to go with it.

Here's the altered recipe:

Ingredients

SCONES:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup  frozen butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla

GLAZE:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon milk

Directions

1. In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. 
4. Grate frozen butter.  Stir into flour mixture. 
5. Stir the sour cream mixture, vanilla, and lightly beaten egg into the flour mixture until just moistened. 
6. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. Roll or pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom.
8. Cool on wire rack.
9. Mix powdered sugar and vanilla in a small cup.  Add milk a few drops at a time until desired consistency.
10. Glaze scones.  Wait for glaze to harden.