mini vanilla bean scones

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So, you may have noticed (or may  not have noticed, if you’re still searching for a new rss reader) that there was no Thursday Things yesterday.  I do apologize, I got back from vacation last week, but apparently not back from my “blog vacation” which lasted an entire week longer than the rest of my vacation.  You see, there’s this funny thing about going on vacation where I somehow come home to 234923842943 more things to do than there were before I left?

I am still doing laundry from vacation.   I thought I washed everything before we left but there is always more to do.  So much more…  It.  Never.  Stops.

Ever.

In fact, I’m beginning to think that there’s a portal in the back of our washing machine that just throws the clothes back into the hamper.  Or Sophie is pulling them off of the hanger and just throwing them back into the hamper while I sleep.

sophie in the sheets

I’m not sure, but there is clearly some sort of mischief going on here.  After four days of doing laundry and cleaning I finally gave up and decided just to try again this weekend.

I had to clear my head, think about other things… like how we can get back to vacation land.  Or, since that’s not really the most attainable option, I decided to dream about my future career in a little bakery in a sea-side town like La Jolla, about having little elves to do all my cleaning and laundry, and about butter.

Lots and lots of butter.

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Whenever you are feeling down, the cure is butter.  When you’re sad?  Butter.

Like 9 times out of 10 the answer is butter.

Except when you step on the scale after your week-long vacation of over-indulgence…  Nope, even then, when you realize that you have to return to real life and then you fall into a post-vacation depression, the answer is still butter.

I’ll just disguise this butter as breakfast, and put this glaze on top.  I won’t even know it’s there.

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Yes, that should do just fine.

Plus, think of all the calories you will burn just working the dough, right?  Surely, that counts for something.

And we will make them “mini” because then they aren’t nearly as bad for you.  Mini makes it more cute and less bad for you.  Yup, sounds great.  A delightful breakfast, snack, or dessert for any day.

You know it’s a good sign when your breakfast can moonlight as dessert.

Oh, and we’ll talk more about the vacation later… Thursday, perhaps?  😉

Mini Vanilla Bean Scones

Makes: 12 mini scones, or 24 super mini (1-bite) scones

Printable Recipe

For the scones:

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

  • 2/3 cups Sugar

  • 5 teaspoons baking powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon Salt

  • 2 sticks (1/2 Pound) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

  • 1 large egg

  • 3/4 cup heavy cream

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste*

For the glaze

  • 5 cups powdered sugar, sifted

  • 1/2 cup milk

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste*

  • pinch (like 1/8 teaspoon) salt

Make the scones:

Preheat oven to 350˚F  degrees.  Stir 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste into 3/4 cup heavy cream and set aside.

In your food processor, pulse flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Once mixed, add cubed cold butter and pulse with flour mixture until the mixture resembles crumbs.*

*If you prefer to do this by hand, sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together, then cut in the cubed butter with a pastry cutter or two knives until it resembles crumbs.

Mix vanilla cream with egg, then combine with flour mixture; stir (or pulse, if using processor) gently just until it comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and gently pat it into the shape of a rectangle. (Mixture will be pretty crumbly.)  Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick.

Use a knife to tidy the edges to make a pretty rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 equal-sized rectangles. Next, cut each rectangle in half diagonally, to form two triangles.

Carefully transfer triangles to a parchment-lined baking 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.

Make the glaze:

Combine 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste with 1/2 cup milk, set aside for about 5 mintues.

In a medium bowl, put 3 cups of powdered sugar and whisk in the milk until thoroughly combined. Taste and add more powdered sugar to taste.  If the mixture thickens up too much on you, add milk as necessary 1 tablespoon at a time.

Carefully dip each cooled scone in the glaze, and place on a wire rack over a foil-lined baking sheet (to catch the drippies).  Alternatively you could drizzle the glaze in a pretty design, whatever you prefer.

Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days in an airtight container at room temperature, if glazed.

You can make them ahead by freezing the cooled (unglazed) scones, defrost at room temperature for several hours (depending on ambient temperature) and glaze once defrosted.

[ Adapted from The Pioneer Woman ]

6 thoughts on “mini vanilla bean scones

  1. okay: i obviously need to purchase vanilla bean paste (b/c i either use vanilla beans or just the extract, but i can totally see the benefits of the paste). i wonder how hard it is to find? Probably not hard….and these look way too much like the Starbucks vanilla bean scones for me to just not make them. *i love the starbucks ones*

    • You *DO* need vanilla bean paste! It is amazing! You can get it at Sur La Table for like $10, I’m sure Amazon probably has it too.

  2. I wouldn’t put anything past Sophie, especially with those crazy eyes. She’s obviously up to no good.

    These scones look amazing. Love all the vanilla bean flecks!!! Can’t wait to hear all about your vacay 🙂

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