Traditional Cream Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. cold butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup half-and-half, cream or the whey from your Devonshire cream
Optional glaze: half-and-half or cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper OR a silicone baking mat.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, two butter knives or your fingers. The mixture will be crumbly. In a small measuring cup, stir together the half-and-half or cream and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix. Alternatively (my preferred method), add all dry ingredients to a food processor and pulse. Add the butter and pulse until mixture is evenly crumbly. Slowly add the cream through the food processor chute, pulsing to combine.  Pulse just until the dough forms a large ball.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface, knead gently a few times and then pat into an 8-in. circle. Cut the circle into 8 even wedges. Alternately, use a 2 1/2-in. round biscuit cutter to cut the dough into rounds. Re-roll/pat out the scraps as needed. Place the wedges or rounds on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing a few inches apart. Optional: brush the tops of the scones with a little cream.

Bake for 15-18 minutes or until nicely browned. Excellent served warm with Devonshire (clotted) cream and jam, or butter and honey.

Makes 8 wedges or about 10 2 1/2-in. round scones.

Click here for a printable version.

Recipe adapted from https://www.joyofbaking.com/scones.html and https://smittenkitchen.com/2006/11/dream-a-little-dream-of-scone/

Tips--If at all possible, make Devonshire cream first and use the whey in place of the cream. It is EXCEPTIONAL. Use the food processor to save time and don't feel guilty! Save the knife you use to cut the butter for slicing the dough into wedges. In my experience, salted and unsalted butter are nearly interchangeable, despite what "real" bakers say. Reduce the salt slightly if you use salted butter. 

Now for the BS. There is one food blogger whose BS I will happily read until the end of time, and that is Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. I have her cookbook and I refer to her recipes time and again. It was Deb who recently inspired me to try yet another scone recipe, which she adapted from America's Test Kitchen (who I also adore, especially their show on PBS). I thought, If Deb says it's good, it MUST be good. And it IS good! The primary difference between this recipe and my Perfect Cream Scones recipe is that there is no egg in this recipe. So if you or someone you love has an egg allergy, this is ideal! Also, the traditional recipe bakes at a slightly higher temp for a slightly lower time. These are the absolute best made with the whey left over from making your own Devonshire cream. They work well with regular cream or half-and-half, also. The only difference I note in the finished product is that the Perfect Cream Scones are even lighter and airier. These Traditional Cream Scones are flatter but also have crispier edges and brown really nicely, I assume due to the extra cream. I go back and forth between the two recipes, because I love them both. When I brought both kinds to Tea Friday at the library where I work, my coworkers could really not tell a difference between the two recipes. They just said both are amazing. I agree!