Almond Scones with Orange Glaze

The Story

In addition to slacking off when it comes to posting my recipes and food creations, I can also slack off when it comes to providing requested food items. I told my mom I would make these delicious-looking almond scones for Valentine's Day, and I failed to bake scones until today.

In my defense, I made her three kinds of homemade truffles, and these delicious chocolate cupcakes for Valentine's Day, so I thought the scones might not be fully appreciated with all of the cocoa-based competition:

Side note: Ringing endorsement from my brother- "This is the first scone I've eaten that I haven't felt like I had a mouth full of dirt. Is this how they're supposed to taste? Not like those hard-as-a-rock things from the grocery store?" (Answer to both questions: Yes!). 

The Food

STEP ONE: Preheat oven and prepare needed utensils. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, take out three bowls (one large for the dry ingredients, one medium for the glaze, and one small for the wet ingredients), take out three forks for mixing, find your desired cutter (I used a circular biscuit cutter), lightly grease a baking pan, and prepare a surface for patting out the dough by dusting it with flour (I used a large wooden cutting board). When your hands are covered with flour/ dough, you'll be glad everything is already prepped.

STEP TWO: Prepare your glaze. Mix about 1 and 1/2 cups of confectioner's sugar with about 3 tablespoons of orange juice. Combine thoroughly, and adjust the sugar to juice ratio to make the right consistency for a glaze. Take a fresh orange, and peel off only the colored part of the peel in small 1/4 to 1/2 inch peels, and mix into the glaze. You will only need about 1 tablespoon or so of the orange peels. Set aside so that the glaze mixes with the oils from the orange peel while you bake. 

STEP THREE: Mix your dry ingredients. Mix 2 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 2 teaspoons baking powder. 

STEP FOUR: Mix your wet ingredients. Mix 1/2 cup unsalted dry toasted sliced almonds, 1 large egg, and 3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt. Combine so that ingredients are thoroughly mixed. 

STEP FIVE: Add butter to the dry ingredients and then combine all ingredients. Before adding the wet ingredients to the dry, cut 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) into 8 small pieces and add it to the dry ingredients. Using your hands, mix the butter into the flour mixture (you almost pinch the butter as you move through the bowl). When the butter has been thoroughly worked in, the mixture should have the consistency of sand. Make a well in the center, pour in the wet ingredients, and stir to combine. If all of the dry does not completely incorporate into the wet, you can mix it in with your hands as you pat the dough out.

STEP SIX: Pat out the dough. Pour the dough and any unincorporated dry ingredients onto the prepared flour surface. If you need to work the dry mixture in, knead a little bit, but try not to over-mix. Pat the dough out until it is 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick. Using your cutter, cut out the scones and immediately transfer to the baking sheet, being careful not to over-handle the dough (ideally, you would pick up the scone with the cutting implement, and pop it out on the sheet). Re-combine the scraps, and continue cutting out the dough. I made 9 scones, but the number will vary depending on your cutter.  

STEP SEVEN: Bake. Bake the scones at 350 degrees for approximately 18 minutes, or until the scones just begin to lightly brown on top (you don't want them to dry out). 

STEP EIGHT: Glaze and decorate. Remove the sheet from the oven, remove the scones from the sheet, and place on a rack (with a sheet of wax paper underneath) to cool slightly. Wait 2-5 minutes, and dunk the top part of a scone into the glaze mixture, totally covering the top (you want the scones to still be a little warm, so the glaze starts to seep into the scone). After the scone has been covered in glaze, put it back on the rack so the excess can drip off, and repeat the process with all of the scones. After all have been glazed, spoon the excess glaze and peel over the scones, making sure all receive a bit of the peel. Before the glaze has dried, sprinkle toasted sliced almonds on the top of each scone.