Pioneer Woman's vanilla bean scones...

Check out these scones the Miss and I made a la Pioneer Woman. There is a little story behind our cooking adventure that I think sums up this blog's title - life is what you make it.

So, this week on Pioneer Woman, Ree made vanilla bean scones - similar to what Starbucks offers. Yum! When Ed set off for a boy's night, Paige and I were all set (sort of) to make them during our girls' night in.

I got all the ingredients out and arranged when I realized I was missing heavy cream. At this point, Ed was still home. Off to the corner store. 20 minutes later I arrive back to a mini-scene of Miss Paige crying. Seems while I was gone she tried to 'start' her own recipe and had used up some of the baking powder. There was now not enough for the recipe. Ed had scolded her already, and I don't tend to get mad about these sorts of mistakes. After a short talk, back to the store we went.

We had great fun and made a big mess. Miss P very enthusiastically helped me clean up at the end. While we waited for the scones to set, we watched an episode of House Hunters and I painted her nails and toes. When I finished, I went to plate the scones. I came back - and - uh oh. I noticed the top of the polish remover off, fumes going, and a spill on the newspaper. P had tried to 'fix' one of her nails herself. Again, quick talk on the better choice, clean up and done.

Ready to eat the scones and then read a chapter of our book.

I think my type b attitude saved the evening! Now for the recipe....

Ingredients
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, Chilled
1 whole Large Egg
3/4 cups Heavy Cream (more If Needed)
2 whole Vanilla Beans
GLAZE
5 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
1/2 cup Whole Milk, More If Needed For Thinning
1 whole Vanilla Bean
Dash Of Salt

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Split the vanilla beans down the middle lengthwise and scrape out all the vanilla "caviar" inside.

Stir caviar into cream. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Sift together flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.Cut cold butter into pats, then use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour. Keep going until mixture resembles crumbs.

Mix vanilla cream with egg, then combine with flour mixture; stir gently with a fork just until it comes together.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and lightly press it together until it forms a rough rectangle. (Mixture will be pretty crumbly.) Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch thick. Use your hands to help with the forming if necessary.

Use a knife to trim into a symmetrical rectangle, then cut the rectangle into 12 symmetrical squares/rectangles. Next, cut each square/rectangle in half diagonally, to form two triangles.

Transfer to a parchment or baking mat-lined cookie 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.

VANILLA GLAZE

To make the icing, split one vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the caviar. Stir caviar into milk; allow to sit for awhile. Mix powdered sugar with the vanilla milk, adding more powdered sugar or milk if necessary to get the consistency the right thickness. Stir or whisk until completely smooth.

One at a time, carefully dunk each cooled scone in the glaze, turning it over if necessary. Transfer to parchment paper or the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour. Scones will keep several days if glazed.