Lemon Vanilla Scones

One food I am so thankful that I was introduced to many years ago is the scone. My previously posted scone recipes (the Mocha Almond Scone, the Lemon Cranberry Spice Scone, and the Frosted Chocolate Scone Bits) are a little heavy, so I thought that I should post one of my lighter scone recipes. I enjoy applying a duo-coloured icing with this recipe, as it makes the scones look really pretty.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated (white) sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp each baking soda and salt
3 tbsp grated lemon rind
1/2 cup butter, crumbled (cool)
1 egg (room temperature)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk -minus 2 tsp (buttermilk substitute: 1 cup 1% non-fat milk minus 2 tbsp, and add 2 tbsp lemon juice to the milk. Allow milk and Lemon juice to sit for 5 minutes.)

Method:

Pre heat oven to 400 F.
Flour baking sheet.
Mix all dry ingredients well in a large bowl.
Add butter, and mix until crumbly.
Add egg, buttermilk and vanilla (the rest of the ingredients) and stir well until mixture becomes a firm dough.
Knead on floured surface with floured hands until firm (about 5 minutes), sprinkling flour onto the dough if the mix is too sticky.
Break off 1/4 of the dough, and roll into cylinder. Pat out cylinder into rectangle about 1 1/2 inch thick. Cut into squares and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat this step with remaining quarter of dough until finished. (also, you can pat out all of the dough onto a large cutting board and cut with cookie cutter. Or you can pat out into a large square, and cut into columns, squares and then cut the squares into triangles. Be creative with the shapes!)
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until tops are lightly cracked, and are firm when tops are tapped. When you stick a toothpick in, it should come out clean. (you may want to check the bottom of one of the scones to make sure it is not burnt. The bottoms should barely be darker than the top.)
Allow to cool.
Can be kept at room temperature for up to 2 days, or in the fridge in plastic wrap or baggies for up to 1 week. Can be kept in the freezer, in foil and plastic bags for 1-2 months. If freezing, simply microwave scone at 20 second intervals until thawed.

Ingredients:

1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Mix all, and drizzle over scone. Allow to harden in fridge 5-10 minutes prior to serving. To make two colours like in the picture below, simply split the icing into two bowls. In one bowl, add about 1-2 drops of yellow food colouring. Spread your primary icing colour on each scone, and place in the fridge for 5-10 minues. Remove the scones from the fridge, and drizzle the secondary icing colour over the scones, and put back into the fridge.