You can't really see the glaze, but it's there.
You can actually see bits of the vanilla!
I hate scones. I know, how can you not be a fan of dry, thirst inducing lumps of wasted butter and flour? Maybe scones are an acquired taste. Maybe they’re meant to be dry in order to properly accompany tea or coffee. I love the idea of it all, so believe me, I’ve tried scones a handful of times only to pass of the bitten scone to a friend. That is, until I had the petite glazed vanilla scones from Starbucks (of all places!). I had to order them. They were so tiny and perfectly glazed. The disdain for scones side-stepped briefly thankfully, and a minute later, I was a believer. I thoroughly enjoyed them. They were more moist than the typical scone, but moreover, they were iced with a vanilla glaze. Truly, how can you go wrong? Fast forward a year, and I stumble across a recipe that models itself after that Starbucks scone that opened my eyes (I guess that’s not 100% true. I still hate scones).
These vanilla bean “scones” are delicious. Moist and flavorful–so much so, I refuse to recognize them as true scones. Keep them stored in an air tight container, and they keep for a few days without losing the overall quality. Thank goodness, considering you’re going to have to use two vanilla beans to make these. I wasn’t thrilled about how much vanilla this recipe asked for (vanilla beans aren’t exactly wallet friendly), it certainly was well worth it in the end. The aroma that enveloped my apartment alone, was well worth it!
The original recipe calls for a thicker, sweeter glaze. I chose to lighten it up, considering the scone itself is plenty sweet. Either way, outside of the occasional donut, I’m not big on super sweet breakfasts’ during the work weak. While my scones lacked the thick white glaze that makes the scone oh-so-pretty, I wouldn’t change a thing. A lighter glaze really allows the butter and vanilla shine through.
Two butter knives to sub the pastry blender--very time consuming 
All the caviar scraped out of the vanilla bean
Glaze
Vanilla Bean Scones
SCONES
3 cups All-purpose Flour
⅔ cups vanilla sugar (if you don’t have this on hand, use regular sugar and use 2 vanilla beans instead of the 1 listed below)
5 teaspoons Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
2 sticks (1/2 Pound) unsalted butter, Chilled
1 whole Large Egg
¾ cups Heavy Cream (more If Needed)
1 whole Vanilla Bean
GLAZE
1¾- 2 cups Powdered Sugar, Sifted
½ cup Whole Milk
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 vanilla 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. Even with a pastry cutter, this will take you close to 10 minutes.
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.) Dust rolling pin with flour and 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 a while. Add salt and 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. I only glazed one side, but you can certainly douse the entire scone in the glaze. Transfer to parchment paper or the cooling rack. Allow the glaze to set completely, about an hour.
(Petite) Vanilla Bean Scones
Yields: 12 large scones/ 24 petite scones
Original recipe can be found here.
For the scones:
3 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 sticks (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter, chilled
1 large egg
3/4 heavy cream, more if needed
2 whole vanilla beans
For the glaze:
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup whole milk
1 whole vanilla bean
dash of salt
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. Split the vanilla beans down the middle and scrape out all the “caviar” inside. Stir into the cream, add the bean halves and set aside for 15 minutes. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the cold butter into small pieces, toss into the flour, and use a pastry cutter or fork to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles crumbs.
Mix the vanilla cream with the egg, then combine with the flour mixture. Stir gently with a fork until the mixture comes together, using more heavy cream if needed. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and lightly press together until it forms a rough rectangle (mixture will be pretty crumbly). Use a rolling pin to roll into a rectangle about 1/2 – 3/4 inch thick. Using your hands to help form them if necessary. Use a knife to cut into 6 even squares. If you want large scones, cut these squares diagonally to make triangles. If you want petite scones, cut each square cross wise twice to make 4 pieces each (24 total). Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 – 18 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
For the glaze. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the caviar. Stir the caviar into the milk and allow to sit for a while. Mix the 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.
