Strawberry Scones

Strawberry Scones

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place a sheet of parchment paper on the counter work surface and set a cooling rack over it.
2. Slice each strawberry into 8 pieces by first quartering the berry and then slicing each piece in half. You should have about 1⅓ cups of strawberry pieces. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Add butter and cut it in with a rigid pastry cutter until mixture resembles crumbs.
4. Add strawberries to the flour/butter mixture and fold gently to evenly coat the berries, without crushing them.
5. Drizzle half & half over everything, and fold gently until mixture just begins to come together. You should have soft, yet shaggy dough. If needed, sprinkle a bit more half & half over the dough to get it to come together. Do not knead or over-mix the dough, as this will cause the scones to become dense. Try to handle the dough as little as possible, to not smash the strawberries.
6. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a 1" thick rectangle - the rectangle should be about 10" x 5" in size. With a sharp-edged stainless steel bench scraper or large sharp non-serrated knife, cut dough rectangle into 6 even squares. When cutting, press straight down with the bench scraper, then pull it straight back up. Do not saw or cut back and forth horizontally. Then cut each square on the diagonal, to equal 12 triangles.
7. Place scones on prepared baking sheet, leaving at least 1" in between each scone. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until baked through and golden. Remove scones from the pan to the cooling rack set over parchment paper. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Glaze

1. In a medium bowl, whisk powdered sugar, half & half, and vanilla extract until smooth and slightly runny, adding a bit more half & half if needed. Either dip the top side of each scone wholly into the glaze - or use a spoon to drizzle glaze over the top of each scone. Allow the glaze to drip down the sides of the scones onto the parchment paper below the cooling rack. The glaze will firm up as the scones cool.