Mini Orange Scones

Every now and then a scone is just the thing to satisfy a sweet tooth. It's not something I'd want everyday, but once in a great while a good scone will do the trick. What I dislike about traditional scones is their size. Seriously. A friend of mine who worked at a bakery and cafe brought some home from work one time and shared. It was an orange scone, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first few bites. However, this thing was the size of a baseball. It was shocking. Maybe it's just me, but I would much rather prefer to enjoy bite size sweets and finish them one at a time when I want them than have one giant sweet that I will finish over time, or not finish at all.

So one day I was doing housework (vacuuming to be exact) and I was thinking about how it's not that wild of an idea to make mini scones. Now this was before Starbuck's had their bite-sized Vanilla Bean scones all over the place. All the recipes and scones I had seen before then were rather large. As I continued vacuuming I was formulating a scone recipe in my mind for Mini Orange Scones (Please tell me I'm not the only one who writes recipes in her head while doing everyday things like cleaning, driving, or trying to fall asleep). Later that week when I tested it out, I was pretty happy with the result.

These scones are the perfect balance of sweetness, orange flavor, and flakiness. The orange icing on top is super fresh tasting, not overly sugary. The recipe uses only fresh squeezed orange juice and zest for flavoring, no extracts, gooey jams, or sugar filled juices, so it has the lightest and freshest orange flavor. In my opinion, however, the best part is that they can be eaten in only two bites! So enjoy as many or as little as you like!

Mini Orange Scones
Makes 30 mini scones

• 1 cup All-Purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of Kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons room temperature butter
• 1/2 cup very cold heavy cream
• 1 large orange
• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
1. Combine the flour,granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, 3 tablespoons butter cut into small 1/2 inch squares, and zest of half the orange in a food processor and pulse until mixture is grainy and slightly sticky tot he touch.
2. Transfer the flour mixture to a bowl add heavy cream. Using a rubber spatula, form dough into a ball. Try not to touch the dough as much as possible because the heat from your hands will bring down the temperature or the dough. The colder the dough, the flakier your scones will be. =)
3. Roll out dough on a floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness. Using a knife, cut out 1 inch triangles.
4. Bake the scones on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for 7-9 minutes, or until very lightly golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
5. To make the icing, juice half of the orange and mix the juice with the confectioners sugar, room temperature butter, corn syrup, and orange zest to your preference. Mix all of these ingredients together until smooth.
6. After scones are cooled, place the wire rack over a cookie sheet. Spoon one generous spoonful of icing over each scone. Allow the scones to set for 30 minutes before serving.